Tom Sutton

Yes, Ask her to stop. if she refuses report her to the Responsible Person (Owner/Landlord or management company) If still having difficulties contact the enforcing Authority, the local Fire and Rescue Service.

I do not believe you will get an answer to this one, as I said most fire safety guidance originates from the post war studies with a bit of tweaking through the years. You will never know who tweaked it and for what reasons. I think you will find many similar situations in fire safety and I think you will find a rational scientific reason for any of them.

Oops it was in the the 2011 version aswell missed it completely thank AB pulling me out the mire.

A vacant commercial property England or Wales is subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the owner or his representative will be the Responsible Person. The RP will be required to conduct a fire risk assessment and if this FRA decides emergence lighting is required, then it needs installing, if already installed, then it will need maintaining.

1) Does the landlord legally have to correct the faults? If so, who do I contact to force them? Yes and the local fire and rescue service is the enforcing authority. 2) Could it have invalidated our insurance? Do we need to let our insurance company know? It would depend on the terms and conditions (small print) you need to talk to the insurance company. Check out http://www.firesafe.org.uk/uk-fire-rescue-services-details/

Depends on the location of the panel if it is in an escape route then yes it would, also the risk assessment should determine how important the panel is to the evacuation. If the panel is located in the room where communication to the fire and rescue service is located then again I would say yes, it would all depend on the outcome of your risk assessment.

The gaps appear too excessive for the intumescent strips the work correctly let alone the smoke seals and it looks like the gaps needs reducing to allow it to close to the 3mm standard.

Are these flats and are the doors opening onto a common area or are they single private dwellings.

No this would not be acceptable, it could interfere with the operation of the door but you can get rubber smoke seals that fit in the corner of the frame which may damp down any noise.

What guidance are you quoting and most fire safety guidance originates from the post war studies with a bit of tweaking through the years.

If there is no common areas then the maisonnette will not be subject to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and I assume there is no shared facilities, then it will not be a HMO so it is likely to be considered a single family dwelling. As for fire safety that would be covered by the building regulations guidance at the time the house was converted or you could consider HOUSING – FIRE SAFETY Guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing which may be acceptable. You need to discuss your situation with a solicitor dealing with this area. Check out http://www.safetylawyers.co.uk/fire-safety/

The legal situation is there should be no obstructs in a mean of escape route see article 14 of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 but it is considered acceptable, subject to a fire risk assessment, to allow small obstructions that would not put occupants in danger. In this case it looks like the management of the premises is allowing a limited obstruction under strict rules.

Timber joists with floor boards on the top and a plastered ceiling below could achieve 30/60 minutes fire resistance depending on the materials used which should be sufficient to escape from a fire.

It should read, Check out Main changes in volume 1 of Approved Document B (Fire Safety) intro page. It allows locks and child resistant safety stays may be provided on escape windows. Approved Document B (fire safety) volume 1: Dwellinghouses

All walls and ceiling separating any habitable rooms from the utility room, to be a full 30 minute fire resisting (FR) and any openings in those walls has to be 30 mins FR. This means the door from the kitchen needs replacing with a FD30 fire door set (door and frame) plus a S/C device also any other opening needs to be 30 mins FR. Any openings on outside walls require no action but if there is a habitable room above the utility room the ceiling must be upgraded to 30 mins FR. Because the floor is stepped down by 8" would mean you do not have to lower the floor or have sloping floor to outside.

If you have a gas fire in your living room you should have an air brick vent to provide ventilation for the gas fire. Is it possible if the weather conditions are right, that very small amounts of CO from yours or passing cars could be getting into your living room via the vent, which could be happening to your neighbours but because the level was not sufficient to operate the warning buzzer they have not registered a problem?

I would suggest you surf the web for "air vents with anti draught excluder" and I came up with http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/anti-draft-vent.

Further to AB's reply another possible reason could be The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 article 14 requires escape route to be clear, which I suspect is to prevent obstructions or tripping hazards, which could be a serous situation in an evacuation. In this case the Responsible Person could have considered the doormats to be a tripping hazard and wants them removed, but in many cases this situation is risk assessed, also in most homes in the country have their doormats are behind the front door not outside.

A four storey and basement, dwelling house converted into flats and the Approved Document B states volume 2 should be used. The problem with this is volume 2 is for purpose built blocks of flats and a great deal of interpretation has to be used to apply it to Converted flats. However it is possible to find a solution that allows a single staircase to be used, providing FD30 to all habitable rooms and a FD30s door to the front door of flats, this would require the building control to accept the interpretation. Check out https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-approved-document-b vol 2 page 20, 2.20. I think HOUSING – FIRE SAFETY Guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing is a better solution, page 46 but Building Control would need to be convinced. I would suggest you need to speak to Building Control the Enforcement Authority to find out what they consider acceptable.

You need to include in your fire procedure the actions of the people having a break, instructing them, on the operation of the fire alarm, to proceed to the fire assembly point, consequently by the time the people in the building gets to the fire exit it should be clear.

The management company will be designated the Responsible Person (article 3) and have a duty to implement article 8 to 22 which includes a fire risk assessment also any work required to conform to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 you may be charged for though your service charge. You can talk to the management company and I am sure they will confirm they are meeting the duties of the RR(FS)O but they are not legally required to provide a copy of the FRA. You are required to provide a smoke and a CO detector for the flat but the common area is the responsibility of the management company.

The Approved Document B states the narrowest width would be 750mm but post war building studies looked at a single exit width being approx 525mm, so long as people can walk out single file comfortably (not having to turn sideways or anything) there would be very little difference (if any) between the evacuation times through a 750 door. IIRC correctly the old blue & primrose guides etc allowed 550mm widths in certain circumstances. (Small numbers of employees or something like that) I would say, considering the average size of people today compared with the late 40's I would accept the latest guidance 750mm but after a considered risk assessment I may accept 650mm.

Depends on where you are situated the County of Merseyside Act 1980 does stipulates 6m for cardboard from a building, with many other conditions, but only applies in Merseyside, you may have to check out your local acts.

You must access to your house although not vehicular and that is all the Fire and Rescue Service would need, they would simple park on the road and carry their equipment to your house but if you are concerned have a word with your local FRS.

How many floors and are are there more than four flats in the building.