Fire safety standards could be included in proposed 'landlord charter'

From FIA

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01 May 2012

Fire safety standards could be included in a proposed charter of requirements for landlords and tenants in the private rented housing sector, it has been announced.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders, MP for Torbay, proposed creating a document which would include rules governing anti-social behaviour as well as legal fire safety standards.
In a question to communities minister Grant Shapps, he said: "One way of reducing the regulatory burden on landlords but also improving the safety and security for tenants, would be to provide a central, standardised document, containing all landlord and tenant responsibilities from fire safety to anti-social behaviour."
In reply, Mr Shapps confirmed he would consider the idea: "It sounds like it might be something comparative to a template lease and is something worth further consideration."
The document could finally make it compulsory for landlords to fit smoke alarms in their rental properties at the change of tenancy as proposed in the Fire Safety (Protection of Tenants) Bill, which is backed by Mr Sanders.
The move could help reduce the number of fire deaths, with figures from the UK Statistics Authority showing that a smoke alarm was not present in over a third of fire fatalities in 2008.