Summary of our response
Fire and smoke alarms
We think that a new minimum standard for fire and smoke detectors in all housing regardless of tenure. We want to see robust fire safety standards for all residential buildings, including flats regardless of height. The London Fire Brigade warns that people are four times more likely to die in a fire in the home if there is no smoke alarm. Therefore it is crucial that every single home in the UK has a fire alarm fitted.
Smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years but the maximum age for alarms should also reflect the manufacturers’ guidelines. This is important because studies show that ageing alarms can experience reduced sensitivity.
The low frequency in which people move house make the proposed timescales of one year (if battery alarms are permitted) and two years (if the standard is for mains wired alarms) for installing additional alarms unreasonable in the owner occupied sector.
If battery alarms are permitted there should be a requirement for these alarms to be placed in all homes two years after the point the property is sold. Sealed battery units are currently not widely used and we are concerned that a one-year deadline is too tight and would be affected by a lack of supply and availability. For mains wired alarms to be fitted in property five years after the point of sale. A longer time is needed for the fitting of mains wired alarms because the work is more expensive and time-consuming.
Placing a requirement on homeowners after the point of sale means that the onus is on them to enforce the rules and ensure their property is safe. The requirements can also be enforced via home insurance providers. When the property is then resold this would need to be evidenced in the home report before the sale can go through.
Carbon monoxide alarms
We think that there should be a new minimum standard for carbon monoxide detectors in social rented and owner-occupied housing. Carbon monoxide is known as the Silent Killer because you can’t see it, taste it or smell it and it can kill quickly with no warning. Each year carbon monoxide poisoning affects over 4,000 people in the UK.
Since 1 December 2015, all private rented sector landlords have had to ensure that all properties they let to tenants have a carbon monoxide detector fitted regardless of when the tenancy started. However, the private rented sector in Scotland only represents around 14% of all households, so based on this statistic a large part of the population may not have an alarm in their home.
