FIRE SAFETY: residential landlords win the call to put a shared house on par with a nuclear power station

It’s now official – a shared house only needs the same level of fire regulation as a nuclear power station.

The government has conceded the point after months of campaigning by the Residential Landlords Association – the UK’s leading professional body for private sector landlords.

The RLA lobbied for a re-think of the way the new Housing Act gave both local authorities and fire authorities different responsibilities to enforce fire safety in different parts of a shared house.

So a shared house - typically occupied by students – originally became the responsibility of two regulators working within three sets of guidelines and legislation. Even a nuclear power station only warrants one regulator.

“As a result, fire safety – one of the single most important issues in rented housing – was in danger of sliding into a cloud of confusion which could have threatened the lives of tenants,” says Lee Dribben, chairman of the Residential Landlords Association whose members own over 100,000 private rented properties throughout the UK.

So the RLA appealed for the consistency and simplicity of a single fire regulator enforcing the same standard irrespective of what legislation applies.

And the national joint working group, set up by local authorities and chief fire officers, has now ruled that shared houses can be taken outside the scope of the Fire Safety Order. That leaves only the local authority as a single regulator - applying HMO licence conditions, when the shared house needs a licence, and otherwise the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.

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“Common sense has prevailed says Lee Dribben. ”Local authorities are better equipped to promote fire safety and carry out risk assessments and they have ample powers to deal with this issue.”

Fire safety regulation is among several issues on which the Residential Landlords Association campaigns. They also include lobbying for the formal acceptance of a Code of Practice laying down expected standards for professional landlords, a common sense approach to Housing Act licensing for houses in multiple occupation, as well as amenity standards, housing allowance payments and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

· The Residential Landlords Association is a leading national organisation for professional landlords, residential property investors and self-managers – with members owning over 100,000 properties in the UK private rented sector. The range of members’ services - on www.rla.org.uk - includes legal advice, insurance, financial services, credit referencing and training. For tenants there is www.tenantdocs.co.uk – where tips include a download of the RLA’s award-winning Plain English tenancy agreement. The RLA operates a web-based property search on www.homes2rent.net and publishes the bi-monthly Residential Property Investor magazine.

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Notes to editors

* The campaigning stance of the Residential Landlords Association makes it the UK’s most active dedicated national voice for private sector residential landlords - and its own Code of Practice lays down expected standards that are also in the best interests of tenants.

* Current campaign issues include lobbying for a common sense approach to the implementation of Housing Act licence conditions and fees relating to houses in multiple occupation, Fire Safety regulation, amenity standards, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and housing benefit payments as well as a re-think on capital gains and rollover tax relief for professional landlords.

* For a summary of RLA campaigning go to: www.rla.org.uk/rla.exe/landlord/lobbying/rla_lobbying_summary.htm