HMO

Hi, I live in an apartment block. There is an OMC and management company. Who is responsible to carry out regular fire safety inspections? The management is not doing it and I don't know if my apartment (mainly the fire doors) are compliant or need to be updated. Thank you

Hi, Where can I find information about whether or not I need emergency lighting in a 4 bed HMO (in Wales) please?

Since we have a HMO we had to replace the interior doors of all of our rooms (except bathroom) with those heavy fire doors. We, as well as our tenants are actually LIVING in this house... That means we all go in and out of our rooms (into kitchen, living room, bathroom and back) many times a day... Often with full hands (food, cup of tea, laundry basket, shopping bags and so on...) It is impossible to open these doors with your elbow or three fingers or just quickly leave them open for 2 minutes. They won't even stay open long enough to go through without holding them with one hand. That's why our tenants often end up to stick something underneath the doors to keep them o…

Are fire doors legally required in an unlicensed HMO in England? If your HMO doesn't need licensing as it is four people, does the landlord legally have to provide fire doors including in the kitchen? My landlord doesn't care about guidance and has told me it is my opinion that wee require fire doors and electrical appliance testing and an EICR and a fire risk assessment but he disagrees. He says he doesn't need to do it because it is a small property that doesn't need licencing. we are a three story house, our bathrooms have no windows, our bedroom doors have padlocks on the outside which is how we lock them, the kitchen doesn't have a door at all, our fire alarms a…

Hi Everyone !!! AOV in HMO ? Some Breg Cos require some do not. It appears this may be one of interpretation. What is the authority here ? Lacors? What do you think guys ? Heres what my new Bregs co have asked : Please provide information on Means of escape issue for building. Flats do not have protected entrance halls but are less than 9 meter travel distance from furthest corner to flat entrance door. Flats do not have any kitchens as they are HMO’s. Flats are not separated from the common stair by a protected lobby or common protected corridor as per Diagram 3.7 in Part B. The flats do not comply with small single stair building as per Dia…

Hi, I live in a four storey house divided into four flats. The house s HMO registered.There are two fire doors, at different levels, going up the communal staircases. One was changed some time ago and I have now discovered that it has no intumescent strip. To save time and money would it be possible to fit a surface (stick on) intumescent strip for fire and smoke around the frame, instead of taking the door off and inserting the strip into a groove, which of course is the preferred way? Would this be enough to satisfy regulations? Thanks Keith

Good Evening I have come across the following today and would like people's opinions and if required solutions: A three Storey Victorian house being used as an HMO. To the rear of the premises is a small self-contained flat, the only access to this is through the front door along the protected escape route passing a bedroom, the stairs to the first floor and the kitchen at the rear of the premises, where you then have to go through the back door, into an enclosed courtyard, across the courtyard to the front door of the self-contained flat (only Entrance). So, in the event of the fire alarm being sounded (which is linked), to escape from the self-contai…

I have a query surrounding requirements of works on buildings above 18m high (High risk building) and the Building safety act 2022. i am looking for clarity whether we would need to register with the Building Safety Regulator for the overlay on the roof. Overcovering the existing roof with a new liquid applied roofing system, Replacement of the perimeter handrail and some Associated minor work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I inspect HMOs and i have come across a few cases recently where the modem to give all WiFi in the property is located on the landing on the first floor. Obviously it is here to reach as many rooms as possible. Does it present a fire risk? Is there history of these devices catching fire? If so, enclosing it in a fire boarded cupboard may reduce the signal. We do not want to deprive the occupants ( many of whom may be students) of good WiFi but need to balance this against the risk. Any advice gratefully received.

Hello, This seems very simple to me but Bromley council seem to be making my life difficult. I live in a downstairs flat that i own. Upstairs is owned by Mr DG and he rents it out. Me and Mr DG both own equal share of the freehold. It is considered a HMO The condition of the flat upstairs is terrible and the council have placed an environmental order on him to improve the state of his tenanted flat. Which he has ignored. The council have also put an order on me as a freeholder for fire safety issues due to no fire alarm in the communal area. I have now fitted a fire alarm in the common hallway (which is wired to my own system). But…

I've been out of fire safety for quite some time, so I can't remember where I've read that the single, protected means of escape from a converted house should not contain furnishings or other combustible materials, so could someone point me in the right direction, please? I appreciate housing associations may have their own rules, for example, but this is a house where the freehold owner of the building maintains responsibility for the common areas, but the flats are owner/occupied. These are quite exclusive apartments, and there is a desire to have a small seating area within the means of escape, reasonably close to the entrance door. Clearly, the carpets and …

Hi I am about to purchase a 1 bed flat that is listed as a HMO (although its HMO status is based on "selective licensing"). The main benefit I see to it being an HMO is that it has good fire precaution measures in place. All flats are owner-occupied and there are 8 flats in total in a regency conversion. I am buying a flat on the first floor. It has a lobby entrance as part of the HMO requirements and FD30 fire doors throughout (Main front door, Lounge/kitchen and Bedroom). I want to refurb it and put some of the period features back, including georgian internal doors. My question is if I upgrade the front door to an FD60 fire door, will that be acceptable to r…

Hi all , a big ask here for a complex issue , I own and did rent out a flat years ago in a building converted into 3 flats, the other two flats are presently rented out , I have lived in my flat for the last 30 years. in July 2018 the local fire Brigade did a massive sweep of my county to inspect HMO type properties, I then received a notification of fire deficiencies under the 2005 reform Regulations which required mainly a Grade A LD2 coverage in the common areas , heat detector in each flat all interlinked with grade D single room smoke detectors non interlinked at that time only one flat was rented out. The council state that the building has no authorisation …

Does a HMO require a fire alarm zone plan if so would this fail a maintenance?, as I cannot find anything in the standards. only for commercial buildings.

