Notice to replace Front Door Flat door

Mr_Mister

Hi

Looking for a bit of guidance. 

I own a flat in London which is rented out to tenants and last week received the following email from the Housing Association (Freeholder) 

The flat is a purpose built bock of flats of 8 floors and constructed around 2006. 

I understand I have the duty to replace the doors under the conditions of my lease but I have the following questions :

1) as the existing front door, which has been there since construction, has a letter box flap, can we get compliant front fire doors with a letter box? 

2) anyone know if the regulations apply to all internal doors e.g kitchen door? 

3) approx cost of the doors + fitting (London) 

4) cost of local authority Building Control if there is one? 

" During a recent Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) we carried out a visual inspection of all flat fire doors in your building to ensure they comply with British Standard 476 and are capable of preventing a fire from detrimentally affecting the means of escape route.

During this inspection we identified that your flat door, which is demised to you, under the terms of your lease and as such, you are responsible for maintaining, does not meet the relevant performance standard and as such requires replacement with a third party certified 30-minute fire door set, in accordance with current Building Regulations.

In order to replace your door, you must first attain landlords’ consent from us, in addition to Building Control approval from your Local Authority building control team, as the replacement of fire doors is classed as controlled works.

Doors that do not comply with British Standard 476, may be subject to enforcement action under the Building Regulations Act or the Housing Act 2006.

Please note we are required to disclose where flat fire doors do not meet the necessary standard to any potential purchaser during the property transfer process. A non-compliant fire door may also invalidate your home contents insurance policy.

 

HampshireH

Yes you can get fire doors with letterboxes.

If your flat is above 4.5m high it should have internal fire doors on all habitable rooms.

No idea on London costs but your door installer would certify it under a scheme like Fensa but would have to be certified under an accredited scheme for fire door installation. Fensa don't cover the compliance of a fire door

Jonboy_1984

Did they have access to the property for the visual inspection, The rating tags would often only be visible in the open position as normally on one of the edges?

Our last flat was built in 1987 and had fire doors throughout the block, so a 2006 build without seems odd to me unless it has been replaced. 

Also if you do need work consider fd30 is the minimum requirement and fd60 isnt much more money..

GDB2222

Fire doors need to have self closers fitted. These are a bit of a PITA in practice, and I have seen several properties where the self closers were fitted for the building control inspection and then removed. 

Having self closers on all internal doors in the flat would not be great.

Ectophile

Have you checked whether or not it is already a fire door?

plumb1_2

You can use Perko closers for the internal doors

Section62

Mr_Mister said:

" During a recent Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) we carried out a visual inspection of all flat fire doors in your building to ensure they comply with British Standard 476 and are capable of preventing a fire from detrimentally affecting the means of escape route.

During this inspection we identified that your flat door, which is demised to you, under the terms of your lease and as such, you are responsible for maintaining, does not meet the relevant performance standard and as such requires replacement with a third party certified 30-minute fire door set, in accordance with current Building Regulations.

Having confirmed the door does need replacing it might be worth asking the council if they are replacing other ones in the block, and if so, can they quote you to have yours done at the same time.

Some councils/HA's won't do this, but some do.  If yours is one which does then it may be worth going down this route - even if not the cheapest quote - in order to save the hassle of getting consents and BC signoff and/or problems with finding your own installer and dealing with them.

GDB2222

plumb1_2 said:

You can use Perko closers for the internal doors

Can you get delayed action in the Perko range? 

Mr_Mister

Section62 said:

Mr_Mister said:

" During a recent Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) we carried out a visual inspection of all flat fire doors in your building to ensure they comply with British Standard 476 and are capable of preventing a fire from detrimentally affecting the means of escape route.

During this inspection we identified that your flat door, which is demised to you, under the terms of your lease and as such, you are responsible for maintaining, does not meet the relevant performance standard and as such requires replacement with a third party certified 30-minute fire door set, in accordance with current Building Regulations.

Having confirmed the door does need replacing it might be worth asking the council if they are replacing other ones in the block, and if so, can they quote you to have yours done at the same time.

Some councils/HA's won't do this, but some do.  If yours is one which does then it may be worth going down this route - even if not the cheapest quote - in order to save the hassle of getting consents and BC signoff and/or problems with finding your own installer and dealing with them.

Even though they are not council flats? 

Mr_Mister

Ectophile said:

Have you checked whether or not it is already a fire door?

Is there a way to check? 

gazebo

Jonboy_1984 said:

Did they have access to the property for the visual inspection, The rating tags would often only be visible in the open position as normally on one of the edges?

Our last flat was built in 1987 and had fire doors throughout the block, so a 2006 build without seems odd to me unless it has been replaced. 

Also if you do need work consider fd30 is the minimum requirement and fd60 isnt much more money..

Yes - as Jonboy_1984 said above

Check the outside edges of your door when it's open to look for any printing or stickers that may indicate it's a fire door. If you're unsure what to look for, do an internet search for fire doors and compare your door to what you find.

I believe fire doors are heavier than normal internal doors, so it is fairly simple to check. You could always share a photo of your door, open, sideish on with an edge showing, which would let folk here help you better 

In fact, a quick internet check on "is my door a fire door" took me to London Fire Brigade site, which explains what you need to look for

https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/property-management/fire-doors/