You've fought off all the other eager potential tenants, battled through all the initial policies and procedures, and you're finally ready to go through the palaver of moving in. Buying a house and moving is one of the most stressful things in life apparently. However, this may also be applied to moving into rented accommodation, particularly when attempting to lug a king sized bed up to a 5th floor flat with no lift.
So to ease those stresses, strains and slipped discs it's nice to have the peace of mind that your home is safe. Landlords are under a common law duty to ensure that the property they provide is safe.
It is your Landlord's responsibility to ensure that any gas and electrical fittings and appliances are safe. By law they must have their gas appliances checked by CORGI every 12 months. They must keep a record of inspection dates, any defects identified and any remedial action taken. You must be given a copy of this record.
If your landlord does not carry out regular inspections of gas appliances or if they refuse to give you a copy of the inspection record, you could contact the local office of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which has a duty to enforce the safety requirements.
The HSE also operates a special freephone Gas Safety Advice Line:
0800 300363 (24 hours)
There is no legal requirement for landlords to install carbon monoxide detectors, however it is worth asking. If your landlord does not provide one, you can by them relatively cheaply from hardware stores.
Corgi
www.trustcorgi.com/Pages/index.html
Firstly, all furniture provided by your landlord must be fire resistant. If the furniture your landlord provides is not fire resistant your local council trading standards department can take action.
Also, the building regulations require that all properties built after June 1992 must have a mains operated inter-connected smoke alarm fitted on every level of the property. Older properties do not have to comply to this, however most landlords are willing to provide at least battery operated smoke alarms. Again, if they are not, you should invest in one. It's cheap, easy to get hold of and easy to fit. There's no excuse for not having one. It should be tested monthly with batteries replaced once a year.
There are things that you can do to minimise risks to you in your home, such as:
Fire Safety
www.shelter.org.uk
Fire Safety
www.firekills.gov.uk
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