Meeting fire safety requirements is critical to people’s lives, property, and belongings, especially in blocks of flats. Landlords and their agents, tenants and homeowners all have responsibilities regarding this vital matter. And every resident should know what to do in case of a fire.
This document provides general guidance, so residents can help by doing their bit and homeowners can be clear on their obligations.
The best way to protect your home and household from fire is by fitting approved smoke alarms and testing these regularly. A smoke alarm can provide an early warning of a fire, enabling you to make your escape, but only if it is working.
If your home is not already provided with smoke alarms, fit one in your entrance hallway, as well as the landing of any upper or lower floor. For even greater protection, fit an additional smoke alarm in your lounge and a heat alarm in your kitchen.
If your smoke alarms aren’t battery operated, arrange for a qualified electrician to fit these devices. Make sure you buy models that have a standby power supply, in case of a mains’ failure.
When installing more than one alarm, it is best to link theses together, so they all sound a warning in the event of a fire.
Make sure you shut doors before heading to bed, especially to your lounge and kitchen. This simple action will help prevent a fire in your flat from spreading.
Never leave any belongings or rubbish in a communal area – including corridors, the lift lobby, and stairways.
If you do, this could prevent you and your neighbours safely escaping the building if there’s a fire.
Welcome mats placed outside a flat or apartment may seem like a nice touch but think again. They’re well known to help spread fire, blocking essential escape routes for you, your loved ones, and the neighbours.
Doormats, comfy chairs, books, magazines, plastic flowers, and net curtains are all fire risks when placed in any communal area, including just outside your flat door.
Keeping all communal areas clear is always advised as this may be your escape route in case of a fire.
Your flat is in a building that should be designed to resist fire. A fire should not immediately spread from one flat to another, meaning you need not leave your home straight away if there is a fire elsewhere in the block.
That said, if in doubt, get out.
Always evacuate the building if your flat is affected by smoke or heat, or if you are told to do so by the fire service. Use the stairway to reach ground level, wherever possible.
If you’re in a corridor, lift lobby or stairway and notice a fire, leave the building immediately. Where it’s safe to do so, alert other residents in the immediate vicinity on your way out by knocking on their doors.
Never put yourself at risk. Do not return to your flat until the authorities tell you it’s safe to do so.
This should always be a last resort; the official advice remains to stay where you are if possible. It is harder for the fire service to locate people who are moving about a building.
If you do need to open a door when there’s a fire:
When trapped or unable to escape a fire, make sure that all doors are closed. Try to seal any gaps in the door, especially between the bottom of the door and the carpet. This will slow down the speed that smoke enters the room, giving you more time. Smoke is deadlier than the fire itself.
Where possible, keep all windows closed too. If the fire is on the floor below, smoke could rise and enter the room from the outside of the building. Smoke can also carry fire, so an open window could mean the fire spreads more quickly. Of course, if you need to open a window to shout for help, do so. If you have your mobile phone on you, use this to call the emergency services to let them know you are still inside the building.
If the room starts filling with smoke, get as low as possible to the ground. Smoke will always go up to the highest point before working its way down.
Remember
Never put yourself at risk. Do not return to your flat until the authorities tell you it’s safe to do so.
Doors save lives
In any shared residential building, the front doors of individual flats are an important part of the whole building’s fire protection solution (sometimes referred to as a ‘structural fire safety’ component). They are a key part of a fire escape route in a block of flats, so every front door needs to be fit for purpose.
Individual flat doors should:
The new door must meet the relevant British or European standard (testing to the appropriate period of fire resistance).
For rented flats, the landlord is the ‘responsible person’ for all individual front doors, making sure tenants know that they should not change them. For leasehold flats, the leaseholders have responsibilities to maintain the standards described here.
If replacement front doors do not meet the relevant standards, the doors should be replaced or brought up to an acceptable standard.
The lease terms will describe these responsibilities. If in doubt, consult a legal professional.
The Local Government Association’s guidance document for fire safety in purpose-built blocks considers older properties, including the importance of front doors and the differing standards of protection provided.
Guidance is clear that fire risk assessments must consider front doors in older properties and prioritise upgrading doors to modern standards, where appropriate. Fitting self-closers on front doors is raised in several places, being essential to ensuring protected routes remain safe.
Self-closers should be a priority for any fire risk assessment.
Homeowners have additional fire safety responsibilities.
This is especially the case when letting the property out; please see below for further details.
Fire doors are built to restrict, and delay the path of, a fire. They save lives. Many new homeowners install a new front door. We strongly advise that you arrange for an independent fire assessment of your front door to ensure it complies with current regulations.
As a general guide, some – but not all – wooden doors are fire resistant and UPVC or plastic doors are not, in most cases. If the assessment shows your front door is not a fire door, replace it with a new timber one.
If a fire starts in your block, security grills will prevent you from leaving the property and the block as quickly as you should. This danger escalates further if the fire occurs in your own property.
Advice from the Fire Brigade is to remove any door grille and replace it with another form of security.
When subletting, ensure your tenants are aware of the following advice:
One of our Block Managers, Katie Pickard says: “If you sublet your property as a leaseholder, you have additional responsibilities and legal obligations to your tenants. You should consider the risks to your tenants in the event of a fire and take all necessary precautions to minimise those risks. This may include you, as the owner and landlord, installing smoke alarms. It is also your responsibility to test these detectors; you cannot pass this duty on to your tenants.”
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