Escape Routes

To avoid tenants becoming trapped, you are legally required to ensure that on every floor your tenants have access to a “safe and reliable” escape route, both externally and internally. Tenants should be made aware of these routes to aid them in exiting the building as quickly as possible in an emergency.

Fire Doors

It’s your responsibility to ensure that any front doors and doors onto corridors and staircases are “self closing” fire doors. It’s a good idea to ensure they don’t slam shut to discourage your tenants from wedging them open. The self closing function on each door should be regularly checked to ensure that it is in working order.

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

Each floor of your property should contain at least one smoke alarm as well as a carbon monoxide alarm in each room that has an appliance burning solid fuel, such as a coal or wood fire. Each alarm should be checked to ensure it is in working order at the start of each tenancy. From that point onwards, it your tenant who is responsible for testing the smoke alarms to ensure that they are in working order.

Fire extinguishers and blankets

In HMOs it is a legal obligation to have a fire extinguisher per floor and a fire blanket per kitchen. Both of these should be checked at the start of the tenancy – and advised to ensure this practice is also followed in non-HMO properties.

Furniture and furnishings

Although you are only responsible for the furnishings you provide, and not your tenants’ furniture, you need to ensure that your furniture and furnishings meet required safety standards and that they are all constructed from fire-resistant materials (as per the manufacturer’s label).

Building refurbishment

Whenever you undertake any changes to the property, you’ll need to update your risk assessment to ensure that your fire precautions are still in line with regulations.