Pressure is mounting for carbon monoxide (CO) detectors and alarms to be installed in all homes in the private rented sector.
On the 10th of November 2017, Landlord Today highlighted calls from a number of MPs to make such alarms obligatory in all buy to let accommodation and to incorporate that requirement in the revised building regulations expected to emerge from the post-Grenfell Tower disaster.
Currently, only landlords in Scotland are required to install CO alarms in any let accommodation. In our note on the legal obligations for landlords in England and Wales, on the other hand, we referred to the government website that refers to the need to fit such alarms only in rooms that have a “solid fuel appliance” (that is to say, a coal fire or wood burning stove, but not a gas or oil-fired boiler).
The All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group (APPCOG) has recently estimated that up to 1.6 million homes in the private rented sector may be at risk from CO poisoning.
The APPCOG’s paper, “Carbon Monoxide Alarms: Tenants Safe & Secure in their Homes”, calls for a “fundamental health and safety review” in the wake of the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower on the 14th of June 2017.
The final report of the independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt, is currently scheduled for submission and publication next Spring.
