The dangers of contracting uninsured Tradespeople

We are all aware that litigation is common in our society today, being influenced by the litigious attitudes.

With newspaper, television and internet media commonly making us aware of litigation cases for the purposes of maximising readership and selling advertising space, the result of that exposure is that litigation has become more commonplace.

Property management is in no way immune to litigation and one area of concern is injury to tenants and/or their visitors or damage to property caused by tradespeople. As professional agents, it is our duty to ensure that all tradespeople are screened not only for their qualifications, but also to ensure that they have adequate public liability insurance.

However, we do come across landlords from time to time who wish to contract their own tradespeople, not being aware if they have adequate qualifications or the right insurance cover should something go wrong. Where a landlord chooses to do this, we are unable to deal with these preferred tradespeople directly because we have no way of knowing they are qualified or insured to perform the work required, leaving us exposed to risk.

So, because of this we insist with our clients that all work be performed by OUR qualified tradespeople, specially selected for their quality and reasonable rates.