Safety

Gas and electrical Safety
The health risks of poorly fitted or maintained gas appliances cannot be underestimated. There are very important obligations placed upon Landlords to ensure that all mains or bottled gas appliances supplied by them in a rented property have a certificate of safety. This means central heating boilers, water heaters, cookers, fires and gas refrigerators etc. All gas appliances must be serviced by an engineer who is registered with CORGI for domestic appliance work, following which a safety record in a prescribed format must be obtained and a copy issued to the tenant. Gas safety certificates are valid for a period of 12 months.

The landlord is also responsible for ensuring that all electrical appliances supplied in the accommodation are safe for use.

Smoke alarms
The law requires that all new houses built after June1992 and all properties declared as Houses in Multiple Occupation must have electronically linked, mains operated smoke detectors installed on each floor.

Although older properties are exempt from this requirement, we request that smoke detectors be installed on each floor (halls and landing areas) in all rental properties.

Furniture and Furnishings Fire Safety
The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amended) Regulations 1998 require that all upholstered furniture and furnishings in rented properties pass the “cigarette test”. Generally, most furniture purchased from reputable suppliers after March 1990 should comply with the regulations and will be labelled accordingly.

We recommend to all of our landlords that a fire extinguisher and fire blanket be supplied for kitchen areas.