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Hello and welcome back to the Property Investors Handbook Podcast. I'm Adam Bell and today we're tackling a topic relevant, especially for South East Queensland property investors, preparing for cyclone season. With us again is Colleen Sutherland from Sutherland's Property Management Group. She's here to share her expertise on safeguarding properties against challenges posed by severe weather.
Colleen, it's crucial to be proactive, isn't it?
It's very crucial, yes.
Okay, so, look, we all know what it's like when we get cyclone season and, of course we had that, tornado, uh, last year, which was a very, severe event, but we always get cracking storms that can do damage. So, look, can you walk us through typical preventative measures you recommend for properties in Australia?
South East Queensland because we are a cyclone prone area.
It is, yes. We were very fortunate in our rent role to not have a great deal of damage to properties because of it. We had a lot of fence damage, and that's a difficult one to try and prevent. In your preventative maintenance, but, with houses and townhouses, duplexes, anything with a roof, that's what you need to be looking at first and foremost.
And I would do that on an annual basis if I had a property that, could be a potential, disaster area, yeah.
So what is it specifically that you've got to look at with roofs?
Well, with roofs you would need, if they're a tiled roof, which is, the majority of properties is a tiled roof, just little hairline fractures in the tiles that can become a disaster.
And allow the water in. So the hairline fractures will give you an indication of, oh, there's something wrong because mould is starting to appear on the ceiling. When it's a broken tile, it will instantaneously be a mould patch leading to sagging ceilings and stuff like that. So my recommendation would be to always, once a year, have your, Property professionally inspected and repaired, for any cracked tiles or just hairline fractures.
Sure.
So is that something you recommend to all of your, all of your clients, all of your, property investors that they do get that check? And who does do that? What, what is the professional who does do a roof inspection like that?
So we do get it done on a regular basis. An owner will let us know that, yes, it's time to be due, or we'll let the owner know it's time to have it looked at.
We don't actually go ahead until the owner says, yeah, yeah, have a look. So, but we will recommend to our property owners, clients to have the roof inspected once a year. And, and that is a roofer. A carpenter can have a look, which is great, especially if they're just doing a little bit of maintenance.
If there's major damage, you would need a roof tiler for, , making sure those tiles are in good order. And the valleys are cleaned, so, and it, but it's the same as an iron roof, so, what had happened at my place even was, I didn't know there was a problem until there was a patch on the ceiling, and what had happened was, we had a pergola roof installed, and the installer had, must have had a little problem with putting in the bolt, and left a bit of a gap beside it, and then water got in there.
Water is a sneaky thing, because it will sneak up on you, and it will get in any which way it can, so yes. Always having that roof, checked is a good thing.
Sure. And look, while we're on the subject of roofs too, because, in a former life, I had a short, period where I was actually inspecting roofs for hail damage on your Colourbond roofs.
Oh yes, yep. And, so hail's another, another subject. Topic we should cover here, I think, but, Well,
that's how your, your roof tiles will crack.
Oh, that too, because we know here in South East Queensland, they can be as big as, well, I've seen them almost, well, even bigger at times, almost your baseball size.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, but, uh, so I, um, was inspecting the hail damage and, yeah, look, if you get even just, You know, a quarter of your roof damaged with, you know, five or six, uh, little dings in the roof, you're able to get your whole roof replaced, by insurance. And in fact, there's actually, mobs out there that will, take up your excess and do it all for you, so it's at a no cost.
But, uh, so another thing to, to bear in mind when doing a roof inspection, that if you do have just those little, uh, holes in there, when I say holes, they're just dents that, um, you're able to claim that on, on insurance and, and get a new, new roof, so. Yes,
and that's why looking at your insurance is.
Reviewing your insurance every year.
Absolutely. Yeah. Another, another big part of it. But what about securing, you know, we get some, usually get a little bit of a, a warning that a big storm's coming or you look at the radar and you see that big cell heading towards your place. What are your tips on securing outdoor items and how you go about that?
With that, that is a tenant responsibility. Yep. So securing your items is a tenant responsibility. When they give us a warning that it's coming. It is vital that you look around the property and make sure that your items are secure. So, with your trampolines and things like that, they've got those, legs that,
yeah, they've got a U shape. Yeah, they don't go straight down. Yeah, they've got a
U shape. Securing those, and you're thinking, well, how do you secure that? You either peg it down. Yep. with a tent peg, or you get the sandbags and put them around in each of the, yeah, in each of the areas. Great
tip there, because it's not something you generally have to think about.
No, and it's not. The trampolines are the ones you always hear about, don't you? They've been lifted up. And you think
They're heavy enough, they're not going to go anywhere. They're the ones that just become a, missile. Mm-Hmm. In a, in a storm. And then there's also, things like your outdoor chairs and things like that.
