Fire Safety Act 2021
Whilst the act was passed in April 2021, further regulations needed to be written to enable the act to come into force in England and Wales. Wales produced further regulations in September 2021 to commencement it in Wales from 1 October 2021, but there was no commencement for England.
In smaller blocks where the owner owns all the flats and they give a letting agent the flats to let and manage then the letting agent may well find that they are the responsible person either by agreement or default.
In this specific set of circumstances the parties would need to be clearnabout who is responsible for firemsafety in relation to the building and,nif necessary, have a separatemagreement around the management of the building.
How frequent are risk assessments required?
After the initial risk assessment hasbeen completed, risk assessments should be kept up to date, especially if there has been a change to any part of the building. The risk assessment should state how the change affects the risk to the residents.
If there is a change of occupier, or to the structure of the building, the freeholder or their managing agent may wish to carry out another risk assessment to reassess any changes to the risks.
The responsible person is not required to issue a risk assessment to each owner or occupier of the property but it should be available if they request a copy. Most importantly it should be available if the emergency services
want it.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Smoke alarm requirements will not change for the private rent sector under new regulations from 1/10/22. Carbon monoxide alarms will though be required in rooms with combustion appliances including gas and oil appliances except for gas cookers.
It will also be a requirement for a landlord to repair or replace the alarms once either the tenant or the tenant’s representative inform the landlord there is a fault. This will apply to all tenancies new and existing.
For further information and advice, please contact us on 023 8086 8578.