Property Maintenance in Colindale

Property Maintenance in Colindale: what is different here

What a Colindale flat needs on file

A typical Colindale buy-to-let flat is a leasehold unit in a block built since 2005, and its paperwork is shorter than a house's. It needs a valid EPC, ordered before marketing if there is none; an EICR at least every five years, or a new-build Electrical Installation Certificate less than five years old; and working smoke alarms on every storey, checked on the first day of each tenancy. A gas safety record is needed only where the flat has gas, and many on the Colindale Gardens and Grahame Park heat networks, or all-electric, have none.

A legionella risk assessment is expected for every let, and PAT testing is optional unless the flat is a licensed HMO. The private rented sector database will collect most of this. The draft regulations give London a registration window from mid-July to mid-October 2027, and each listing carries copies of the property's safety and energy paperwork. We keep the dates on a schedule and remind you before anything lapses.

Barnet's licence conditions for shared flats

A Colindale flat shared by three or more people from two or more households needs a Barnet additional HMO licence, under the borough-wide scheme that runs to 27 October 2027. Barnet's published conditions go beyond certificates. Twice a year, as a minimum and with notice to the occupiers, someone has to look round the property, and the record of each visit, naming the inspector, the date and time, the problems seen and the action taken, has to be kept until the licence ends.

On day one of a tenancy, the sharers need a written note of how to report repairs and emergencies, with round-the-clock arrangements and a fallback for when the manager cannot be reached. Every repair has to be done by someone competent to do it. We can carry out the six-monthly inspections and give you a dated report with photos for your log. We work in the daytime, Monday to Saturday, with Sunday emergency calls only, so your 24-hour arrangement needs separate out-of-hours cover.

Your repairs and the managing agent's

Inside a Colindale flat, the lease usually makes the leaseholder responsible for fixtures, fittings, internal doors, decoration and pipes and wiring serving only that flat. The freeholder, through the managing agent and the service charge, looks after the structure, the outside, the roof, the risers, the lifts, the communal fire alarm and the corridors. Heat interface units are usually covered by the heat supplier.

When a tenant reports a fault, we work out which side it falls on before spending your money. If it is communal, we photograph it and give you a short note to send to the managing agent, which saves a wasted call-out and gives you a record if the repair is slow.

Building safety letters and access requests

Colindale's taller blocks bring paperwork that a house never does. In a residential building with storeys above 11 metres, the responsible person has to check communal fire doors quarterly and try each year to inspect every flat entrance door, keeping a record of the attempts when access is refused. Blocks of 18 metres or seven storeys with at least two homes are registered with the Building Safety Regulator, and section 95 of the Building Safety Act 2022 requires residents and owners to answer reasonable requests for information from the accountable person.

Those letters often go to the flat, where a tenant may ignore them. Ask the managing agent to copy you in, pass access requests to your tenant promptly, and tell us if a door inspection has found a fault in the flat's entrance door, such as a closer that no longer shuts the door. That door is normally the freeholder's to repair or replace, but your tenant's damage to it may be yours, so the agent's findings decide who pays.

Developer warranty years

Many Colindale flats, including the last Beaufort Park phase, occupied from 2024, are new enough to be inside a builder's warranty. Under NHBC's Buildmark, where it applies, the builder must put right defects reported in the first two years from legal completion. Years three to ten are an insurance period with narrower cover.

In the first two years, we log defects with photos for you to send to the developer, and only fix what the developer will not cover, or what cannot wait, such as a leak.

Turning round a void in a high-turnover area

Private renting is the largest tenure in Colindale South, at 43.5% of households in 2021, and flats change hands often. In the gap between tenants we book the certificates that are due, clear the check-out list, decorate where needed and flush the water system before the keys go back. A typical two-bed void is decorated in two to four days, and the certificates are timed so that the EPC is lodged within 24 hours and the EICR report arrives within 48 hours.

Most blocks need contractors booked in, so tell us the building and the managing agent once, and we keep the details on file for every later visit.

Access and parking for planned visits

Colindale blocks run on concierge desks, fobs, booked lifts and set working hours, and those decide when work can happen. For planned work we arrange access through the managing agent in advance. Barnet's experimental Colindale South controlled parking zone runs from 8am to 6.30pm on weekdays, and many developments have private roads with their own permits, so a visitor bay or loading space makes a visit more efficient. We travel from our Kenton Lane office, about four miles away.

Official sources

• Barnet licence conditions, July 2022 (archived)
• Barnet HMO licensing page
• NHBC Buildmark cover
• Census 2021 tenure, Colindale wards (Nomis)
• Beaufort Park on Buildington
• Cambridge Network, September 2020: Colindale Gardens heat network
• Barnet Post on the Colindale South CPZ
• GOV.UK electrical safety guidance

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.