Fire safety legislation that impacts landlords and residential dwellings

Commercial Fire Safety · 12th July 2016

Fire safety is a crucial element of any premises, and rented residential properties are no different; as a landlord, you have a legal obligation to ensure all facets of fire safety legislation is met. Therefore, this month we’ll be looking at the main areas of fire safety legislation that affects landlords.

What legislation is relevant to my property?

The wide variety of buildings out there means that there are an equally varied host of legislative measures that may or may not apply to your building, depending on its type and how and to whom you are renting it. We will break this information down into houses and flats, and following this we’ll briefly let you know what this legislation roughly means for you.

Houses

The following legislation is relevant in terraced, semi, detached, and bungalow rented properties:

  1. Rented single household (family) occupation:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015
    D. Licensing Condition, if in a Selective Licensing Area
  2. Rented shared house occupied on joint tenancy by 3 or more persons:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015
    D. Management Regulations
    F. Licensing Condition
  3. Rented bedsits occupied by 3 or more persons:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015
    D. Fire Safety Order
    E. Management Regulations
    F. Licensing Condition, if Mandatorily Licensable or in an Additional Licensing Area

Flats

Regarding flats, the following legislation is relevant in the common parts (i.e. bathrooms, kitchens, hallways, and the route to the exits) of shared, rented properties:

  1. Purpose built blocks:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. Fire Safety Order
  2. Converted flats – Not a section 257 HMO (see Management Regulations notes for application):
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. Fire Safety Order
  3. Converted flats – Section 257 HMO:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. Fire Safety Order
    D. Management Regulations
    E. Licensing Condition, if in Additional Licensing area

The legislation that is relevant for individual, self-contained flats (dwelling behind flat’s front door) includes the following:

  1. Rented single household (family) occupation:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015
    D. Licensing Condition, if in Selective Licensing Area
  2. Rented joint tenancy with 3 or more unrelated occupiers:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England ) Regulations 2015
    D. Management Regulations
    E. Licensing Condition, if in Additional Licensing area
  3. Rented bedsits with 3 or more occupiers:
    A. Building Regulations 2010 Part B
    B. Housing Health & Safety Rating System
    C. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015
    D. Fire Safety Order
    E. Management Regulations
    F. Licensing Condition, if in Additional Licensing area

As you can see, across both houses and flats, the fire safety legislation landlords have to comply with can be extensive, but there is some crossover in the rulings. Therefore, below we’ll be highlighting the main areas of concern that the legislation will likely raise and get you to address.

The areas of most concern

Fire safety legislation often involves addressing the following:

  • Fire doors and fire exits in your property, though how these two are applied depends on the type of building you own.
  • Fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
  • Provision of fire extinguishers.
  • Carrying out fire risk assessments and dealing with any hazards that are identified.

Although this list will highlight some major areas you’ll need to focus on, it is not an exhaustive list, and it is rare that a layman would be able to navigate all of the relevant fire safety legislation for their premises. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you hire a fire safety professional to ensure that you’re fully adhering to the law. For the best fire safety assessment service in the Cheshire area, contact Cheshire Fire now.

Cheshire Fire provide a range of fire safety services including fire alarm installations, fire safety training and free site surveys across the Cheshire area. For a specialised and detailed fire risk assessment tailored for landlords to ensure full compliance with fire safety legislation in rented properties, contact our friendly team today.

All information regarding what fire safety legislation is relevant to each type of rented property is taken from the Residential Landlord’s Association site: http://bit.ly/29xCQL2