Calls to force landlords to fit fire alarms

The BBC recently reported about the heart rendering case of two children dying in a house fire.

Tragic and appalling. The local MP has typically responded by calling for legislation requiring all landlords to fit properties with fire alarms.

The landlord involved in this case was a public sector housing association the Rivieria Housing Trust.

I just worry that this could be the latest hobby horse that the politicians could get on and another opportunity for indiscriminate landlord bashing.

Currently there is no legislation forcing landlords to install fire alarms, but in 2004 a code of practice was issued by the government saying landlords had a "duty of care to fit compliant smoke and heat alarm systems".

I'm not against mandatory fitting of fire alarms in all property, although I can see lots of practical problems with this. Who gets prosecuted if alarm is disconnected because it keeps being set off every time somebody burns their toast? But what I would hate to see is that landlords get targeted in isolation.

What all of us landlords, homeowners and tenants need is to do is recognise that fire as a significant threat to life and take precautions to guard against it and not make certain groups more culpable than others.

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