UK Fire Door Regulations for Landlords

Friedbagel

Does anyone know what the UK Fire Door Regulations are for Landlords? I own a small studio flat that I have owned for 6 years with no problems and a happy tenant. Yet now am being forced by the managing agents to replace my front door and a laundry room door for £2,818.80. This is as part of a planned replacement of the fire doors with their contractor for the whole of the block. 37 of the 39 flats have agreed to the proposed works, 2 have not agreed. The management company who are a group of fellow landlords are aggressive having fined me £50 for not responding to an email over this in time when their email was not received going to my junk folder and threatening me with a £100 fine of I didn't pay within 7 days. Have the UK Fire Door regulations changed and what are my obligations as a landlord? I am happy to do any works to comply with regulations for my long term tenant. However how can I find out if it is necessary to have the fire doors for the flat done at this huge expense that I will have to pay for?

MattMattMattUK

Friedbagel said:

Does anyone know what the UK Fire Door Regulations are for Landlords? I own a small studio flat that I have owned for 6 years with no problems and a happy tenant. Yet now am being forced by the managing agents to replace my front door and a laundry room door for £2,818.80. This is as part of a planned replacement of the fire doors with their contractor for the whole of the block. 37 of the 39 flats have agreed to the proposed works, 2 have not agreed. The management company who are a group of fellow landlords are aggressive having fined me £50 for not responding to an email over this in time when their email was not received going to my junk folder and threatening me with a £100 fine of I didn't pay within 7 days. Have the UK Fire Door regulations changed and what are my obligations as a landlord? I am happy to do any works to comply with regulations for my long term tenant. However how can I find out if it is necessary to have the fire doors for the flat done at this huge expense that I will have to pay for?

That depends on your leasehold agreement rather than anything to do with fire regs. 

owls1867

Friedbagel said:

Does anyone know what the UK Fire Door Regulations are for Landlords? I own a small studio flat that I have owned for 6 years with no problems and a happy tenant. Yet now am being forced by the managing agents to replace my front door and a laundry room door for £2,818.80. This is as part of a planned replacement of the fire doors with their contractor for the whole of the block. 37 of the 39 flats have agreed to the proposed works, 2 have not agreed. The management company who are a group of fellow landlords are aggressive having fined me £50 for not responding to an email over this in time when their email was not received going to my junk folder and threatening me with a £100 fine of I didn't pay within 7 days. Have the UK Fire Door regulations changed and what are my obligations as a landlord? I am happy to do any works to comply with regulations for my long term tenant. However how can I find out if it is necessary to have the fire doors for the flat done at this huge expense that I will have to pay for?

It might well be that the fire management method has changed to a stay put policy. This means that if there was ever a fire outside in the communal areas then the flat would provide protection for 45-60 minutes for the tenant to stay inside and wait to be rescued. Or if there was a fire inside the flat, then it would stay contained within your premises and not spread elsewhere throughout the building. 

As part of that, upgrading the doors are vitally important to make sure they are compliant. The laundry room may be needed because it houses high risk appliances (such as washing machines, tumble dryers etc), so that is not overly surprising that they want that internal door upgraded too. If it wasn't a studio, then its not uncommon for the kitchen door to be a fire resistant one for this reason. 

Other than that, I can only think that a recent Fire Risk Assessment was undertaken of the block and it was recommended that the doors are replaced to be fire resistant. 

Fire Safety has changed massively (and rightly so) since Grenfell and its becoming a lot more strict - so this has probably been in the pipeline for sometime. 

Although I would say £2810 to replace 2 fire doors is excessively high. Did the management agency produce a S20 notice to all the leaseholders about these works? 

itsthelittlethings

There was a fire in Grenfell Tower a few years ago, I don’t know if regulations have changed but the landscape has changed, we had all new fire doors fitted at our block, in my last two workplaces we had all sorts of fire related things done post Grenfell.

theartfullodger

Which country e.g. NI, Wales?  Think they vary.

Emmia

owls1867 said:

Friedbagel said:

Does anyone know what the UK Fire Door Regulations are for Landlords? I own a small studio flat that I have owned for 6 years with no problems and a happy tenant. Yet now am being forced by the managing agents to replace my front door and a laundry room door for £2,818.80. This is as part of a planned replacement of the fire doors with their contractor for the whole of the block. 37 of the 39 flats have agreed to the proposed works, 2 have not agreed. The management company who are a group of fellow landlords are aggressive having fined me £50 for not responding to an email over this in time when their email was not received going to my junk folder and threatening me with a £100 fine of I didn't pay within 7 days. Have the UK Fire Door regulations changed and what are my obligations as a landlord? I am happy to do any works to comply with regulations for my long term tenant. However how can I find out if it is necessary to have the fire doors for the flat done at this huge expense that I will have to pay for?

It might well be that the fire management method has changed to a stay put policy. This means that if there was ever a fire outside in the communal areas then the flat would provide protection for 45-60 minutes for the tenant to stay inside and wait to be rescued. Or if there was a fire inside the flat, then it would stay contained within your premises and not spread elsewhere throughout the building. 

As part of that, upgrading the doors are vitally important to make sure they are compliant. The laundry room may be needed because it houses high risk appliances (such as washing machines, tumble dryers etc), so that is not overly surprising that they want that internal door upgraded too. If it wasn't a studio, then its not uncommon for the kitchen door to be a fire resistant one for this reason. 

Other than that, I can only think that a recent Fire Risk Assessment was undertaken of the block and it was recommended that the doors are replaced to be fire resistant. 

Fire Safety has changed massively (and rightly so) since Grenfell and its becoming a lot more strict - so this has probably been in the pipeline for sometime. 

Although I would say £2810 to replace 2 fire doors is excessively high. Did the management agency produce a S20 notice to all the leaseholders about these works? 

Having had a flat front door replaced fairly recently, due to non compliance I'm sorry to say that £2810 for 1 door plus a share of the second, plus fitting doesn't sound wildly off base.

Depending on how your front door does or doesn't comply with the requirements, for example:

Is the door an FD 30 or FD 60?
Does it have self closing hinges or an overhead door closer fitted?
Are any gaps around the door within the limits permitted?
Does the door have intumescent strips?

There may be things you can do to upgrade your current front door rather than getting a new one, but I can also see that the managing agents want to ensure all doors in the block are fully compliant, and replacement is the easiest way of ensuring this.

I don't think there's anything you can do about the cost of the laundry room door though.

Has there been a fire safety inspection of the flat front door, and have you been sent a report of this?

FreeBear

owls1867 said: Although I would say £2810 to replace 2 fire doors is excessively high. Did the management agency produce a S20 notice to all the leaseholders about these works? 

If a private individual was to commission replacement doors themselves, then perhaps I might agree that £2810 is a bit steep. But in a corporate world that price could be regarded as being on the low side. The extra hidden costs such as reports, surveys, tendering documents, and junkets all need to be paid for.

Friedbagel said: The management company who are a group of fellow landlords are aggressive having fined me £50 for not responding to an email over this in time when their email was not received going to my junk folder and threatening me with a £100 fine of I didn't pay within 7 days.

I would be challenging the legal basis for these "fines" - Only judges and police/traffic wardens (in limited circumstances) have the power to impose fines... Although I stand to be corrected if someone can post a link to specific legislation.