We are now half way through Electrical Fire Safety Week, an annual event designed to raise awareness of the importance of fire safety in the home, which affects landlords as well as regular homeowners.
All landlords, irrespective of how many properties they own, have a duty of care to their tenants to carry out thorough and regular fire safety risk assessments in order to identify what (if any) fire hazards there may be inside a property, assess what level of risk there is to tenants and their visitors, and see if there are any steps to be taken to control those risks.
One of the most basic fire prevention steps is to install a working smoke alarm—something that ALL homes should have, irrespective of whether they are rented or not. Smoke alarms installed in rental accommodation must be wired into the mains to avoid the need for batteries (something that, unfortunately, too many people forget to replace regularly). However, in some types of accommodation, for example HMOs, more complex fire alarm systems may be required.
Landlords also need to ensure that any furnishings (if provided) adhere to fire safety standards—this could be a problem if you have furnished a property with older items, especially sofas and chairs that were manufactured before fire safety regulations were tightened. And don’t forget to check your electrics: Faulty wiring and dodgy appliances are a major cause of fires in the home!
If in doubt about what your legal and moral obligations in respect of fire safety are, make sure you find out before you end up dealing with the after-effects of a fatal fire in one of your properties.
