As a landlord, it goes without saying that you must keep the property you provide your tenants with safe and free from health hazards, and that obviously includes fire safety. But when it comes to fire regulations, are you actually aware of your obligations?
With research showing that people who live in rented or shared accommodation are seven times more likely to experience a fire, Allsaved’s fire safety expert Harry Woodage is urging landlords to be aware of the dangers and be proactive in taking measures to prevent fires, and avoid potential fines and criminal proceedings.
As a landlord, you must follow safety regulations, and that includes providing a smoke alarm on each storey and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid fuel burning appliance, such as a coal fire or wood burning stove.
You must also check you have access to escape routes at all times, ensure the furniture and furnishings you supply are fire safe, provide fire alarms and extinguishers if the property is a large house in multiple occupation (HMO).
Woodage offers the following tips:
Assessing the risk
Knowing what’s legally required can be confusing, so landlords may benefit from conducting a thorough fire risk assessment. These professional reviews, carried out by fire safety experts, help the landlord to carry out practical measures to reduce the risk of fire, and of a fire spreading if it does break out. Regulations vary depending on whether properties are purpose-built flats, bedsits or converted flats, and a fire risk assessment will help to establish which laws are applicable in each scenario.
Raising the alarm
Following a consultation on property conditions in the private rented sector, legislation was introduced which required landlords to install working smoke and carbon dioxide alarms in their properties or face fines of up to £5,000.
Smoke alarms must now be fitted on every floor of a building and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid fuel burning appliance, such as a coal fire or wood-burning stove. Alarms need to be tested at the start of every tenancy.
Landlords must also ensure that if a fire develops tenants should have access to an escape route at all times.
Electrical safety
Faulty electrics pose the risk of causing electric shocks, but they can also be responsible for sparking fires. Latest figures from the Home Office show that faulty appliances and leads caused 16% of all accidental fires in the home.
Landlords are responsible for the safety of the appliances they supply and must make sure that they are regularly PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) tested. This means that appliances such as microwaves, kettles and toasters are checked for faults by experts.
Along with electrical equipment, landlords need to ensure that sockets and light fittings are safe, as well as all wiring, fuses and circuit breakers.
Furniture and furnishings
Every item of furniture provided in a rented property must be fire resistant. This includes sofas, beds, headboards, nursery furniture, cushions, seat pads and garden furniture that is used indoors.
If the furniture was bought from a reputable trader after 1988 it should be fire safe. To check, look for the permanent label, which should be stitched somewhere out of sight. The exceptions are mattresses, divans and bed bases, which are covered by the British safety standard BS 7177. Landlords should look out for this number on these items.
Future outlook
The recent government-commissioned Hackitt review concluded that the UK’s building regulations were not ‘fit for purpose’ and leave room for fire safety ‘shortcuts’.
The government has pledged to deliver reforms, so it’s highly likely that more stringent legislation to ensure tenants are afforded the highest level of protection possible will be introduced.
Landlords may have to deliver more thorough safety measures and face stiffer penalties if they fail to comply. They would be well advised to acquaint themselves with their obligations before any reforms are put in place.
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Misleading to state that landlords who provide appliances 'must make sure that they are regularly PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) tested'. Advisable yes, common sense yes, but not mandatory under current laws.
OK so you spend X amount of £s on PAT texting your equipment that tenants use. Firstly PAT testing is only as good at the time of testing. The minute the tester walks out of the door anything can happen to that appliance to make it unsafe. i.e. a tenant can pull the fridge away from the wall to retrieve his benefit cheque and rupture the lead. Secondly you have tested everything you supply but the tenant goes to a car boot sale and picks up a pair of hair straighteners which are faulty. Plugs them in forgets to turn them off and hey presto they have burnt the flat down along with their benefit cheque! Who actually dreams up these rules and regulations?
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