More than half of the country’s landlords have taken steps to assure fire safety in their investment properties following the tragic fire at London’s Grenfell Tower.
A survey by Simple Landlords Insurance showed that 32% of landlords in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) checked on the fire safety of their properties whilst another 15% have hired a professional to carry out a risk assessment.
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The most proactive landlords were those of homes in multiple occupation (HMOs) and apartments, as fire alarms were checked in 50% of HMOs and 35% of rental apartments.
These two types also experienced a higher level of checks from professionals as 39% of HMOs saw an expert assessing the situation as well as 22% of apartments.
Probably not surprising, London’s landlords were the most active across the country. About 72% of the capital’s respondents stated they had at least taken one action in the last four weeks.
The survey, however, also mentioned one area of concern. When asked about gas safety, all landlords stated they had done checks previously, but only 83% said those checks happened within the last year.
This comes a somewhat of a surprise as landlords are required by law to have a engineer registered with gas safe check all gas appliances at least once every twelve months.
Alex Huntley from Simple Landlord Insurance commented the findings:
“Fire safety is clearly on the agenda for landlords in the UK, with a little over half taking positive action in the last month alone. Landlords have a legal obligation to protect tenants under fire safety regulations, particularly those with large or shared properties.”
“Gas safety is also of paramount importance, and although on the whole the survey has shown a positive and responsible response from landlords, they must understand their obligations and fire and gas safety must never be left to chance,” she concluded.
