Are landlords legally obliged to put up a banister ?

lookstraightahead

pinkshoes said:

I thought hand rails were to stop parents moaning at kids for putting sticky hands against the wall as they climb up the stairs?!?!?!

You shouldn't need a hand rail to get up the stairs unless you have some sort of mobility issue. If you have a mobility issue then yes, it would be sensible to have a hand rail of some sort. We put one in my gran's house as the steep staircase went up the middle of the house with walls either side, and a she had really bad arthritis, we felt it safer that she used a handrail to pull herself up.

If it is that much of a problem, then perhaps it would be better to live in a house with stairs that are less steep?

Or if you have an issue with heights. I can't come down stairs without holding on to a handrail. Especially if I'm carrying something.

Keswick1uk

You only need something as common as an astigmatism, to need to hold on when on stairs.

smallangel82

Ok ok, a hand rail, my bad lol
It's not just myself in the house, there are 5 people in total, one of them is the landlord. For us tenants, it is a safety issue because I'm not the first one to have fallen down the stairs. I've been asking for all of us whether we have any grounds on the subject and whether our landlord has to do something by law to provide a house that is safe to live in and to have some facts. He likes to go the path of least obstruction. If he can get somebody else to do the work for him, he will; if he can get away with not paying for something, he will. But that wasn't the question (and it's not an option to move house). I will speak to him again once I have received the quotes. Thanks a lot again to everyone that has given some information on this