Fire Safety Information

Worrying that your investment property may be at risk from fire can keep a landlord up at night. Are there enough emergency exits? Who is liable in the event of a fire? Do the smoke alarms work? Making sure that your buy to let house is secure in the event of a fire is a route to peace of mind, not to mention a successful buy to let business.

Fire safety information 

If you are certain that your house does not fall under the classification of an HMO (House in Multiple Occupation), there are no specific fire regulations for residential tenanted properties in England and Wales.

However, furniture, fittings and fire alarms are all subject to regulations. If you are unsure of whether your property complies with any of the regulations outlined below, you could contact your local fire prevention officer. Your duty, under common law, is to provide a safe property for your tenants. Building regulations are put in place to outline these safety measures, and they may include:

Means for emergency exit, particularly for upper floors

Fire alarms and fire extinguishers

Smoke alarms

Fire extinguishers and a kitchen fire blanket

You should carry out an annual safety check to assess the risk of your property, and closely document it. Should a tenant complain about the safety of the property, the defence of ‘due diligence’ may be made if you have done so. This means that the landlord, or the agent acting on behalf of the landlord, has taken as many precautions as possible in order to ensure the safety of their tenants. Documentary evidence of the measures that you have taken can save hardship.

Fire alarms and smoke alarms

When it comes to fire alarms, building regulations require that all properties built after June 1992 must have a mains operated smoke alarm fitted to every level of the property. Even if your property does not need to comply with these regulations, it is still highly advisable to provide battery operated smoke alarms on every level of the property. The responsibility for testing whether the smoke alarms work, and maintaining them, can lie with the landlord, the agent or the tenant. It should be made clear in the tenancy agreement if the tenant is required to carry this out, or in the management agreement if the agent is required to. Landlords should provide tenants with instructions for operating this type of appliance, and for the procedure to adopt in an emergency.

Fire precautions

Any precautions with fire that you take, such as fire blankets or fire extinguishers, could save hardship for your tenants in the event of an emergency as well as saving you time and money repairing damage. Fire extinguishers should be serviced regularly.