8 minute read
The ever-changing complexities of energy
Full of Energy
How one company keeps up with the complexities and ever-changing policies and laws of the property industry
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Aban on the purchase of natural gas boilers is expected by 2026 in favour of hydrogen. It’s part of the government’s race to reduce the use of fossil fuels and reach its net zero target by 2030. And, as of 2025, no gas boilers should be installed in new-build UK homes.
But the conditions of the ban, and its dates, are changing frequently. Landlords and lettings agencies need to keep their eye on such regulations as it could cost thousands if they fail to meet criteria, and the switch from natural gas to hydrogen is something they’ll need to budget for.
The gas boiler ban is a perfect recent example of how important it is to stay up to date in the property industry. But many laws and regulations are consistently being updated and altered and it can be hard to keep up.
Gas, heating, and electrical industry specialist Sham Singh, Director at CRS, commented: “As with all industries, the gas and heating industry is evolving to tackle the challenges of climate change and reduce pressure on the world’s resources.”
For busy landlords and agents, it can be near on impossible to juggle maintenance, repairs, customer services, inspections, admin, and all other related property activity.
“Landlords and agencies still need to keep up with their legal responsibilities,” says Sham, who is continuously helping transform the industry for the better of people who own and manage properties. Here’s how CRS works their magic.
Smooth operators
Multiple documents, such as gas safety certificates, are required for every property annually or upon change of tenancy. Sham reduces the stress for all parties with his services at CRS by sorting out all the paperwork and legalities. The team keeps up to date with changes in the industry, pursues new qualifications, flexes around the development of the national infrastructure and changing times, whilst adapting to the evolving ways in which people prefer to communicate.
The upcoming redesign and re-release of service plans at CRS have also been made with landlords and agencies in mind, covering all of the legal bases with regard to gas and electric, and keeping landlords informed about any recommended work in their properties. It’s reduced admin for agents in terms of having engineers attend to issues through free diagnostic visits, improving the customer experience for tenants, and becoming an attractive USP for future tenants.
“When clients pay monthly, they get all diagnostic visits, and mandatory certification at no extra charge. They must have all the safety certificates done annually anyway, and our monthly service offers great savings on that.”
A typical example of an HMO (house of multiple occupancy) would require EICR, fire/smoke alarm testing,
emergency lighting testing, and a gas safety check, which CRS covers as well as all diagnostic visits from £12pm.
The industry’s communication issues
“For any given rental agent, most of their admin comes down to property defects,” Sham told me. “The tenant calls the agent, the agent calls the landlord, the landlord has to think about it, and they eventually get in touch with us. Things can deteriorate in that time.
“We’re quick and reactive, but that’s because of our systems and processes allowing us that fluidity of service.
To strengthen communication further, CRS Electrical was launched this year. CRS Gas & Heating specialises in services, breakdowns, repairs, and maintenance, but often find that problems in properties are caused by electrics.
“An agency might send out an electrician to have a look at the immersion heater but they then have to pass it to us because they get to a stage where they can’t continue the work as their knowledge isn’t based in gas and heating. So, we created CRS Electrical to save clients’ money, they’re not having two lots of charges from two different companies, and two diagnostic charges.”
A new level of customer care
There is an importance in treating tenants as the customers, despite them not being the bill-payers. Service providers are operating in their homes and should respect them as such. As well as that, Sham says they are representing their customers (landlords and agents) as part of their service provision.
“This call comes down to good infrastructure. The tenant needs to be well informed at all times. Sometimes the tenant might not be in so they don’t even know what work we’ve done in their home,” Sham explained.
Tenants get an Uber-style tracking service notifying engineers’ time of arrival and receive a full report of the work carried out, which is all handled by CRS’s automated systems. “Those systems and processes allow our engineers on the front line to do the best possible job, the landlord and agency to be fully informed, and the tenant to be happy and stress-free.”
A new 24/7 engineer advice app is currently being tested by CRS. It provides an out-of-hours service with video call convenience. Out-of-hours services can normally cost up to two times the average rate, but with the app, landlords and agencies will only pay an average of £15.
On how it works, Sham explained: “Not all problems wait for a convenient time to surface. If a tenant needs help at 02:30, who do they turn to if they need someone to advise? They can video call us with their emergency and we can tell them where to find their stop taps, gas meter, fuse board, and more because we’ll have all that information at the tip of our fingers.
“Pass us your stresses and strains, and let’s see if we can’t shoulder the burden better, together.”
Call CRS on 0116 262 5788 for help and advice.
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