When You Are A Landlord You Have Benefits But Also Responsibilities

Being a landlord with tenants in flats has a very big benefit, namely that you have money coming in – or at least should do – without having to do any "work" as such. You don’t have to go to a job five days a week, and possibly work overtime, doing something that you may not even like very much, because money comes into your bank account every month automatically. The more properties you have, the more money comes in.

OK, it’s not all honey and roses, because you may have the occasional tenant who doesn’t pay the rent, for whatever reason, and when that happens it can take time to get them evicted. All of which is a nuisance. You may also have a tenant who causes damage to your property, but at least we have the Tenant Deposit Scheme which means that at the end of the tenancy you can claim back the cost of making good any damage. Unless, of course, the flat has been trashed by a tenant holding parties, but by and large this doesn’t happen very often.

Of course, there is always the cost of repairs necessary as a simple result of fair wear and tear, so you have to allow for that as well, but that aside you have money coming in to support your lifestyle without having to work 40 hours a week for it. Many people would love to be in your shoes.

However, there are a few legal considerations as well, one of which is the safety and security of your tenants, and something that the law requires you to do is carry out a fire risk assessment for flats. This applies even to a house converted into two flats. However, as the landlord, your responsibility extends only to the communal areas, but this must also include the front doors of each flat.

New build blocks of flats today are built in such a way that each flat is compartmentalised and if a fire breaks out in a flat it is usually confined to that flat only. We are all aware, of course, of Grenfell Tower where the fire did, indeed, break out in one flat but escalated to the whole building as a result of the cladding on the outside. But usually, when a fire breaks out in a flat it doesn’t spread.

So you need to carry out a fire risk assessment for flats for all of the properties that you own, but only the communal areas. You cannot be held responsible for what a tenant might do inside his or her flat. There are no legal requirements regarding the intervals between fire risk assessments, but it is generally accepted that in modern low-rise blocks a new assessment should be carried out every four years, with a review of the assessment every two years. In higher risk blocks there should be a review every twelve months with a new assessment every three years.

You should also carry out a review of the assessment after having any work carried on the property in relation to the fire safety. In addition, you must also inform all tenants of the fire safety arrangements for the block, which can be as easy as a notice in the communal areas in a simple block of flats. In larger ones, you might need to create a bespoke document and send it to each resident.

Of course, one of the most effective ways of dealing with fires is the use of smoke detectors. You should ensure that these are installed in communal areas and also in each flat. The safest smoke detectors are hard-wired detectors because they do not require a battery to be changed every twelve months, which is easy to forget.

You should also issue instruction to your tenants regarding the communal areas. They should not obstruct them with anything, such as bikes or prams, because they could prevent people from escaping in the event of fire. They should not clutter the corridors, stairs, or landings with personal items or things that could easily catch fire. They should also be told that they must keep the front doors of their flats closed at all times, and not prop them open.

Undertaking a fire risk assessment for flats is not always a straightforward business, unless you have the necessary training. UK-FireRisk Assessments is a company that can undertake an assessment of your properties and provide you with a written report in order to ensure that you are compliant with the legal requirements.

UK-Fire Risk Assessments Ltd is a Nottinghamshire-based company that undertakes fire risk assessments in premises the length and breadth of the UK.