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A new set of national guidelines for fire safety in rented property has been branded a fiasco by the Residential Landlords Association. While praising a well intentioned attempt to provide national standards in the guide, ‘Housing – Fire Safety’ produced by local government standards body LACORS, the association says many local authorities are already insisting on higher standards than those in the guide.
“Let’s be honest and tell it like it really is – the thoroughness of the LACORS guidelines is to be commended,” says chairman Lee Dribben, “but they are a missed opportunity because many local authorities will simply overrule them in favour of their own higher standards.
“What the private rented sector really needs is a definitive blueprint – a `level playing field’ to help us comply with new housing and fire safety legislation. We still haven’t got that, so we’re no wiser.”
He says the guide does not give landlords clear directions on the fire safety requirements of a particular building in a particular town, that each fire service has its own interpretation of risk, and local authorities still have the discretion to apply their own prescriptive standards to local housing stock.
The RLA calls for the wholesale adoption of the new guidance by all local authorities and fire authorities and that where there are tougher local requirements, these should be relaxed.