By Mike Edwards.
Todays post by Mike Edwards, represents information that the Castle Estates group have been posting for many yeras, but just never changes. Giveing truth to the old adage, you just cant beat good advice!
Many landlords are still blissfully unaware of even basic health and safety rules when leaving their properties for rental, according to The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC). For example, one in ten rented properties have items such as soft furnishings, bedding and furniture that do not have the required fire & furnishing compliance labels and have to be removed. What’s more, AIIC members are still finding the dubious – and illegal – practice of landlords ‘selling’ odd items of furniture, without fire & furnishing compliance labels, to incoming tenants.
It is also of course illegal to let the tenants happen to ‘find’ an ideal piece of furniture outside the back door and for the Landlord to offer to ‘hire’ the furniture for a peppercorn rent. Pat Barber, of The AIIC, comments, “A recent tenant told us – ‘I bought the sofa for £1, it’s really old and tatty, but a great bargain.’ When we pointed out that he would have to take it with him or dispose of it at his own cost when he moved out he was not quite so excited.” But more to the point what the Landlord had done, to circumvent the regulations, was totally illegal and an offence punishable by at least a fine and heaven forbid had there been an injury or fatality that involved the illegal sofa, a custodial sentence.
We ourselves see time and time again, properties with fire hazards such as gas cylinders and chemicals stored incorrectly by the landlord. There was such a case a few years ago where a discarded cigarette end ignited petrol being stored at the rear of the property fortunately in this case by the tenant. All landlords must ensure that all the soft furnishing, bedding and furniture is fire retardant with the correct labels and that hazardous materials are not stored in the property or garage. The motto must be “If in doubt, throw it out”
AIIC has identified the top 10 most common health and safety issues found in rented properties:
• Non-compliant furniture, bedding and soft furnishings
• Loose sockets and light switches
• No smoke alarms or monoxide detectors fitted
• Obscured gas meters and electricity mains fuse boxes
• Curtain tracks and blinds where screws have been put directly into the wall
without using rawl plugs
• Loose/damaged steps, paving outside the property
• Loose stair carpet
• Poorly maintained decking
• Air vents and air bricks covered in rooms especially where there are gas
appliances
• Locked windows with no keys supplied
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