News from the Residential Property Investor, the bi-monthly magazine for RLA members other artilces from the August / September 2002 issue RPI news archive

Up the smoke - August / September 2002

Building regulations now require that all new dwellings be fitted with mains-worked smoke alarms. There must be at least one alarm on each floor level and they must be linked together so that they all go off when one of them is triggered to alert everyone in the building. They all have to come from the same maker to achieve this.

The alarms should be positioned in circulating areas between bedrooms and in the rooms where fires are wont to begin such as living rooms and kitchens. In existing dwellings, two thirds of fires break out in those without working alarms but seven out of ten fires are discovered in those which do have them, lessening the risk of death and injury and damage to property. Alarms which do not go off in fires are usually found to have missing or flat batteries.It is worth asking tenants to check whether smoke alarms are working properly.
 

other artilces from the August / September 2002 issue

• Homes shortage?
• Legislation to blame, not estate agents
• Landlords' great flood threat
• Council tenants set to lose right to buy
• Estate agent confesses
• Minister announces changes to housing benefit
• Up the smoke
• Scots council angry at landlord
• Insulating the property value
• In brief