25 Jan New Legislation Will Make Tenants Safer in Their Rented Homes

In a new ruling, landlords will have to put smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in any properties that they rent out. Fire and rescue authorities in England have been given grant funding by the government to help the landlords in their areas by providing them free alarms.

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Ensuring Safety of Their Tenants

The new requirements will involve landlords installing smoke alarms on each floor of every property. They must also test them at the beginning of a tenancy to make sure they are working. Landlords will have to put carbon monoxide monitors in some rooms – for example, those containing a solid-fuel heating system. Those landlords that fail to install the alarms will face sanctions as well as up to a £5000 civil penalty in fines.

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Benefits of the Legislation

These changes look to prevent up to 26 deaths and 670 injuries a year. The change in law to which will see alarms put in every property is a welcome one when considering that people are at least four times more likely to die in a fire in the home if there is not a working smoke alarm installed.

If you want to find out more, there are a number of wonderful resources available for you, and the government has some great places to start learning more. They have available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/make-your-home-safe-from-fire.

To help keep your home safe for yourself and your tenants there is help out there, such as https://inventorybase.co.uk/, which has a property inspection app to help you manage your home.

Keeping your property safe for yourself or your tenants from fire and carbon monoxide will no longer be optional with the government pushing this new legislation. It has been revealed that in 1988 only 8% of homes had a smoke alarm installed, and now it’s over 90%. The government pledged £1 billion to building new homes to specifically target private renters, giving tenants the support they need against rogue landlords. With safety in mind, this new law will help give those renting privately the security assurances they need if a fire does occur, with the government also insisting that tenants test the alarms on a regular basis for both piece of mind and to ensure their own safety.