Fire Safety Regulations For Landlords ...

[joko]

can anyone to direct me to some very comprehensive guides to the rules of the above please?

i want to check a few things

recently my bro has had a fire safety inspection and the result seems rather over the top - my mum is very upset and i am now wondering if my rather pompous, mouthy, cocky brother has gone into the meeting with a *** attitude - as usual - and they have got annoyed with him and given him a massive list of stuff because of this

i know this would not be professional - but they are human and frankly he is a nightmare and i would not blame them one bit if they did!
though it could just be that the inspector was a bit of a jobsworth -
or it could be all totally by the book and just seems excessive to us.

however we of course want to know how much of it is advisory and how much is enforceable.

my mum even said we cant afford it and will have to just evict the tenants and sell up then, rather than pay £30,000 for a property that brings in less than a few hundred a week ... and they said the judge will frown on that and it will go against you in the prosecution ... well what prosecution?!
if there are no tenants and the building is for sale - there is nothing to prosecute for!
they own the property and surely they are entitled to sell it for whatever reasons they choose!

so we are waiting for the official report but would like to view some official documents in the meantime.

thanks all

[Buenchico]

From the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service:
http://www.dsfire.gov.uk/yoursafety/SafetyAtWorkandotherplaces/Adviceforlandlordsandlettingagents/documents/Firesafetyadvicetolandlords.pdf

From the Residential Landlords Association (although it probably doesn't add much to the above):
http://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/guides/housing_act/firesafety.shtml

From a commercial website (but a model of clarity, nonetheless):
http://www.safelincs.co.uk/fire-safety-information-for-landlords/

[Peter Pedant]

I have never had a fire inspection and have always complied with what the tenants said they wanted ( alarms mostly )

I presume a fire inspection was made because of a complaint ?
and the house is an HMO - house in multiple occupation ?

When you have the Man from the Ministry with the rules in his hand - it is unwise as you say to be mouthy cocky and the rest of it

30k to get a house into the fire safety net seems a bit over-the-top
and it sounds as tho they are planning a prosecution to be honest

and yes I agree they have shown a lot of their hand to the authorities already.

I agree you have to wait fot the official papers

[Dogsbody2]

My understanding is the same as PP. Houses in Multiple Occupation require a fire safety assessment by a competent person, as hence a fire safety plan, including a safe system of exit.

A single property where the whole of the property is tenanted requires to satisfy normal domestic building regulations plus some mandated requirements regarding working smoke alarms (and these are part of domestic building regulations for a new / updated property anyway).

So please tell us what has happened here to demand that a fire safety officer has deemed it important enough to undertake an inspection?

[Dogsbody2]

tenanted as a whole, to a family, that is

[Gavmacp]

Joko,
I think we have the same brother!

[Peter Pedant]

twenty years ago there was a planning programme series
where one old boy rued the day he had made a joke about the LIttle Hitlers in planning offices - twenty one years before !

basically they can make capricious recommendations
and these as the documents say are appealable
and the criteria to overturn may well be - no one would ever make such a recommendation ( = test in Wednesbury perversity ) which is kinda a high hurdle to get over. Specialised area - I can see lawyers rubbing their hands

You cant turn back the clock
but on the inspection they really should have run around saying

O yes sir ! O really - do you think that or could we ... ?

£30k sounds like they have prescribed a metal outside fire escape for the first or second floor isnt it ?

[themas]

I agree it would seem to be an HMO. But I’m a bit puzzled because you would expect the total rental income in that case to be more than “less than a few hundred a week”.

The other thing is that HMOs have to be licensed & you would expect the inspection to be carried out pretty soon after the application for the license was made. From what the OP says, it appears the property has already been let out for some time.

Perhaps joko could clarify.

If it is an HMO & the regulations have not been complied with then a prosecution is possible – whether or not it has since ceased to be an HMO. I’m confused as to whether the reference to prosecution is in relation to the regulations or to evicting the tenants. It would certainly not apply to the latter. Provided they have assured shorthold tenancies and the correct procedure is followed there should be no problem. In any case, any Court action in relation to eviction is in the County Court & is not a prosecution.

[joko]

it is about 4 bedsits above a shop,
the shop is unused except for storage.

there was a build up of rubbish in the alleyway at the back - apparently nothing to do with the flats, but when they came to inspect it they looked through the shop window and noticed a hole in the ceiling - about the size of a dinner plate
so they wanted immediate access - they said it was unsafe and if they could evict the tenants immediately if we didn't let them see it, and then go to b&q and buy a sheet of fireproof plasterboard an cover the door with it within a few hours ...

we did this and they okayed it but came back for proper inspection.

all tenants are on dhss and they are just one room bedsits and there are 3 of them, so they dont really bring in much money per week.

i do understand how yes there are probably things need doing, but £30,000?

my bro spoke to the fire safety officer on the phone and i could tell he was arguing away and being rude as the guy was visibly getting exasperated and sighing etc.
he was upset about my mum being upset - but of course they are not just going to not do their job because my mums upset! i was upset about it too - my dad died a few months back and she never dealt with any of this stuff.

[Dogsbody2]

Sorry, but HMO do need a proper fire safety plan, and it seems these flats don't seem to have one. This plan is to ensure that, in the event of a fire in one part of the building there is adequate separation between different parts of the building to hold back the progress of fire, as well as adequate 'protected routes' for residents to escape to the ground floor. These inspection people are just doing their job.

£30k is a huge sum of money to have to spend, and it isn't clear where you got this figure from. One possible solution to providing an acceptable escape route is a rear metal fire escape, and as PP pointed out above, one might have to invest this sort of money to install one of these - but there may be other ways to make the building comply.

Either way as a landlord of HMO one has to treat this seriously and it is a wonder the building has already been tenanted as a HMO without proper checking.

[Dogsbody2]

You asked in your OP about the 'rules' and this is probably a good place to start, with links to the individual aspects of fire safety legislation.

https://www.firesafe.org.uk/houses-in-multiple-occupation/