The National Landlords Association (NLA), the UK’s leading representative for landlords, has welcomed new national guidance aimed at preventing the 300 deaths per year caused by residential property fires.
In 2006 the fire service attended 55,800 fires in houses and flats, in which 373 people died and 11,200 people were injured. For every one fire that the fire service attends there are four others that are not reported, with some 300,000 fires recorded in surveys during 2004/5
The guidance, Housing – Fire Safety, was developed by LACORS, the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).
The guidance provides advice on how to keep residential buildings safe from fire, explains how to carry out a fire risk assessment and includes a range of case studies.
The guidance applies to existing residential accommodation including single family houses, bedsits, shared houses and flats. It does not apply to new housing that is built to modern building regulations.
The guidance also assists councils and fire and rescue authorities who enforce fire safety legislation in residential accommodation. It will help them to adopt a more consistent risk-based approach.
David Salusbury, chairman of the National Landlords Association, said: “With so much potentially confusing fire safety legislation now in force, this new LACORS guidance creates a single document setting out landlords’ obligations.
“Many landlords want to know what they need to install because they are following good practice and want to avoid the need for enforcement. Although the guidance will not remove the need for enforcement at times, landlords can now find out what they need to do to comply with the law.
“Fire safety legislation applies to all types of housing, whether it is owner-occupied, rented, single occupancy or a house in multiple occupation. The new LACORS guidance sets out recommendations for all these categories and with the inclusion of a foreword by a minister should be considered official guidance.
“Fire safety in rented property, particularly in HMOs, has long been a vexed subject. Tales abound of landlords feeling aggrieved by what they regard as inflexible environmental health departments forcing them to incorporate unnecessary and expensive fire safety measures in their rental property, often with a detrimental effect on the appearance of the building. The launch of the new national fire safety guidance is testament to what can be achieved by dialogue and cooperation. We welcome the production of the LACORS guidance that landlords should regard as sensible and overdue.”
Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, chairman of LACORS, said: “It’s important that landlords carry out a fire risk assessment and make sure their properties have the right safety measures in place. Tenants have the right to expect that their accommodation is safe and that they will not be injured in a fire.
“Councils have an important role to play in fire safety and are working closely with fire and rescue authorities and local landlords to cut household fires, which claim more than 300 lives each year. But those landlords who intentionally flout the law can expect to face tough action in the courts.”
Chief Fire Officer Iain Cox from the Chief Fire Officers’ Association said: “Fire and Rescue Authorities welcome the publication of this new guidance which should make it easier for landlords and other housing providers to comply with the law and therefore reduce the number of deaths and injuries from fire in residential accommodation. CFOA are particularly pleased that the guidance has received such wide support from all parties with an interest in managing fire safety.”
