Fire safety affects everyone Why discriminate against landlords?

The Residential Landlords Association has launched a fire safety campaign to persuade local councils and fire authorities to keep within the spirit of the recently announced LACORS guidelines.

LACORS – the Local Authorities Coordinating Regulatory Service – published their report joint with the Chief Fire Officers’ Association and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health to suggest realistic requirements for residential fire safety in the private rented sector.

And the Residential Landlords Association, which has long argued for a simplified new approach, commended the report - although the leading professional association for private rented sector landlords still has concerns.

Their action plan now focuses on key issues such as risk assessment, implementation, enforcement, training and education as well as outdated elements of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and Fire Safety Orders.

How the LACORS guidelines are implemented at local level, is one of the main reservations - as local authorities who have higher existing standards, are expected to over-rule LACORS in favour of their own.

GOLD PLATING

“Local councils and fire brigades must resist the temptation to ‘gold plate’ the LACORS guidelines by unnecessarily imposing higher local requirements,” says Richard Jones, lawyer and lobbying team leader for the RLA whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

“We have already seen local authorities exceeding the guidelines by demanding inappropriately higher fire safety improvements as a condition of a landlord’s licence to rent out shared ‘houses in multiple occupation’ – such as a typical student house.

“Fortunately many authorities, in areas like West Yorkshire and Sheffield are planning to implement LACORS while others, like Leeds and Manchester city councils put their decisions on hold.

“Not that LACORS requirements are a soft option. Some, especially concerning mains-wired automatic fire detection systems, seem excessive when measured against the risks involved.

“There needs to be a whole new approach to fire risk assessment because the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, which underpins fire safety enforcement, is out of date and does not take into account recent significant reductions in the number of deaths from fire.

“This system was intended to apply equally to owner/occupied accommodation, council owned accommodation and housing association properties – but we now have requirements being enforced purely in the private rented sector that don’t necessarily apply to owner/occupied properties or housing associations. Fire safety affects the whole population - there should be no discrimination against the private rented sector.

ENFORCEMENT

“And when it comes to enforcement the RLA is looking for assurances from central government, local councils and fire brigades that if landlords work in line with LACORS they will not then be expected to carry out even more additional work to meet a higher local requirement.

“A recent RLA survey of fire and rescue authorities showed that out of 39, excluding Greater London, only eight had fully adopted LACORS. Seventeen were actively working towards its adoption. Three had implemented similar policies. Seven were holding back and four were doing nothing.

MAJOR CHANGES

“The enforcement of fire safety has changed a lot in the last few years and people like environmental health officers and fire officers who enforce legislation are not necessarily up to date with the latest technological developments.

“There needs to be major changes in the way they are trained and educated and this is as important as it is for landlords too. The RLA will play its part by publishing guidance for members as to what needs to be done to comply with the very detailed LACORS document. We will analyse, distill and do everything we can to ensure our members understand the issues better.

“Professional, responsible landlords will meet reasonable requirements but when excessive costs go beyond what is reasonable they start to entail massive changes that radically alter the character and value of a property.

“And alongside the Housing Act sits the Fire Safety Order that applies to the common parts of certain residential accommodation, particularly flats and bedsits. Because this is enforced by the fire brigade there are now two enforcement authorities for one communal part of a building. Confusing? There is no need at all for dual legislation and we believe there should be one single enforcing authority. If residential accommodation was taken out of the scope of the Fire Safety Order this would simplify things greatly.

“So while LACORS has done the private rented sector a great service in publishing its guidelines there is still a long way to go before we achieve a new approach to fire safety that really works in our residential accommodation.”

The RLA action plan heralds the start of a campaign by the association to persuade central and local government politicians, officials and professionals, holding both fire safety and housing briefs, to build positively on the LACORS guidelines.