Landlord asking me to pay for additional smoke alarm

tacpot12

I would agree that adequate ventilation is important. The easiest way to solve this is to remove the door to the cupboard, and refit it when you vacate the property. It is likely to just be held on with six screws, so remove these, put them in a plastic sandwich bag and tie to the door handle. Pop the door down the side of the freezer or somewhere elese where it will not be in the way. 

comeandgo

Is there nothing else in your property that you could move under the stairs to give you room for the freezer like a chest of drawers?

ochilmum

comeandgo said:

Is there nothing else in your property that you could move under the stairs to give you room for the freezer like a chest of drawers?

I know it sounds ridiculous but there really isn't anywhere else! unless I put it in my bedroom built in wardrobe but I suspect she'd have the same problem with that! I tried to squeeze it in the shed but it has a shelf which is too low and i can't put it in front without losing access to the dryer. We put up with the tiny house for the sake of a large, lovely garden! Over the summer we'll eat more pasta and salad anyway, maybe next autumn I will look at alternative options like a lower freezer in the shed. 

comeandgo

Be careful with the low temperature in Scotland in winter in the shed. The only freezer I could find to work in low temperatures was a Beko.  

Section62

ThisIsWeird said:

...

Any actual safety risk must be very low, tho'. Even any adverse operational risk must be tiny; I cannot see that cupboard becoming 'ambiently' warm to the point where the freezer considers it too high, when it should be capable of coping with summer temps in the 30s and even 40s. Mind you, if the flat's temp does hit the 30s in summer, these cooling appliances will be working overtime, and how warm could the cupboard become then?! :-(

It ain't natural, and - if she allows it - I think I'd be adding a temp gauge in there too, especially over summer. And be prepared to leave the door open most of the time. The freezer is far more likely to simply stop working properly, rather than burst into flames... I hope that helps

White goods, particularly fridges and freezers are fairly notorious for bursting into flames at unfortunate times.  They don't have to be inside a closed cupboard for that to happen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire#Fire

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jul/11/uk-public-urged-stop-buying-fire-risk-fridges-freezers

If the freezer is under the stairs, the stairs are made of wood, and there is no fire proofing to the underside (often the case with cupboards under stairs) then it won't take very long at all before a fridge/freezer fire makes the stairs unusable.

With 3 small children in the house I'd say £150 was good value for money. I can also understand why the landlord was upset to discover the situation. If the house burns down killing three small children the landlord is going to have fingers pointed at them, even if they had no idea about this arrangement and didn't agree to it.

Any lack of law requiring an alarm in this situation ought to be irrelevant.  Putting things which are a potential fire risk below a flight of stairs is not a good idea in any case.

ThisIsWeird

Section62 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

...

Any actual safety risk must be very low, tho'. Even any adverse operational risk must be tiny; I cannot see that cupboard becoming 'ambiently' warm to the point where the freezer considers it too high, when it should be capable of coping with summer temps in the 30s and even 40s. Mind you, if the flat's temp does hit the 30s in summer, these cooling appliances will be working overtime, and how warm could the cupboard become then?! :-(

It ain't natural, and - if she allows it - I think I'd be adding a temp gauge in there too, especially over summer. And be prepared to leave the door open most of the time. The freezer is far more likely to simply stop working properly, rather than burst into flames... I hope that helps

White goods, particularly fridges and freezers are fairly notorious for bursting into flames at unfortunate times.  They don't have to be inside a closed cupboard for that to happen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenfell_Tower_fire#Fire

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jul/11/uk-public-urged-stop-buying-fire-risk-fridges-freezers

If the freezer is under the stairs, the stairs are made of wood, and there is no fire proofing to the underside (often the case with cupboards under stairs) then it won't take very long at all before a fridge/freezer fire makes the stairs unusable.

With 3 small children in the house I'd say £150 was good value for money. I can also understand why the landlord was upset to discover the situation. If the house burns down killing three small children the landlord is going to have fingers pointed at them, even if they had no idea about this arrangement and didn't agree to it.

Any lack of law requiring an alarm in this situation ought to be irrelevant.  Putting things which are a potential fire risk below a flight of stairs is not a good idea in any case.

Fair point - post deleted.

ArbitraryRandom

Have to agree - if I was this landlord I wouldn't be offering a smoke alarm could be fitted, I'd be checking my insurance and then using that (assuming they confirm they consider it a fire hazard) to instruct the freezer shouldn't be there at all. 

I'm all for tenants treating a property as their home (because it is), but as landlord I would have responsibility to ensure the property is safe - for the tenant, their children, and the neighbours... 

Murphybear

Our local Fire Brigade is brilliant at giving advice about fire hazards, it might be worth having a word with yours, they are usually happy to do home visits.  If the Fire Brigade are happy with your freezer then hopefully the landlady will be.  

BobT36

Surely a corner of a room would be free for it? Move the freezer out of the cupboard, move something else in to the cupboard to free up space. Job done. 
You can look up the make / model and find the manual online, one of the first pages will specify exactly the amount of clearance and ventilation it needs. Guarantee it won't be suitable in a cupboard. 

531063

A lot of you mention adequate ventilation, so whats the difference between the OP's fridge & an american fridge freezer built in to
kitchen units.