Do I need to pay thousands for a fire alarm in my hallway?

KingL2

NameUnavailable said:

Some other thoughts.

The potential buyer has paid out for a fire risk report? As joint freeholders you have responsibility for the building safety but as I mentioned, I think this is limited to ensuring you have fire doors and self closers on the entrance doors to your flats, and you should keep communal areas free of stuff.

The buyer might just be very particular but it does seem odd that they paid for this report and (are?) insisting on a fire alarm being fitted.

I would wonder if I would want this person as a neighbour and fellow freeholder! What are they going to demand next? I'm sure you don't want to appear difficult to your current neighbour but it's not up to you to meet his buyers demands. 

It seems like the buyer is trying to milk-it to get Betterment works done at the vendors cost.  The other (share of) freehold(er) shouldn't have to pay for their b*llsh*t challenge, but he needs to man-up (person-up?) and resist, if anyone is expecting him to pay for it.

MultiFuelBurner

Does the hallway have its own electrical supply and fuseboard? 

timww

MultiFuelBurner said:

Does the hallway have its own electrical supply and fuseboard? 

No. The single hallway light comes off one of the flats' supplies. Both our consumer units are situated in the hall. This actually came up in the report that it needed a better cabinet, which we'll address.

Schwarzwald

timww said:

My flat is in a building with one other property. It was converted from a Victorian house in the 1980s.

My neighbour is selling their flat, and their buyers commissioned a fire safety risk assessment which found our building (due to shared hallway) is not up to regulation.

I'm not trying to avoid making improvements, but the neighbour and I differ in our assessment of the report and nobody seems willing to give pragmatic advice. They don't want to lose their sale and will likely come under pressure from their buyer now to compensate them in advance. At worst they may push me for immediate remedial work.

The report recommends various measures are taken within 3-6 months, and the costs of these will run into the thousands. One of the recommendations is that a grade A fire alarm is fitted in the common hallway. This recommendation is made in addition to bringing the building up to regulation with respect to fire doors and such. (All things I'm happy to do).

The point of contention is whether the alarm would be necessary if the other measures were taken. The report seems (to me) to imply this, but my neighbour disagrees. I contacted local building control, but they won't say if my reading of the report is correct, only that the regulations apply.

I'm more than happy to upgrade the doors and locks at the cost of whatever 100s of pounds, but shelling out another thousand pounds for an alarm is something I want to avoid if it's not necessary. I presume it will carry annual fees too, as a qualified person will have to test it every 6 months.

Does anyone have any experience of making an old conversion compliant with fire regs? Am I right that the alarm would not be required if I could get the building certified?

Is there an organisation that can advise me on what I actually have to do, and by when? Free or otherwise?

the way i would look at it:

1- if the recommended improvements are valid, i would get seek to get them done in the next 6 months

2- but your neighbor has the time pressure, not you. I probably would not do anything right now. if they want to get their flat sold, they either have to pay for it themselves, or accept a price reduction by the buyer. this is not your problem.

I would sit it out and see where you are in 4 months from now. you then still have sufficient time within the recommended time frame to get something installed / improved.

not unlikely your neighbor has sold by then, and either paid for the upgrades themselves, or reduced the price. in the latter case, it is to be seen if the buyer would then be as keen to get the same expensive improvements done, which they request now ahead of the purchase

MultiFuelBurner

timww said:

MultiFuelBurner said:

Does the hallway have its own electrical supply and fuseboard? 

No. The single hallway light comes off one of the flats' supplies. Both our consumer units are situated in the hall. This actually came up in the report that it needed a better cabinet, which we'll address.

Fire doors seem good and maybe if you don't mind int he future some hard wired detectors to your consumer unit so you will pay for the electricity they use.

But don't rush in get some local electrician quotes for hard wired smoke alarms and as it's your consumer unit if you haven't got a hard wired one in the flat add that at your expenses as well.