General (main property discussion here) - fire safety

I have a house four floors divided into four self contained studios.

Can any one advise me how much fire protection I need? ie, do I need extinguishers in each flat, do I need fire blankets, do I need extinguishers in the halls and staircases Any help would be apprectied thanks stan

Hi Stan,

My advice would be that you can either put in the standard number of extinguishers, or put in the amount you would feel comfortable with.

At the end of the day, if the legal requirement was one extinguisher per floor (I have no idea what the requirement is, by the way), would you feel happeir if you put one one each staircase too.

If the answer is yes, then perhaps you should do that. It's piece of mind from a personal safetly point of view (rather than a "oh shit, my house burned down, what's my insurance like", even if a tenant has died). Does that make sense?

Also look at your fire escapes if it's a 4 story building. If these are good enough, you can arguably make a compromise with with extiguishers?

Mark

Stan, I would think that your local fire station would be a good place to start ! They will have a fire safety officer and he/she will tell you all you need to know.That or your local planning/building control office.

How long do extinguishers last?

I think you'll need them checked once a year once you've bought them. It's nice to buy lots, but if you're paying for the inspector to check and refill them every year, could become a bore!

I've not dabbled in HMOs myself, although tempted given the increased yields. Is your 4-storey classed as HMO Stan?

I think many of the costs for linked fire alarms, etc are one-offs which is the good thing.

John