Fire Safety certificate for freehold flat sale?

Treadway1

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice, if I may, on behalf of my BIL who is in the process of selling his flat.

He lives in a two bedroom flat within an old town house type property which has been converted in to 4 self contained flats. The residents of all the flats own the freehold, and my BIL has informed me that they are all effectively directors of the company that would have originally been the Nominee purchaser of the freehold. With me so far???

Anyway, He had an offer put in for the flat which he accepted and the sale was going thorough with no issue until the buyer's solicitor contacted him a few days ago asking for a Fire Safety certificate for the flat. Now he never had one of these when he moved in (I should point out that he wasn't one of the original tenants that bought the freehold to the property, he just received it when he bought the flat) and so is now wondering what he should do?

I've done a bit googling and found out that fire safety certificates only apply to commercial premises which, in these circumstances, I guess is what the flats (or the whole building) effectively are/is. My question is though, who would be responsible for issuing the fire safety certificate? Can he draft one himself or is a document that needs to be drawn up by a solicitor? Also, if he can do it himself, I'm assuming that makes him liable should a fire occur after he has sold the flat?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

*Edit - Sorry folks, just read that back and am horrified at the amount of time I've used the word flat. Please accept my apologies!

evoke

A Health, Safety and Fire Risk Assessment will be required by the buyer's solicitors when your BIL sells his flat. It's usually the management company that gets this done. It's not a document that you can just type up! LOL.

It's a proper safety and fire risk assessment where smoke alarms are tested, emergency lighting is tested, fire escapes (if applicable) are checked, communal areas are checked for items being stored that could cause an obstruction in the event of a fire, communal cupboards are checked for inflammable items, etc.

The landlords will need to pay a company to carry out the assessment and then forward the report to the buyer's solicitor via your BIL's solicitor.

Treadway1

Thanks for that. Perhaps I didn't explain properly though, my BIL doesn't rent, he actually owns the property, including the freehold. So there's no management company involved, all the residents of the flats simply manage the building themselves, i.e. any maintenance work need in the communal areas, exterior of building, etc. and then obivously look after their own flats individually.

From your last paragraph though, I take it that my BIL should just get a company in to do the assessment and issue the certificate? If so, any idea how much one of these companies might charge?

Thanks again.

System

A Fire Certificate is not needed, they have been abolished.

What is required is a fire risk assessment carried out by a 'responsible person' for the common area of the block of flats only.

Details and examples here

Treadway1

!!!!!!, many thanks and apologies for my delay in replying.

So as the residents of the flats within the house are effectively all 'responsible persons' for the property then my BIL can complete the fire risk assessment form, on the link you provided, himself and then submit that to the buyer's solicitor?

It is really that simple? Seems like I might be missing the point somewhere.

jonobartle

In answer to the question of whether your BIL could complete the assessment the answer is yes as ling as they meet the requirements of "a competent person". This is a person with recent and relevant experience, knowledge or training. If he does not meet these criteria then he should employ someone who does. I have been carrying out fire risk assessments of all types of property including residential for a number of years. I can be contacted by email on :

j.bartle@source-fire.com

Do you know who the managing agent is? They should have a process already set up for carrying out the assessments and there may be a work opportunity

Thanks

Jono