We have recently completed the maintenance of a HMO property with Grade A system, and have noticed they have no fire alarm zone plan. This is a two storey building. does the standards state they need a zone plan? as I cannot seem to find this anywhere.

Hello, I'm looking for some advice. My parents live in a HMO. It's a 3 storey building with 1 flat to each floor, they live in the top floor and have access to the loft space. I was up there last week and noticed that the builder/electrical installer has not used LZOH cable. The building was new in 2017 when they moved in. It hasn't been laid particularly neatly as some is underneath the insulation and some on top. Can anyone tell me if this is a legal requirement in HMO's? and where the regulations state this? I don't believe that it is in normal residential buildings. I do understand that it is in business premises. Additionally do fitted spotlights, they are LED,…

Hi I wonder if someone can give a little advice! I live in a building with 9 flats over two storey's, its open plan from when you first enter the main door, there is not really a lobby as such, just the space to enter. There are two filights of wooden stairs which are 'open plan' and the staircases themselves are 'open' meaning when I go up the stairs I can see through under the stairs, (basically, if i drop my keys they can go through the back of the stairs to the level below or land on the electric cupboard if its the first flight) Anyway, I have been there 13 years, all nine flats are privately owned and we used to have a resident who would organise the wi…

Hi all, With regards to the fire alarm requirements for a two-storey HMO (Less than 200sqm per storey) can you advise how you would interpret the LD2 alarm standard as per BS5839-6? BS5839-6 dictates detection should be installed in the means of escape, heat detection in the kitchen and smoke detection in the principle habitable room (i.e. lounge) and high risk rooms. My take on this has always been that this should include the bedrooms as in my view, these ARE the principle habitable rooms (where occupants would spend the most time) in a house of Multiple Occupation and thus they also present the higher risk of fire. Would just like to know if others hav…

Hi, I was wondering if anyone on here owned a copy of BS5839-6:2019 and could please tell me the wording of footnote K and footnote L in Table 1. For example, in Table 1 the wording of footnote (A) is "Including premises with long-term lodgers, but not boarding houses, the latter of which are outside the scope of this part of BS 5839." I have attached an image of Table 1 from BS5839-6:2019 which shows the wording of footnotes A, B, C and D. However, I do not have the wording for the other footnotes and I am interested to see the wording of footnotes K and L (which as you can see in the attached image are related to Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)). Th…

Hi, We have a licensed 7 bed HMO which occupies the ground floor, first floor and second floor of a large terraced house. In the basement is a separate two bed flat that we also own (also rented to tenants, but different tenants to the HMO above) that was converted in 2007. At the time the conversion work was inspected by the council and signed off by building regs. The basement flat is fully self contained with its own front and rear doors, it does not share any communal areas with the licensed HMO above other than the rear and front gardens. The basement flat is not included or mentioned on the HMO license for the 7-bed house above and the council did not mention a…

I am currently renovating a property to turn it into a 4 bedroom *** and have a question regarding protected escape routes. Most the existing walls in the property are brick masonry and therefore I assume have adequate fire resistance. However there is a short length of plasterboard wall (shown in red on the picture) leading into the kitchen. I was wondering if this needs to be fire resistant plasterboard? Fire rated plasterboard will actually be applied to the whole of the kitchen ceiling (as well as the hallway), therefore the kitchen is effectively fully fire resistant anyway. Also, does there need to be a fire door between the kitchen and the hallway? Again, if t…

My husband and I live in a purpose built flat,there are five flats 1 on ground floor 2 on first floor,one is mine,2 on top floor ,I have asked our managing agent if it’s possible to have a stair lift as my husband has bad Arthritis,they said health and safety said it would be a fire hazard? The stairs are 42” wide can you advise please. Also what is the safe height of a door step please? Is there legal size.

Learning how risk assessments get produced, I see the Hierarchy of Control is a key element, this wikipedia article's diagram: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchy_of_hazard_controls has PPE at the bottom of the diagram ... this is obviously aimed more at the work place, than a rental property such as an HMO. Is this diagram then relevant, could you swap out PPE and put in something more relevant for the type of premises being Assessed, would a hotels Assessment use such controls - what they swap out thr PPE for. Thanks.

Hi, I live in a HMO and I am concerned for the safety of not only myself but the other tenants that live here. My questions are; 1 Can you add timber strips to a fire door to make the door fit a frame? As this has been done to two of the fire doors in the property that i have noted. 2 The threshold gaps under fire doors what are the allowable sizes? There are fire doors here with gaps underneath of at least 25mm up to 50mm is this Legal? 3 Door closures All the door closuers on the fire doors slam the fire doors this has resulted in the panels in the fire doors cracking allowing me to see light through the fire doors. Is there a re…

Hi We have just installed a grade A fire detection system with Control Panel in an HMO. I’m not sure what advice we should give to tenants about if the alarm goes off apart from evacuating the building if there is a fire. Specific concerns are: How do we ensure they don’t treat it as a false alarm when it is a real alarm? Are we supposed to give them the ability to silence and reset the system ( for false alarms) presumably thus risking them overriding the alarm in the event of a fire? With thanks in anticipation