Landlord’s Corner - Fire Safety Act 2021
Whilst the act was passed in April 2021, further regulations needed to be written to enable the act to come into force in England and Wales. Wales produced further regulations in September 2021 to commencement it in Wales from 1 October 2021, but there was no commencement for England.
On the 16 May 2022, regulations were laid commencing the Fire Safety Act 2021 in England from that day. This gave no transitional notice or time frame for freeholders, block management agents or landlords to prepare risk assessments for their properties.
What does this mean?
It means, any building that contains two or more domestic dwellings must have a fire risk assessment, whether they have communal areas or not, and it must be completed by a ‘responsible person’.
The two or more domestic premises could simply be two flats in a converted house, even if there are no communal areas. Those with common areas have been covered since the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force.
The risk assessment must now include the buildings’ structure including external walls and any windows and doors in the external walls and anything affixed to the walls, such as cladding or balconies. The doors from individual flats into a common area have now been added to the risk assessment as well. These were previously not included and yet they form a major fire safety risk in blocks of flats.
If the property is a traditional solid brick or cavity wall construction, then the risk will be low as fire is unlikely to spread. If, however, the external walls are clad in wood or other flammable cladding, or there are wooden balconies, one above the one below, then there is a far greater risk the fire can spread between levels. The outcome of the fire risk assessment might be the decision to replace the flammable cladding and replace the wooden balconies with non-flammable materials.
It is not only external walls; the new legislation applies to the building’s structure. The ‘responsible person’ will therefore have to understand the construction of the building to make an assessment. What, for example, are the floors and ceilings and internal walls made of, both in the individual units and in the common areas? What are the stairs between floors in the communal areas made of? What, if anything, can be done to mitigate, remove or manage the risks?
Who is a ‘Responsible Person’?
A responsible person is someone who has control of the building. This would either be the freeholder of the building or a block management company that has been appointed by the freeholder.
In smaller blocks where the owner owns all the flats, and they give a letting agent the flats to let and manage then the letting agent may well find that they are the responsible person either by agreement or default.
In this specific set of circumstances, the parties would need to be clear about who is responsible for fire safety in relation to the building and, if necessary, have a separate agreement around the management of the building.
How frequent are risk assessments required?
After the initial risk assessment has been completed, risk assessments should be kept up to date, especially if there has been a change to any part of the building. The risk assessment should state how the change affects the risk to the residents.
If there is a change of occupier, or to the structure of the building, the freeholder or their managing agent may wish to carry out another risk assessment to reassess any changes to the risks.
The responsible person is not required to issue a risk assessment to each owner or occupier of the property, but it should be available if they request a copy. Most importantly it should be available if the emergency services want it.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Smoke alarm requirements will not change for the private rent sector under new regulations from 1/10/22. Carbon monoxide alarms will though be required in rooms with combustion appliances including gas and oil appliances except for gas cookers.
It will also be a requirement for a landlord to repair or replace the alarms once either the tenant or the tenant’s representative inform the landlord there is a fault. This will apply to all tenancies new and existing.
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