Smoke Alarms - do you comply?

Under building regulations, any property built or substantially modified after June 1992 requires mains powered smoke detectors / alarms to be provided – one per level and interlinked as required.  Prior to 1992 there was no such requirement leading some landlords to believe that they did not have to provide any alarms.  Whilst this may be true for owner occupiers, the situation changes where there is a landlord / tenant relationship.

Put simply, if you own and live in a property it must be compliant with building regulations – or at least have been built to building regulations in force at the time.  If you go and change this by taking out the smoke alarms, not keeping them up to date and working or taking out the batteries then no-one is going to come knocking on your door to tell you off. Even if the house burns down with you and your family in it, there is probably going to be little comeback legally speaking. Despite the heavy TV & press advertising backing up a campaign by the Fire Service – ultimately it is your choice, albeit a silly one if you decide to ignore the risks.

Become a landlord however, and the matter is entirely different. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE to provide adequate means of smoke detection and method of alarm.  This has been implied for years in your duty of care towards the tenant, and more recently has been enacted in the Housing Act of 2004 to make it a specific responsibility.  Given that the modern smoke alarm for domestic installation is both reliable and cheap, I am constantly surprised that any landlord would find an excuse not to fit them.

If you are a tenant, you should also take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of yourself and anyone in the home. Test the smoke alarms regularly, change batteries as required (please don’t ever take them out!) and think of the risks.  The following link to the North Wales Fire Service leaflet on fire safety is worth reading (.pdf download)  - FIRE SAFETY LEAFLET

Legislation

  • The Building Regulations 1991 – Smoke Alarms
  • Smoke Detectors Act 1991
  • The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Communal Areas only)
  • The Housing Act 2004 - with specific reference to the Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS)

 

Credits:-

North Wales Fire Service, Direct.gov website

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