Custom app for inspecting and maintaining housing association property
The figures on condition, maintenance and floor area that end up in a housing association's accounts are not generated in the planning and control department. They originate at the property itself, during an inspection, a repair or a tenancy change. If they aren't recorded there, you end up building the year-end report from invoices and reminders.
What is recorded at the property
A housing association's property is valued at current value, and the regulations set out a handbook for doing so. Deferred maintenance is part of that valuation: if it exists, an amount must be included, because market-based standard amounts will not make it good, yet it still reduces value. Whether deferred maintenance exists and where it is, nobody establishes from behind a desk.
From financial year 2023 onwards, floor areas may no longer be taken from the Basic Registry of Addresses and Buildings, nor from the valuation for the Valuation of Immovable Property Act (Wet WOZ). For every dwelling, the usable floor area according to NEN 2580 must be available, and that requires a measurement. You also account for the number of rental units per registered property, and the auditor assesses the accuracy and completeness of that figure. A unit that has been merged and not reported will come to light.
The distinction between maintenance and investment also begins in the field. The definitions of management and maintenance in the valuation handbook flow through into the items for maintenance activities, for letting and management, and for other direct operating costs, in both the annual accounts and the dVi. Whether something is planned maintenance, tenancy-change maintenance or an improvement that is capitalised is decided in practice by whoever writes the work order. The energy label works the same way: for policy value, a standard obligation applies to labels E, F and G, based on the most recent information available. A label that has expired is not always that.
How we build this
Recording happens the moment someone is standing at the property, with the key in hand and the resident in the doorway. Anything that cannot be completed in a few actions there gets filled in later, and becomes an estimate.
A code at the front door or in the meter cupboard opens the correct rental unit with its history attached. Otherwise an observation is logged against an address rather than a unit in your portfolio.
Building component, condition, quantity, defect. The list belongs to the complex type, so a substitute carries out the same inspection.
Maintenance, tenancy-change maintenance or improvement: that choice later determines an item in the annual accounts, and here it can be made at a glance.
Every inspection, repair and tenancy change is attached to the unit, so the accounts become a sum rather than a reconstruction.
What the app does in practice
The inspection at the property carries the whole thing. The rest depends on the size of your portfolio and on whether you work with supervisors or with contractors.
Open rental unit by scanning
A code on the unit opens the correct file with the previous inspections. That prevents an observation from landing on the neighbours' file, which easily happens in a stacked complex.
Condition per building component
A score per element, recorded with the quantity and the defect. That makes it possible to substantiate an amount for deferred maintenance.
Floor area according to the measurement instructions
Dimensions are recorded at the dwelling itself rather than copied from another register, with the date of measurement noted.
Photo of the defect
A crack, a leak, a rotten window frame. A photo with a timestamp makes an observation verifiable as soon as money depends on it.
What is known about the energy label
The cancelled label and what has happened to the dwelling since. See also the energy label app.
Works in cellars and crawl spaces
Coverage drops away in communal entrances, cellars and on roofs. Everything is recorded locally and synchronised later, with the original timestamp.
Who we build for
Who carries out the inspection differs by housing association. Four situations.
Housing associations with their own staff
Your supervisors and maintenance engineers see the stock most often and record the least of it. The gain lies in a condition assessment for work that is already happening, alongside your maintenance planning.
Contractors and maintenance firms
You work for several clients, each with different arrangements. A single record per client avoids merging job sheets afterwards. See also the contractor app.
Valuers and appraisal firms
For the full valuation, the property is fully appraised at least once every three years. What the appraiser finds on site should be recorded against the complex and not only in a report, alongside your property management.
Inspection and consultancy firms
You carry out condition surveys for several housing associations. A separate scope per client prevents duplicate record-keeping. See also the inspection app.
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Complex types are added, element lists are revised and definitions change from one reporting year to the next. Lists, building components and defect types should be configurable and not hard-coded into the app.
Why Appfront
A condition without a quantity is an opinion
We record the extent of each defect per building component. Only then can an amount for deferred maintenance be substantiated to your accountant and your appraiser.
The measurement belongs to the dwelling
We turn the dimensions into an observation with a date and a person attached, not a number that came from somewhere else at some point.
No signal is the norm here
Inspections run through communal entrances, cellars and crawl spaces. Everything is recorded locally with the original timestamp and synchronised later.
We do not value your stock
Market value and policy value come from the handbook and from your appraiser. We build the record-keeping on which that calculation rests.
Security and privacy
An inspection inside a home affects the tenant: who lives there, what was visible inside, which photo was taken. That is more than a technical record. We set access by role and by estate, give a contractor only the units where they have a job, and log who viewed what. Integrations run through secure integrations.
For this subject, the reliability of the moment is the whole point. A condition assessment that is adjusted after the fact, once the amount no longer adds up, is no longer an observation. We record inspections, measurements and photographs in an unalterable way, with time, place and person, even when synchronisation happens later, and we make any correction a visible correction next to the original entry. How we handle security ourselves is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside go through our CVD policy.
Frequently asked questions about capturing on-site
The annual accounts value the property at current value, and where applicable include an amount for outstanding maintenance. In the dVi you account for the number of rental units per registered property, along with their market value and policy value. Those figures come from observations. If you only gather them at year-end close, you are supplying a reconstruction.
From financial year 2023 onwards, it is no longer permitted to use the floor areas from the Basic Registration of Addresses and Buildings or from the valuation for the WOZ Act. For every dwelling, the usable floor area under NEN 2580 must be available. For many housing associations, that meant a catch-up exercise followed by routine updates whenever a change occurs.
The building component, the nature of the defect, its extent, and a photo with a timestamp. Without the extent it remains an opinion, yet it is precisely the amount that ends up in the valuation. For the policy value, a correction is then made for what is already included in the multi-year maintenance budget, so the alignment with that budget belongs in the record itself.
For each unit we record which label has been deregistered and what has happened to the dwelling since. For the policy value, labels E, F and G carry a standard obligation, and you should use the most recent information available for them. Deregistered labels do not always give an accurate picture, given changes in the methodology and in the dwelling itself.
Because the observation takes place on site and has to fit into few actions there. A package that works perfectly in the office is unusable in a stairwell while wearing gloves. The app complements the package; it does not replace it.
Yes. Cellars, crawl spaces, communal entrances and roofs are places where coverage drops out. Everything is recorded locally and synchronised later, keeping the original timestamp. That moment belongs to the finding, especially if a cost is later attached to it.
Yes. We give a contractor or agency access to its own units and period, so that its observations land in the same history as those of your own supervisors. That prevents you from having to merge two sources at the end, with slightly different building components and scores.
This app is about the moment at the dwelling: the inspection, the defect, the measurement, the photo. The software for dVi and dPi is about the office work afterwards: the build-up, the reconciliation with the annual accounts and the submission. The core process remains in your housing association software and your tenancy administration.
Where does your maintenance figure actually come from?
For one estate, ask for the justification of the backlog maintenance and check whether a quantity and a date are attached. If not, your valuation contains an amount that nobody can account for. We build this as a standalone app and as part of a broader custom app development project.