What property and FM teams hold
- Handover information: O&M manuals, as-built drawings, asset registers and health and safety files.
- Maintenance history: planned preventive maintenance records, reactive repair logs and job sheets.
- Surveys and inspections: condition surveys, fire risk assessments, compliance testing and inspection photos.
- Project records: refurbishment and capital works you commissioned.
Long-term records of how real buildings perform are rare, and they're useful for anything that predicts maintenance needs, assesses condition or plans refurbishment.
The rights question is different for you
Property managers often hold records they didn't create and that their company doesn't own:
- Records about your clients' buildings. If you manage on behalf of landlords, freeholders or residents' management companies, the records may belong to them, or your management agreement may limit how you use them.
- Handover documents. O&M manuals and as-built drawings were produced by the contractor and consultants, and their copyright position (see the general contractors guide) carries over.
- Records you created. Maintenance logs, your own inspections and your own photos are generally the most straightforward, subject to your management agreements.
For buildings your company owns as well as manages, the picture is simpler.
Personal data: the biggest task
Residential property records are dense with personal data: residents' and leaseholders' names, contact details, repair requests describing people's homes and circumstances, and photos inside flats. This all has to be removed or protected under UK GDPR before anything is shared, and some categories (for example, anything revealing health or vulnerability) need particular care. Commercial property records are usually lighter on personal data but may carry tenant confidentiality.
Higher-risk residential buildings
If you manage buildings in the Building Safety Act 2022 regime, the safety information you keep for them is part of a regulated record, and some of it, such as fire strategy details, may be security-sensitive. Consider leaving these buildings out, or limiting what's included, and check your obligations first.
Getting ready
- Separate buildings you own from buildings you manage for others.
- For managed buildings, check what your management agreements say about records.
- Identify which systems hold maintenance and inspection history, and how far back it goes.
Is maintenance data useful without the original construction records?
It can be. Long maintenance histories are useful in their own right, though they're more useful alongside as-built information.
Do we need our clients' agreement?
For buildings you manage on someone else's behalf, usually yes, or at least a careful reading of your agreement with them.