NEW ALARMS LEGISLATION WILL MAKE RENTED PROPERTIES SAFER
New Government legislation expected to take effect from October 2015 will mean landlords will be required by law to install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties. It is said the move could help prevent up to 26 deaths and 670 injuries a year. It’s a move welcomed by the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) as a positive step towards making tenanted households safer.
8 April 2015 – New Government legislation expected to take effect from October 2015 will mean landlords will be required by law to install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties. It is said the move could help prevent up to 26 deaths and 670 injuries a year.
England’s 46 fire and rescue authorities are expected to support private landlords in their own areas to meet their new responsibilities with the provision of free alarms, with grant funding from government.
The Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) welcomes this development as a positive step towards making tenanted households safer. Commenting, Mark Oakes, Head of Specialist Group Services at B&ES, said, “We welcome this new legislation as it will mean landlords will have to install smoke alarms on each storey of their property and carbon monoxide alarms in the rooms considered most at risk from high levels of carbon monoxide and to check the alarms are in working order at the start of any new tenancy.
“We especially applaud the inclusion of carbon monoxide alarms in the legislation; the vast majority of landlords offer a good service and have installed smoke alarms in their properties but the same cannot be said of carbon monoxide alarms.
“Carbon monoxide is the most common cause of fatal poisoning in the UK, with 40 people each year being killed by it and hundreds more made seriously ill from ‘the silent killer’, and it’s called that for good reason because you cannot see or smell carbon monoxide, yet it can be lethal. Therefore fitting a European Standard certified audible carbon monoxide alarm can be a potentially life saving defence.
“This new legislation will complement existing gas safety laws, which stipulate that gas appliances in all rented accommodation should be serviced annually in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions by a Gas Safe registered installer in addition to having annual gas safety checks carried out on them.
“In the last few years a number of steps have been taken to improve standards in the private rented sector, this new legislation being a good example, and together we believe they are making a real difference to tenants.”
For information about the services offered by B&ES members in the residential sector visit: http://www.trustmark.org.uk.
Ends
Issued on behalf of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) by Next Step Marketing Ltd
Media enquiries to: Heather Lambert. Tel: 44(0)1256 472020;
Fax: 44(0)1256 471010; E-mail: heather@nextstepmarketing.co.uk
Notes to editors
Since its formation in 1904, B&ES, the Building & Engineering Services Association (formerly the HVCA) has represented the interests of companies engaged in a wide range of building and engineering services including domestic heating and renewable technologies.
B&ES members are subject to regular, third-party inspection and assessment of their technical competence and commercial capability, carried out by an independent certification body at least every three years.
B&ES members who undertake gas installations are registered with Gas Safe – the gas safety watchdog body – and are also members of TrustMark, the Government-endorsed scheme designed to direct customers towards reliable tradespeople.
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