We have just put an offer in on a 1900 terraced house. The stairwell leading up to the top floor curves round and currently does not have a door on it. It is being used as a bedroom/study at the moment but we would like to get a friend in as a lodger (to help pay the mortgage)

Would the new door have to be a fire door to meet regulations? Can you get fire doors for this setup? We know we will have to move the radiator

Thanks

Hi there

When you say "to meet regulations", there is no requirement to upgrade existing dwellings to conform to the latest building codes, unless there is any major renovation that requires building regulation approval.

There are changes to building regulations on almost an annual basis - imagine that each time there was a change everybody had to upgrade their houses!

There are two separate questions that arise:

1. Whether it would be safer to have a fire door on that staircase

2. If the property was built to current standards whether one would be required

It's really hard to see from your photos as to what else there is on the landing to the upper floor staircase - the main consideration is to have a protected escape route from the bedrooms down to the front door. So that would require the doors to the downstairs rooms (especially the kitchen) to be fire resistant, self-closing doors.

If it were me, I would rather focus on putting good early-warning smoke detection into the house. So a Grade-D (interlinked) system with smoke detectors on all levels (minimum in the corridors/escape routes but ideally to include the bedrooms and living rooms too including a heat detector in the kitchen). The sounders need to be sufficiently loud, or positioned, so that if a fire were detected in any room - especially the kitchen - then the alarms would be sufficiently loud to wake sleeping occupants.

Others here may have different opinions

Having a single lodger is not an issue as the home would not be classified as an HMO.

You must

• Check your smoke alarms: Test the alarms on every floor right away to confirm they work perfectly.

• Inspect furniture labels: Look for fire safety labels on any mattress, bed base, or sofa you are providing in the lodger's room.

• Brief your lodger: Show them the main exit routes, explain how to unlock the front door in an emergency, and point out where the door keys are kept.