The relationship between poorly maintained properties and health and the benefits of IoT
iOpt Blog – December2019
Why educating tenants in using IoT technology is an answer to fuel poverty
Dane Ralston, founder and MD of iOpt, looks at the downward spiral effect of the way some tenants manage their properties, which can have an adverse impact on the internal environment of a property and as a result, the tenants’ health. Dane explores how educating tenants in using the latest IoT technology can significantly improve their health, in addition to maintaining the internal health of the property and limiting the amount of maintenance and repairs required.
“It’s a sad fact that too many households in the UK cannot afford to keep their homes warm and dry. In Scotland, where we are based, recent statistics released by the Scottish Government show that 845,000 households (35% of the population) are living in fuel poverty, with levels far higher in rural areas at 50%. The report[1] also highlights the fact that these households tend to suffer from, or are put at risk of, poor health and wellbeing outcomes and lower education attainment.
“Unfortunately, when tenants do not keep their homes warm and dry, it tends to open up a vicious circle of ever decreasing well-being inside a property – both in terms of the property itself and its occupants. Tenants are often completely unaware that the property they are living in can in fact be damaging to their health.
“We know that the Scottish Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and making homes warmer and more energy efficient through the development of the Scottish Fuel Poverty Bill. This seeks to achieve a target of no more than 5% of Scottish Households in fuel poverty by 2040.
“In order to achieve this target, we believe harnessing the power of the latest IoT technology will be absolutely instrumental. It will help asset managers have more visibility of the condition of their properties, enable the monitoring of them remotely, and as a result, nip potential issues concerning tenant health in the bud before they become significant. At the same time, the technology will cut down on the amount of maintenance visits required. Being able to tackle issues such as a damp and mould as early as possible means that tenants’ quality of life as well as the value of the asset can improve.
“IoT technology also gives tenants the opportunity to take responsibility for the condition of their properties by providing them with advice and understanding of how their homes are performing. This, in turn, provides peace of mind for tenants knowing properties are being monitored effectively and potential problems, including those which may impact their health, will be picked up before they become significant issues.
“In many ways, installing IoT technology within residential properties is a no brainer. It increases the efficiency of managing properties. With more demands placed on asset managers in terms of housing regulations, coupled with ever decreasing resource, IoT is a very scalable and relatively inexpensive way of managing properties and all that entails. It enables asset managers to spend more time working with their tenants as opposed to constantly firefighting and visiting their properties. It also helps to prioritise tasks and allocate resources appropriately.
“Due to the cost point to date, a scaled roll out of IoT projects relating to residential property hasn’t been feasible. However, new technology coming through such as LoRaWAN has made this much more viable. I suspect in future, IoT based property services will look more like a one stop shop. We will find individual sensors will have more systems in them that can be turned off and on based on the needs of the tenants. They will be far more integrated with existing systems, and will make the workflow smoother, which in turn will make asset management teams more efficient. The technology involved will ultimately get cheaper, making this a much more feasible option to asset managers. Coupled with this will be an educational process that will take place with tenants to enable them to understand the systems used, so they will be able to work the technology themselves to their ultimate benefit.”
To find out more, please contact us via email at info@ioptassets.com
ENDS
[1] Scottish Government Scottish Fuel Poverty Strategic Working Group report: A Scotland without fuel poverty is a fairer Scotland: Four Steps to achieving sustainable, affordable and attainable warmth and energy use for all.
