{"id":1217,"date":"2014-01-21T09:34:27","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T16:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.constructonomics.com\/blog\/?p=1217"},"modified":"2019-01-23T12:53:50","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T19:53:50","slug":"does-uk-fire-safety-need-hammering-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/constructonomics.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/21\/does-uk-fire-safety-need-hammering-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Does UK Fire Safety Need Hammering Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An illegal extension has left a landlord with a \u00a324,000 and a criminal record, after local council safety officers deemed it to be in an \u201cappalling condition\u201d with numerous safety issues \u2013 including a slew of fire safety offences which put the building\u2019s occupants at a very real risk of injury or death.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the safety officers inspected Ilford landlord Mohammed Saleem\u2019s property (read full report here<\/a><\/strong>) they found no ventilation, no fire alarm, no fire doors and no other safe means of exiting the property during an emergency as among the fire and general safety violations. He was declared guilty, in his absence, of eight offences under the Housing Act 2004 and slapped with a \u00a33,000 for each offence, as well as numerous court costs and victim surcharges \u2013 one of the largest fines in the country. Plus, had to make sure proper services and specialists from NorthernLightsExteriors.com<\/a> were hired to do what was missed.<\/p>\n

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So with this most recent case in mind, and the fact that punishments for simply violating regulations can be as severe as this, why do incidents like this seem to keep occurring? While they are admittedly few and far between, the severity of these kinds of incidents begs the question \u2013 are landlords informed enough about fire safety and the punishments for non-compliance? Safety experts Bull Products<\/a><\/strong> examine this case and fire safety law in this latest guest post.<\/p>\n

What Does The Law Say?<\/h3>\n

The law is actually fairly clear on who is responsible for safety in a property, particularly rented property and HMOs (homes of multiple occupancy) \u2013 a \u2018responsible person\u2019 has numerous duties in ensuring that the premises is safe, occupants can easily escape in the event of a fire and adequate fire procedures (such as equipment and exit markings) are in place.<\/p>\n

A responsible person is defined as an employee, an organisation, a contractor with a responsibility for maintenance, a building owner or simply someone who is controlling the premises \u2013 there are other definitions of a responsible person, but the aforementioned descriptions are most applicable to landlords and HMOs.<\/p>\n

There are a number of responsibilities for a responsible person when it comes to fire safety alone \u2013remember that this covers just one aspect of safety, and there are numerous other compliance requirements for other areas of safety law and legislation. These include:<\/p>\n