What a Property Maintenance Contract Should Cover

The clauses that matter

Read these first, because they decide what the arrangement is actually worth to you.

• Response time, split by urgency rather than a single number
• What counts as an emergency and who decides
• Out of hours rates, stated in writing
• Spend limit before your approval is required
• Exclusions: what the contract simply does not cover
• Reporting: what you receive after each visit

Fixed fee or pay as you go

A fixed monthly fee suits a portfolio where volume is predictable and the value is in a guaranteed response. Pay as you go suits a small number of properties, because you are not paying a retainer for months when nothing happens.

Be wary of a fixed fee that excludes most of what you actually need. Check what the fee genuinely includes rather than what it implies.

Exclusions to look for

Common exclusions are gas and electrical certification, specialist roofing, drainage beyond the boundary, appliance repair and anything defined as an improvement rather than a repair. None of those are unreasonable, but you should know about them before the first invoice rather than after.

How we do it

We keep it simple: no retainer unless you want one, an agreed spend limit for work we can complete without asking, written photographic reporting after every visit, and out of hours rates confirmed in advance. Notice to end it is thirty days either way.