- top commercial property protection experts warn that cautious companies may miss best of UK commercial property recovery

Mark Cosh, European Director of vacant property security and maintenance specialist SitexOrbis (www.sitexorbis.co.uk), says major property companies and commercial landlords should review their vacant property portfolios as the commercial property market is showing signs of recovery.

Reports just published by property consultants Colliers CRE and CB Richard Ellis show that commercial property prices have risen sharply this autumn, with values rising 2% in October alone.

CB Richard Ellis’ report concludes that commercial property prices have risen sharply this autumn, with values rising 2% in October alone.  IPD has reported that the 3rd quarter of 2009 marked the first growth in UK commercial property values since 2007.

Yet recent reports indicate that repairs and maintenance budgets for vacant property that were drastically cut a year ago have not yet been restored.  Consequently, many buildings need a lot of work before they can be let.

Regular property inspections and promptly carried out maintenance work will ensure that buildings are kept airtight and watertight, and will minimise the security risks.  However, Mark Cosh at SitexOrbis points out that clients should look for new technologies that can provide cost-effective property maintenance and security services to ensure that vacant property is ready for re-letting early in 2010.  He makes the point that SitexOrbis has developed a full range of security and property protection services that meet just about every need that landlords of vacant property can encounter, all from one organisation.  Not only that, SitexOrbis clients can view the progress of their work on-line and in real time, thereby avoiding the hassle of travel and avoiding losing precious time. This concept helps landlords, especially those whose companies are not large enough to have their own specialists on the staff, because all the different professional disciplines are on hand to tackle the problems and devise appropriate solutions to meet customers’ needs and comply with insurance stipulations at the same time.

SitexOrbis services include utility shut-downs, rubbish clearance, mould eradication, property inspections and site security.  New technologies improve operational efficiency and save cost for the clients.  For example, eMAKS enables letting agents, contractors and others to use one key to access up to 6,000 doors that they are entitled to enter, and eliminates the risk of losing potential tenants because the agent has collected the wrong key for the viewing.  By removing the need for people to drive miles to collect the right key, eMAKS also benefits the environment.  (www.sitexorbis.com/eMaks)

eMAKS also eliminates the risk of somebody gaining unauthorised access to the software that encrypts the keys, and provides, when necessary, an independently verifiable audit trail that confirms which locks the key has opened, the date and times of the actuations, and the period of time for which the visitor was inside the room or premises. 

Another example is mould removal.  Mould normally occurs within damp and poorly ventilated buildings, and SitexOrbis offers a four-stage mould removal service to eliminate mould on the affected areas of the structure.  To complete the job, the new SitexOrbis vaporisation service kills mould spores in the air and on fixtures and fittings, thereby ensuring total eradication of mould infestations. (www.sitexorbis.com/mould)

“Landlords need to get property ready for re-letting now in time for the big increase in demand expected in 2010” said Mark Cosh. “Top-quality security improvement and building maintenance takes time.  And landlords don’t have much of it.  The time to act is now”.