Cookers and kitchen wall regulations

Burntfingers

Can domestic gas ovens legally stand next to ordinary plastered solid walls in a kitchen? Do UK fire/gas regulations mandate tiles or splashbacks behind ovens or on close adjacent walls please? Builders contracted by my letting agents are saying I have to tile behind the free-standing (properly installed) gas cooker in this one-household terrace house. Thanks for the advice.

Astrozombies

Ours is against a plastered wall and it's never been mentioned by British Gas when they come for their yearly check.

Doozergirl

It's not a reg, no.  They're talking rubbish.  If fire escaped from a gas cooker, you'd need more than a splashback.  😳

FreeBear

But... A tiled surface or glass/steel/whatever splashback does stop oil and splatter from soaking in to the plaster. So from a cleaning point of view, it makes sense.

Homer_home

Burntfingers said:

Can domestic gas ovens legally stand next to ordinary plastered solid walls in a kitchen? Do UK fire/gas regulations mandate tiles or splashbacks behind ovens or on close adjacent walls please? Builders contracted by my letting agents are saying I have to tile behind the free-standing (properly installed) gas cooker in this one-household terrace house. Thanks for the advice.

Ask the builders why you have to tile and if they say "it's the regs" tell them to point out on paper which reg they are talking about (they won't be able to)

Burntfingers

Thank you all. I have asked and await (from lettings agent/contractor) exactly the answer to that question - which regs? In meantime have answer from relevant local authority, posted here to inform anyone interested.

"Cc: propertylicensing <propertylicensing@walthamforest.gov.uk Subject: FW: Gas oven regulations
Dear ....,

 To answer your query there is no legal requirement for the cooker to have a splashback/tiles behind it. For houses of multiple occupation we ask for this as part of our property standards but this is not the case for single family dwellings. If one was asked for then it would likely be done so due to a hygiene as a health a safety risk although these risks would typically be very low." Private Sector Housing & Licensing | Licensing Enforcement Officer | Regulatory Services 

My question to local authority: 01 October 2020

"Please could you tell me if it is a legal requirement to have wall tiles or a splashback behind or next to a gas cooker in a domestic property?

The property is a small terraced house, let, and has one household."

Homer_home

There's your answer! No!

If the letting agent insist on this for some bizarre reason it is not upto you to sort it as it is your landlords responsibility especially if they laughably site health and safety reasons 

Also again if they insist on this then they will have to inform every other property on their books that have a freestanding cooker too!

Some "builders" really are clueless but then so are some letting agents