Taking all the cushions, push 'em all up against the wall to make them, less of a target. So with the other thing other than just roofs is your gutters. We do recommend that the gutters be cleaned once a year because, the high winds, while you may not have necessarily have a tree near you.
The high winds will create the debris. Debris, and when it settles, it'll settle in your gutter. It settles at that lowest point. And the water will back up into the roof and under the tiles, the valleys and that sort of thing. And then that creates the water ingress damage for the ceiling. Sure, so
it's about prevention rather than having to deal with what could end up being a much bigger problem down the line.
Is there anything you need to worry about during massive storms or cyclones even, you know, inside the home? No, not really.
Not necessarily inside, but look out for your flood warnings because it's the bottom of the house. So most of the properties that we manage are a slab built on ground, so that you can't really do anything about.
The water ingress does come from, mainly from the roofs, valleys and gutters, as I've mentioned. But windows and doors, just making sure that they are leak proof. And with that, that comes with the building and pest inspection.
Sure. Now, most commonly here in South East Queensland, which is where you manage the majority of your properties, uh, those storms tend to come in late afternoon.
So, you know, I mean, quite commonly sort of that five, four to six o'clock, let's say. So the time that your office might generally be closing. How does a tenant go about reporting damage that's happened, you know, that it sweeps through, you've just closed, that you're on your way home, probably trying to get through the traffic that builds up at that time as well.
Damage, you know, I had one where, I'm talking about that hail that came through and knocked, you know, big holes in the patio, not an emergency situation. So I could wait the next day, but what is the procedure, the process for tenants reporting damage at that time of day?
Yes. So with the, us being knocked off and going home after hours, that is a normal thing.
So don't expect your property manager. Of course,
this is why I ask because no one's expecting you to stay home, stay back at work. We are on alert, so
we do have our mobiles on, you know, to make sure that we can assist in any way we can. If you can't get hold of your property manager, however, it's not her fault that the, hail has damaged something.
So after
five o'clock. Yeah.
So. Please be patient with us, but we, what we will do is we can't do anything. We can't get anyone out there immediately to repair because no one is going to get up in that storming weather, and risk their lives to fix your roof. And while that sounds a little bit callous, it's a little bit of common sense.
So we won't get anyone out until the rain, the weather event has stopped.
Even if the water's racing, you know, it's sprung a leak, no one can do anything until it's at least stopped. Not
necessarily. But there is SES. So we as property managers cannot contact SES on your behalf.
Okay. That's interesting.
It is only for
the occupier. I did try and this is how I found out because quite a few years ago, I did try and they said that they need the occupier to contact them because they need direct contact. Right. So if it's an emergency situation,
contact the SES. That's right.
That's what they're there for. And they may get up in during the storm event.
But I'm going to tell you now they probably won't. No,
unless there's lives at risk or, you know, which is understandable.
Oh yes, yeah, so they will prioritise what is going on and with that, there is insurance. So we will fix the resultant damage from the water pouring in, but what it won't cover is your possessions.
So the property owner, and I think I've mentioned this in a previous podcast, will ensure the house. And the house's contents, so things like the carpet, woodwork, plaster damage, all that sort of stuff. Yep, the fixtures and
fittings, but not the contents. Yeah, it
won't replace your damaged couch or TV or whatever.
You have to have your own contents insurance.
So I guess in wrapping that up then, it's about SES, if it's an emergency, realise that, you know, you, the office is closed, they're going to possibly have trouble getting hold of you, which is understandable. So just be on to it first thing the next day.
Get in touch the minute you can, probably get on to your insurer the minute you can, because there's going to be hundreds, if not thousands of others doing the same thing. It can take a long time due to the volume of,
one other recommendation I would put towards any property owner, whether you are an investor or a private owner, but this is what we do for the investors, is that we monitor the trees.
So if there is a tree that is close to, or even overhanging the roof of the house, we will recommend to the owner to cut it back, cut it out, Maintain that tree so that it doesn't cause the damage. And again, that comes under preventative maintenance. Sure. So that one, it doesn't block the gutters. And then two, that a branch is not likely to become a missile and crash into anything if it snaps off the actual trunk.
So that's where preventative maintenance has to include trees.
Perfect. Great advice. Look, I, I think it's clear that both proactive measures and, you know, responsive actions play a critical role in minimising damage and ensuring that, you know, tenants are safe. So for our listeners managing properties in cyclone prone or just, you know, storms, you know, massive storm areas, remember these tips and consider a professional property, management service such as, Sutherland's Property Management Group for their expert assistance.
And have a look@spg.com au for more information. Thanks for tuning into our podcast, and, thanks for coming in Colleen and giving us such valuable insights into, what is always a big issue here and we're just about to come into it yet again here, in Southeast Queensland.
Absolutely. Thanks, Adam.