Posted By Joanne Vaughan I have a client who leases two floors of a four storey building. They are experiencing problems with regard maintenance of fire doors, emergency lighting and lift maintenance in the common areas of the building. The landlord is insistent that it is not his responsibility, as agreed in the lease. The client is also paying a service charge. However under Sec 4 of the HSAWA, my understanding is that as a person in control of premises he must ensure safe egress, access etc or at least ensure that adequate maintenance is being carried out. Short of advising the client to go straight to the Fire Officer, could anyone advise if they have experienced a similar clause within a tenancy lease and how the duty of care lies? Thank you

Posted By Stuart Nagle Joanne. This is both a tenancy/landlord issue and a health and safety issue. 1) Under the Housing Act and the Housing (Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation) Regulations 1997, the landlord and/or managing agent have specific responsibilities to maintain the property and means of escape in case of fire, which I believe includes all items provided in respect of fire risk, as installed in the property The landlord may well have taken funds for 'maintenance' from tenants, however this usually relates to the private areas occupied and not the communal areas that are normally the responsibility of the landlord/managing agent. Using the money for maintenance of these common areas and not the private areas could be problematic, particularly as the tenant now has a right to know why their not getting deposit money back if they leave the propery (the private areas) in good condition and the landlord/managing agent may have to justify it!! 2) Communal areas of HMO's are a workplace like any other when the landlord or managing agent put persons to work there in respect of maintenance, inspections etc. Therefore they are required to ensure that the workplace and the work are safe etc under the HSWA and other regulations made under the act. this includes fire risk management. There are some exceptions, but not a lot.... whilst the problems with the items may represent hazards in respect of fire risk management of the HMO in particular, they are not necesarilly a hazard in respect of their maintenance and repair, but the normal course of risk assessment, identify hazards and implement control measures is required as with any other workplace. 3) The sections of the Housing Act 1985 that governed HMO's have been revoked and the Housing Act of 2004 is now in force (as from December of 2004) This introduces mandatory licencing of all HMO's and the classification of HMO's has been broadened. there are now several clasifications and descriptions for houses occupied by persons who do not form a 'household', including a self contained flats 'test'. about the only exceptions are houses that are of two storeys occupied by persons forming a single household and purpose built blocks of flats. Local authorities are already underway in respect of licencing of HMO's and are giving priority to properties with 3 or more storeys and will get around to the rest. There is also now a legal requirement for local authorities to consult with the fire and rescue service prior to the granting of a licence for an HMO. The only exceptions to the licence scheme at present under the 2004 Act are those already registered under another scheme or having to register under other legal provisions, such as sheltered housing, nursing homes etc... I do not see the fire and rescue service handing out fire management approvals for HMO's without having looked at the properties for themselves, and for which there will almost certainly be a cost attached, as well as administering the scheme. Costs of £60 per unit (i.e. per room occupoed or per flat etc) seem to jump into my mind here for some reason from somthing I've read recently. I would suggest that responsibility for maintaining the communal areas and the items for managing means of escape are firmly the responsibility of the landlord and/or their managing agent, not the tenants. And if the deposits taken in respect of maintenance are to be used, it should be clear this actually applies to all areas of the property and not just the private areas... the communal areas are normally maintained at the cost of the landlord/managing agent Regards... Stuart

Posted By Paul J Williams If your client is leasing commercial premises then they will not be covered by Housing Law, this only applies to residential accommodation. For a swift sollution, risk the fire service and ask them to advise you on your current fire safety arrangements. They will prob come and have a look, find something wrong and tell you how to put it right. At this point ask them who should be doing it. The answer will lie in the wording of the lease, but even if the landlord is responsible for works and chooses to stick 2 fingers up at your client, then your client still has the problem of what he knows to be an unsafe workplace and a duty to ensure the safety of employees. In a worst case scenario he can always say stuff you Im off somewhere else.

Posted By jackw. Hi, I assume you are not located in Scotland, were the requirement for fire certificates still holds as the recent fire legislation does not apply there. Under the old regs if a building required a fire certificate then this laid out the duties, responsibilities etc. of owners and ocupiers and the local fire officer would meet with reps of both when issuing the fire certificate to make it exactly clear what each area of responsibilities are in terms of fire safety.. fire door integrity etc. But the bottom line may well be what the leasing agreement says.. what your client has signed in to. I suggest you speak to your local brigade fire safety officer and see what advice they can give re their view/interpretation of current fire safety regs re the responsibilities of each party. Cheers.