Safety glass in rental property

kickingk50

Hi
Just wondered if anyone can help?
My husband and I are about to become first time landlords.We have had the survey on the BTL property we are buying,all is well,no issues that the mortgage co are saying need fixing as condition of mort,but one point was mentioned was that there are a couple of ground floor internal doors which the surveyer said may not have safety glass fitted and that we may wish to check this out...my question is-is it the law that we replace any glass in this property with safety glass before letting it out.?
We will obviously comply with this if it is law..

Thanks.

Kynthia

I do not believe you have to have safety glass in a rental property. However if you replace anything glass in the rental property then, with a few exceptions, it should be safety glass.

Most importantly a rental property must be safe. It is possible to be sued if someone was injured and they felt that it wasn't safe. I personally wouldn't risk letting to anyone with young children if there was large sheets of non-safety glass internally, but that doesn't guarantee that young children won't visit. So you need to decide on the risk of this.

If replacing the doors or glass is too expensive then maybe look into a film that can be put on glass to make it safer. I'm sure I've read that something like this exists.

ognum

I'm don't know of any law but I do believe it is your duty as a LL to protect your tenants from issues that may occur.

I have had all the glass on internal doors in a house I let replaced with safety glass all with kite marks.

No tenant has ever asked me if it's safety glass, my mother used to live in the house and my children visited when young and we never had an incident with the old glass but at least I can sleep at night.

You can be any type of LL you choose, my choice is to provide the best possible environment for my tenants, respond to requests quickly and ensure they are happy living in my properties.

I believe you should try as far as possible to mitigate against problems but in the end it's your choice.

kiddakidda

Essentially as soon as you rent out this property you need to view it as a business.

If you are renting out to families with young children then either replace the doors with wood panel or fit safety glass.

Think about the safety of your tenants, they will be paying you to live there.

kickingk50 wrote: »

Hi
Just wondered if anyone can help?
My husband and I are about to become first time landlords.We have had the survey on the BTL property we are buying,all is well,no issues that the mortgage co are saying need fixing as condition of mort,but one point was mentioned was that there are a couple of ground floor internal doors which the surveyer said may not have safety glass fitted and that we may wish to check this out...my question is-is it the law that we replace any glass in this property with safety glass before letting it out.?
We will obviously comply with this if it is law..

Thanks.

G_M

As others have said, you have a general duty of care.

But there is no specific leglislation relating to glass and let properties (unlike gas appliances for example).

Building Regulations do apply to new glass installations (windows, internal glas doors etc) but these do not apply retrospectively to installations completed before the regulations were introduced.

Gigervamp

You can buy a film to put on the glass. I had to do this when I was a childminder.

Strapped

Gigervamp wrote: »

You can buy a film to put on the glass. I had to do this when I was a childminder.

Yes, this would be the inexpensive option. I personally would not rent the house out without addressing a known potential hazard.