Planned vs Reactive repairs and Maintenance

Responsibility and the necessity to carry out repairs and maintenance.

A commercial lease over retail, commercial or industrial premises usually sets out the obligations of the landlord and tenant in relation to maintenance and repair of the premises.

In most commercial leases the tenant is responsible for the rented premises including the walls, floors, fixtures and inclusions and the landlord requires the tenant to repair and maintain the premises during the lease term. Quite often this does not include “fair wear and tear”, repairs to structural parts of the buildings or other expenditure of a capital nature although in some leases some or all of these items are inserted as tenant obligations by the landlord.

Items such as air-conditioning, cool rooms, heating fixtures and wall partitioning should be carefully defined in the lease to avoid costs and disagreements as often leases may be silent on those items which are capital items but used by a tenant in their day to day business.

Many disputes arise between landlords and tenants as to who is responsible for repairing or maintaining the premises out of the interpretation of the terms of the lease and in particular what is meant by “maintenance”, “repair” and “structural”.

Structural repairs include repairs to the building support system and foundations, walls and may include the roof but not partition walls, internal stairways, decorative features such as carpets and sometimes plumbing.

What is defined as a repair?

A “repair” is generally defined as an act necessary to fix something that has been damaged, whether accidentally or as a result of continued use. Usually if a tenant or their staff or customers damage parts of the premises then the tenant is responsible for the repairs. Where items may wear out, this is usually where arguments occur. It is preferable for the lease to be specific as to what are the responsibilities of the landlord and the tenant.

What is defined as maintenance?

“Maintenance” is generally considered to be the taking of some action to delay wear and tear or deterioration or breakage of an item for example cleaning and servicing air-conditioning equipment. The common exception from “wear and tear” is where non-structural items such as carpeting have deteriorated over time and should be replaced.

How can you avoid dispute?

Both parties can lessen the likelihood of a dispute by undertaking a full inspection of the premises and noting this in an inspection report signed by both parties which will then establish and document the condition the premises were in at the time of commencement of the lease.

A commercial lease should contain clear obligations and well defined standards for the repair and maintenance of the premises under the lease to reduce the risk of dispute and misunderstanding between the parties.

Reactive maintenance

Reactive maintenance should be quick, convenient, efficient and reliable. Alerting a maintenance provider via telephone can be disruptive, slow and make it cumbersome to record valuable asset performance data. A log-in is a far more efficient way to notify a service provider of building or building service problems within office hours. Generally a response within thirty minutes to that issue advising staff of an approximate time that the logged item will be serviced/rectified would be reasonable.

As for after-hours, an emergency phone number that can be used at any time including public holidays where repair and maintenance requires attention is the most appropriate means of communication. The data can then be entered into the asset data base at the next work day opportunity.

Following contact by means of either web or by phone the most suitable and available contractor will be dispatched to remedy the fault and feedback should be provided.

A structured reactive maintenance system based upon an asset register like that described above has all bases covered.

Planned maintenance

All planned (as well as reactive) maintenance tasks should be performed and be compliant with AS 4801 which is the safety standard and compliant with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. All works should be preceded by an induction, a safe work method statement and a risk assessment where applicable.

Planned maintenance can be performed by in-house maintenance staff or external contractors. The main point being that it is scheduled work in accordance with the asset supplier’s warranty and service manuals. This pre-arranged work often focuses on core aspects of the business and endeavours to service the asset before they fail and/or need to be replaced.

For example, planned maintenance in a commercial facility could include the heating/cooling system, the upkeep of flooring, laundry equipment, grounds or elevator maintenance. 

All of these assets are crucial to the day to day functioning of the facility and therefore the manager may be relieved to have a planned approach to compliance and the requirement for the facility’s assets.

This approach has many advantages, including extending the life of assets and equipment due to appropriate and scheduled maintenance over time. However, it’s important to understand that although this method significantly reduces the chance of equipment failure, it does not rule it out completely.

Making the right decision for your facility

A structured approach is essential in a high compliance environment such as a commercial property and probably in every industry.

To assess for your facility, imagine what no system would look like. The Maintenance Officer would probably be ‘in-charge’ of everything; data wouldn’t be captured for superior future decisions regarding assets amongst other things. And, while a structured approach has many more advantages than any lesser strategy, any process should be documented and be less reliant on people than it is reliant on the process itself.

Remember, every blessed asset, and the damned ones too, require maintenance. When it comes to the upkeep of your aged care facility, a structured process is indispensable. That maintenance process is, after all, to provide a framework to protect the health, safety and welfare of all residents, carers, staff and workers and the investment.