HMO

I have been in contact recently with more than one owner of 2 storey hmo's totaling in excess of 150 houses where they are removing all fire extinguishing equipment as they say it isn't required under guidelines and that its only applicable in 3 storey hmo's which in their own words are now worthless ?? comments as always gratefully received

Question regarding communal hallway carpeting. My housing association landlord intends to remove the current communal carpet due to the carpet possibly not complying with the current Health & Safety and Fire regulations. What type of carpet would comply with communal property Health & Safety and Fire regulations? The carpet that is currently fitted (at the expense of the tenants) is in excellent condition which a shame to remove. I believe that there are fire retardant sprays available that can make carpets fire resistant, does this treatment comply with the Health & Safety and Fire regulations?

We have a 7 storey building with 25 flats. The common hallways with lifts are carpeted, but the fire escape stairs have concrete floors. A resident wants to carpet the fire escape stairs, but surely this is against fire regulations? Please advise. Janine

Hello Are all flats included in a FRA in an HMO. Or just the common areas? Thanks

Hi I am a foster carer with my wife and I am looking to know if the house I rent falls under multiple occupancy. Myself and my wife foster 3 children , 2 are siblings and other isn't. Does this mean I need fire alarms in all bedrooms ? We class ourselves as a family even though we aren't all related. Kind regards Paul

How do I check that a property with HMOs have planning certificate and other certificates needed.tented house/room as house share

Could you clarify whether this regulation applies to our situation please? I live in the basement flat of a 4 floor Edwardian house which has been converted into 4 flats. The freehold is owned jointly by the owners of the flats. When the house was converted in the 1990's a rather splendid fire alarm was fitted throughout the building. We get this serviced once a year but this year the company servicing the alarm left a log book and said that we had a duty under this regulation to test the alarm every week. Looking at your site it seems that the regulation is applied to non-domestic premises. I believe it is also true that in our situation simple smoke alarms are all that …

I am looking for some help regarding an emergency lighting system for the property in which I live. The property consists of: 5 self contained flats over 5 floors of a converted period building 4 of which share a communal main entrance and hallway (including stairwell) leading to the individual flat entrances 1 flat has its own external main entrance (basement flat) and does not share any of the communal space A fire safety inspection was undertaken which identified the property as an HMO; one request of the fire safety report is for an emergency lighting system to be installed. The property is listed, therefore approval for any modification needs to be sought from the…

I live in a house split into 3 flats and share an entrance with one other flats. The front door is locked/shut by locking a mortise only which I believe is a hazard as this is the only exit for both flats. I have approached the landlord of the other flat (I own my flat) to get an additional Yale so we will not be locked in whilst at home but he is reluctant to spend money. Do I have any legal right to force this issue?

I moved into my student house yesterday and I don't think the property is fitted with proper fire doors. One of the doors has a chunk taken out of door at the top meaning smoke could get through from a fire. How do I identify a fire door or how do I get fire doors inspected professionally? I believe it is illegal if you are living in a house with multiple occupants.

Blocks of 2 and 3 storey flats all privately owned built approx 40 years ago.Will doors to each flat (which are the owners responsibility) meet current fire regulations? Which legislation is proper to common areas?

Having developed the upper floors of the property into student accommodation 2 years ago which are fire alarmed, we are now developing the ground floor into a shop and flat. I need advice on appropriate fire safety to link all 3 aspects of the property.

Hi Im sure this has been written about before but I need advice. a Landlord has asked if I could follow up on repairs to a number door problems in two of his houses. These are the gaps around the doors possibly exceed the 4mm and the threshold is to large due to the way the floor rises upwards as the door opens so when closed the gap under the door is around 10mm or more. what can be done to reduce the gap under the door. without having to lift the floor and raising it causing a trip hazard in to the room. are there any brush strips that can be fitted ? what can I do regarding the door surround the doors already have intumescent door seals but the fibres might not…

Can you please advise? In an HMO property, there is one 'flat' that currently consist of two rooms. They are separated by what seems to me to be a wasted space of passageway, the area of which would be invaluable to add to what is a smallish room. To accommodate the Fire Regs (I hope), if I were to remove the stud wall and door between the rooms, I would have created a large single L-shaped room. The gap separating the two rooms, allowing the access between them, would be some 2 metres. Would this situation, in your opinion, comply with UK Fire Regs please?

