For the last year, I’ve discussed the new NSPIRE standards with property management professionals all across the country. While many of the new standards strike people as a shift towards “common sense”, there are many areas that come as a surprise to many. First, there’s the new focus on safety and design standards. Then, there’s new scoring that emphasizes the condition of units. Moreover, there are new requirements that include design standards based on standardized building codes.
However, with all that – the thing that surprises property management professional the most — are the sheer number of deficiencies that need to be repaired within 24 hours.
Under the predecessor to NSPIRE, UPCS, there were only seven deficiencies that required 24-hour repairs. Under NSPIRE, this has skyrocketed to 239 unique deficiencies that require immediate action. This surprising fact is one of the things that always gets people’s attention.
A Dramatic Shift in 24-Hour Healthy and Safety Requirements
Why such a drastic shift in the number of 24-hour health and safety issues? One of the original objectives of NSPIRE was to ensure that properties conducted regular preventative maintenance. With regular preventative maintenance, properties tend to have fewer health and safety concerns and a better living environment for residents. One way to encourage preventative maintenance was to ensure that properties would have to respond quickly after inspections or face non-compliance issues.
Property owners and managers who skipped regular preventative maintenance have found themselves faced with an unsustainable onslaught of issues to correct after inspections, in addition to failing or substandard scores. Of course there’s something to learning the “hard-way”, but it’s always wise to avoid such painful lessons.
Preparing for the New NSPIRE Health and Safety Repair Standards
This requires properties to keep up on their preventative maintenance with an eye towards NSPIRE deficiencies and perform methodical and thorough Pre-NSPIRE Inspections. These pre-inspections need to focus on the letter of the standards – not what you may have observed first-hand on prior NSPIRE or REAC Inspections. Many of the standards have evolved in practice since October of 2023, and inspectors are constantly learning more about the new NSPIRE standards.
Just like flakes of snow, no two NSPIRE inspections are exactly alike. One of greatest enemies that managers face are false expectations. The only defense is to learn to prepare for NSPIRE inspections by the book and use your knowledge of the standards as your guide. The best way to ensure that you don’t get caught up in an avalanche of 24-hour issues is to properly prepare.
Three Basic Principles to Success on NSPIRE Inspections
There’s no checklist that will ensure you get it all right before your inspection. What you need is a keen eye and a focus on details, and the right principles as your guide. Here are our three basic principles to finding success on NSPIRE Inspections.
- Follow the NSPIRE Standards
- There are No Shortcuts to Safety
- Success is Contagious
The last of these principles is perhaps the most important. Properly preparing and learning the NSPIRE standards leads to better overall compliance and an easier time at managing your properties. Once you learn the new NSPIRE standards, and see how important health and safety is, then your scores will reflect your diligence, and you won’t ever turn back.
