Fire regulations and managing agents - brighton

UnconsciouS

winalot wrote: »

doozer girl and martin man thanks for your replies. the flat layout was changed 20 years ago and has not been changed since. we have a fire detector and sounder in the living room though again i am not sure that we need it at the expense we are currently paying - £700 a year - is this excessive ?
2 of the 5 households rent out their flats i can appreciate that they may have to have a fire alarm (but i cannot even see clear documentation on this) but do we ? and if we do is it solely as a consequence of their being landlords ? this is to take away from the risk of fire but the quote we have been given seems excessive
we have actually been in the flat for 5 months now and this is the first we have heard of this - so do not particularly want to get solicitor involved as we will probably have to pay him - but might be worth it. we have emailed him anyway.

we have been in a lot of flats in brighton and have not noticed fire security to this level anywhere - we are owner occupiers also if this makes a difference.

My mother is in a flat in Worthing (near Brighton!). In her case, there is good reason to suspect that a family relationship exists between the leaseholders and the alarm company. I have been advised that a number of blocks of flats have been sold equipment to a far higher standard than is legally required.

The leaseholder is witholding important documents which would enable the residents to know if they had been given a fair price.

Residents have been getting bills up to £1500 even without the subsequent maintenance charges, and there is a real concern that elderly people are being held to ransom.

I believe there is something here that would interest a local paper, but one has to remember, that often newspapers are compromised as they take advertising from local security companies - they will often not bite the hand that feels them.

winalot

hi tooticky
i think you prob need the alarm and emergency lighting not the rest ? ring brighton council i found them very helpful. ask the managing agents to get additonal quote for the work. we still need to change our fire alarm people. one company who came out to quote, comtel , seemed quite good, cheaper and more realistic - and told the truth about how many visits legally required a year, maybe ask them to quote - they're on checkatrade or google them.
good luck.
on a seperate note, i 'm surprise there doesn't seem to be any board (not on mse particularly) reviewing managing agents - is this more due to possible legal repercussions?