Our Managing Agents to a New Build 2 storey block of 13 flats are removing Fire Alarms & smoke detectors from ALL the building as they say "We have a stay indoor fire policy in the building". This means, if there is a fire we have to stay in the flats as the front doors SHOULD withstand fire for half an hour. He says this is nothing to do with Health & Safety & is normal practice & within the Law - Does this sound ok?

I am one of 5 long leaseholders who each own a self contained flat in a large house converted to flats in 1997. The freeholder is saying he must put up fire signage, change light fittings fit fire doors etc to conform with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. I accept this appears to be the case for common parts but in this case the only common parts is a lobby of not more than 4m2 which is basically a small lobby from the main entrance to 2 of the flat front entrances. The othe r3 flats have their own entrances with no common parts.

Hi, I provide fire extinguishers for a local college. In the main building, which was built in the 1800s I have found that the student room doors do not have smoke /heat seals or self closers installed. The doors lead onto corridors then to final exits, the alarm system is L1 Should they have seals installed and self closers? The doors are very old and solid wood? (they also have small kitchen with an electric two ring hob) Also, the college has two student houses in the town one sleeps ten and the other sleeps twenty with a shared kitchen what legislation covers these? Are they HMOs? Thanks for any help Richard

I have a leasehold flat in a block that is run by a Housing Association and our front door leads to a communal area that in turn has an external door to the outside. The question I have is whether we should have a fire-door as our front door and what the regulations state regarding this. The Housing Association is only now telling me they want to fit a fire-door because I told them it wasn't. They didn't seem to have an issue with it before I told them. I would appreciate your help as the housing association are charging alot of money for the installation. Regards,

Hi, We have a rental property which we are turning into an HMO we want to hard wire smoke alarms into each of the bedrooms, the halls and put a heat censor in the kitchen. Do we need to put this onto a new separate circuit or can we use the existing light circuit? Tania

Hello, I am living in an ordinary Victorian house in London converted in the 1980s into 5 flats. One is a garden flat and the other 4 have a common entrance. We are all leaseholders except one (which shares the common entrance) where the leaseholder has rented the flat. The management company is insisting we need a fire alarm, extinguishers etc but I'm not sure that this is true.It is all domestic accommodation. Do you think we are an HMO? Regards Chris

I live in a block of flats one tenent keeps ignoring the fire law by leaving rubbish in the common ways or managing agent can't get him to stop so who can we go to now. Who polices the law when the managing agent can't please help thanks

Hi I am looking to refurbish a two storey house to a HMO and let the rooms individually containing a mixture of shared units and one self contained unit. 2 Rooms will have access and use to a shared kitchen.(Bedroom A and B) 1 Room will have its own kitchen facilities. and is also part of the same building as the shared kitchen with access via the lobby. (Bedroom C) I am planning to have the following setup to comply with the relevant fire safety legislation. Units without kitchen facilities. (A & B) LD2 Interlinked smoke alarms in each bedroom unit, lounge, shared kitchen & basement Interlinked – Heat alarms in each bedsit and shared kitchen. Mains powered i…

I live in a block of 34 retirement appartments, on the first floor we have one louvre window ( 3f X 4f with 7 slats ) at one end of an L shaped corridor. This window is our only means of ventilation and is only opened by the residents during the summer. We have been told not to open it at 'any' time because it's a fire 'smoke' window, even though it has two open/close handles. It does open automatically with the fire alarm, as does a small skylight window at the other end of the corridor. On the second (top) floor there are 'manual opening' casement windows at each end of the corridor with no such opening restrictions. Are fire regulations such that we must be stifled …

I have a 2 bedroom flat that we have just renovated, removing a wall between Kitchen and Living room. We have have had building control out to check out the work, and they have adviced we need to build a door between the Open plan Living room/Kitchen and hall as the bedrooms run off this. Is this correct?

I am chairman of our residents association and we run the block ourselves. The block is 40 years old and purpose built - comprising 12 flats. Is it a legal requirement that emergency lighting should be installed in the common parts of the building? Thank you