Property Guardians' Act
PROPERTY GUARDIANS' & HOW TO PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS
From our, property guardians, experience, we believe the following topics must be legally applied to protect the health & safety and legal rights of the property guardians.
Property owners and property management companies must have clearly, legally defined responsibilities towards the property guardians.
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Property guardians do pay rent; mostly described as "license fee" on their contracts.
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Property guardians are given keys to their allocated spaces, which are rooms they mostly live and sleep.
1
ACT
All properties ( council/private) that are made available for property guardianship must have an HMO license.
*Being a council property managed by a private management company cannot be an exception to that.
2
ACT
The Health and Safety of all guardians must be the most important thing. All properties must be compliant with up-to-date Fire Safety Regulations. All property guardians must be provided a booklet of their legal rights as property guardians for guidance along with the evacuation route from their room and the fire assembly point..
3
ACT
The deposits of the property guardians must be protected, just like tenants.
*Some property guardians have to wait months to receive back their deposits
4
ACT
There must be regular maintenance/repair inspections in the property and the reports must be kept as long as the property is available for living. The property management must attend health&safety risks immediately; the maintenance/repair within 7 days. and provide cleaning of the communal areas of the property on a regular basis.
*Some properties are very large commercial properties and it cannot be expected for property guardians to clean the whole property. Hazard wastes due to infestation or damage must also be attended/cleaned by the property management companies- not the property guardians-.
5
ACT
The property manager representative responsible for the property must have a photo and contact info framed at a visible part of the property. The person must be known and available to all property guardians who leave there.
*This is to avoid strangers walking in the property acting like they work for the agency.
6
ACT
The clauses on the contract like "cannot talk to the media about the property management company/property" must be removed from all contracts.
In terms of privacy, property management companies must not take photos of the private belongings or the beds of the property guardians as a part of their so-called "inspection" process.