fire doors in blocks of flats

[Paul1979]

Hi All,

In a block of flats where the flat entrance doors all open onto a single escape staircase, where one of the residents (who owns their own flat) refuses to replace the UPVC door they have installed themselves (!!!) what actions can we / landlord take to make them replace this??

Plus, are all the doors opening onto the staircase from flat entrances down to the landlord now (taking into account the new Fire Safety Act and Building Safety Act) and not the residents / tenants??

Anyone who can throw any light or specific legislation my way would be my new best friend as they are causing me a severe headache!

Thanks as always to all that can help.

[Messy]

Bear with me here as I have not been involved in FRAs in residential property for 15 years so am not really 100% confident or competent

My understanding is if a leaseholder, the occupier should have a clause in the leasehold contract to comply with reasonable requests from the freeholder.

The freeholder - as the Responsible Person - must make reasonable endeavours to comply with the relevant legislation including and especially including front doors in FRAs

The leaseholder may be in breach of contract if the Freeholders request for access, repairs or replacement are not met, leading to court action from the Freeholder

Where a Freehold is shared across numerous occupiers , - the Committee (often a Ltd company) become the Responsible Person


Please use my post as a starting point for further research as I am not 100% correct and am on a bumpy traini at the moment making further research tricky

[witsd]

Oh boy.

Honestly, you can do almost nothing. You can letter them. You can contact their mortgage provider, as they may be in breach of their insurance. You can ask the local fire service to speak with them.

In practice, none of this is likely to work.

What we do (and bear in mind I'm in Scotland), is to simply letter the occupants, record that we've done so and move on. We also make sure that any neighbours' doors are suitable and that the door to the staircase(s) on that floor are up to scratch (but you'd do that anyway).

What we really need is some government decree that says that any company who downgrades compartmentation in an MSF can be fined out of existence, but I fear that ship has sailed until the next disaster.

[SafetyPete]

You need to understand what is contained in the lease, if that says nothing, then the following gives and explanation of the latest court decision.

If the lease includes retention by the freholder then that takes precedence.

https://www.bradysolicitors.com/brady-b ... decisions/

Pete

[Alexis]

You need to understand what is contained in the lease, if that says nothing, then the following gives and explanation of the latest court decision.

If the lease includes retention by the freholder then that takes precedence.

https://www.bradysolicitors.com/brady-b ... decisions/

Pete

Hi SafetyPete.

Welcome aboard.

Good to have you join us.

[Mercy Adeniji]

Just did a quick search on the Croner-i Navigate Safety Library States and the HSE Publication Fire Safety in Purpose Built Blocks of Flats states:

Section 28.5 Other than any part of the block that is a workplace, the responsibilities and duties imposed are limited to matters over which the person has control. Sometimes, flat entrance doors may be outside the control of a freeholder. For example, often, under each resident’s lease, the door is legally part of the demised premises and so responsibility for maintenance of the flat entrance door rests with the resident. The landlord has no legal right to force a tenant to upgrade the door to the current standard, nor to carry out the works unilaterally. However, in case of impasse, a landlord should refer the matter to the relevant enforcing authority.

Hope this helps-https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... s-of-flats

[witsd]

Hope this helps-https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... s-of-flats

Is there a variant of that that applies to Scotland?

[SafetyPete]

You need to be careful with sources.

The HSE document Fire Safety in Blocks of Flats (issued by a london authority on behalf of HSE if memory serves) has been withdrawn - it is still available on the HSE website as it still contains guidance on some issues that is relevant ie PEEPs - the problem with relying on it is that it does not specify what is still appropriate guidance, so treat with some caution.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 does make the Responsible Person responsible for doors from domestic to common parts, but that alone isnt a definitive answer as leases may still impact on this.

For a Responsible Person faced with this issue, the FSA 2021 would be my starting point, then deal with leasees objections as they come up.