Posted By CFT
I can see your point of view regarding selling, as for the hazardous nature yes and no; in a nursing home I used to consult to the SL was on the main flight but they also had a lift, and two alternative routes for evacuation purposes; in your case it will depend on the width of the staircase, is it a primary and dedicated escape route, is it in fact the only escape route?

Difficult to be precise without seeing it, I believe a minimum width of either 1000mm or 1100mm when the chair is housed 'is' permissible, and that would be to the handrail, in some situations and it is down to number of occupants 800mm is possible; I do feel that building control and social services may well wish to be involved.

Sorry I can't help more.

CFT

Posted By Philip Beale
Shouldn't the cost of the risk assessment be down to the management company if it is required as they have responsibility for the communal area and outside area (of course they may chose to pass this cost on to you).

The risk assessment will be quick an easy and should not find any issues so long as the block is up together.

I would have thought the stair lift should not encroach on the stairs as they are designed to fold away against the wall and given the likely number of residents in the block then it should not affect the escape route.

As to the stair lift being installed in the first place then i would think this should be in your lease or down to the management company as it is a communal area she does not own it so can not install it. as someone said it could make yours easier to sell so long as you can get agreement that someone else can have the use if it is installed.

Phil

P.S. do stair lifts come under LOLER???

Posted By Ashley Wood
Andrea,

As Shaun has said, don't spend any money on a fire risk assessment. I had a similar conversation recently with a friend of mine. She has a flat in a converted Edwardian house. There are 4 flats in total and they have a group responsibility for the communal areas and external maintenance etc written in to their ownership documents. What this means is that if they were to pay for a FRA then the cost would be divided amongst them as they all use the stairs, landings etc. I advised her too do her own FRA for the building and gave her guidance. You can also find guidance on the government web site.

The fitting of the chair lift has been pretty much covered in the previous comments.

Posted By CFT
Philip

Yes if HSWA applies i.e commercial application but not in domestic situation. One would assume however that in the latter the company would probably as best practice work to a similar standard that LOLER dictates, i.e. 6 monthly inspections.

CFT

Posted By Andrea Dashwood
I am so grateful for the great response - thanks to all. We have had the fire assessment done - the guy was great, and it is a relief to have had it done. To be frank, it's absense nearly resulted in my flat purchase falling through, as my solicitor felt it was important due to some legislation that came in in October 2006, so I am glad it won't be a sticking point when I come to sell.

The width of the stairway itself from the handrail to the wall is 880 cm. It is the only method of access and egress from my and my neighbour's flat. I was interested to see some people feel this would add to the value. I don't think so, as my daughter, who is 20, said she would no way buy or even rent a flat that had "one of those things" up the stairs, and she said when she asked all her friends they agreed. As this is a one bedroomed flat and at the bottom end of the market, it is a natural first-time buy for someone, and I feel that it would alientate and at least put off many buyers, especially young ones, and that it does give a feeling of an old people's home. I have now hopefully solved the problem by putting the flat on the market immediately and hope she will wait until the new people are actually in and attempt to negotiate with them. I am holding my breath to get a quick sale and be gone before it becomes an issue. I know that the rest of the shareholders in the management company would not want it either, and that stairlift companies require the permission of the freehold owner(s) AND the owner of the flat that shares the stairwell, in addition to a fire safety officer's certificate of approval, so I wonder if it would ever get approval anyway, but in these days of human rights etc etc and the fact that people seem to go to law with gayful abandon, I no longer have faith that common sense would prevail.

Also, are not stairlifts electrically operated? Surely, in the event of a fire, the electricity supply could be interrupted and it would not work?

I had an interesting conversation with the fire safety officer who came to do the assessment here. I wonder if this is, yet again, a case where legislation probably initially intended to cover commercial buildings, has encroached onto the domain of privately owned dwellings. It seems a little extreme to me, as there are only 4 privately flats owned in this purpose built block, and whatever happened to people taking personal responsibility for their safety? Although I did feel when I came here that at least a smoke alarm should be there, and an extinguisher, but as it is likely the starting point of any fire in this building would be likely to be one of the flats, I wonder at the point of that? Some of the questions seemed rather inapplicalbe to our premises and were clearly aimed at places where employees and members of the public were involved, and that is not the case here.

However, it is done now and yes, obviously, the management company is footing the bill for the assessment report and also the recommended remedial work (a smoke alarm, torch, fire extinguisher in the communal entranceway, plus upgrading of our two individual flat entry doors).

Once again, thanks very very much to all for the response. Really appreciated.

Andrea