Fire doors+frames in rented flats

Yes all doors need to be fire doors in flats disregarding whether its 2 levels or 3.

The regulations for three stories flats has changed considerably now, so if its your dwelling on regards to letting out the flats read the regulations as adequate fire protecion & escape routes are paramount in the building regs.

If you're planning to let the flats out, I think you'll find a whole raft of legislation regarding fire protection - including protection between floors, fire doors, protected escape routes/staircases, fire alarms & heating appliances.

have a look at the official doc's here:

Either intumescent strip that expands and wedges against the door to stop smoke (shouldn't stop the door opening when pushed). Alternatively, unfeasibly large door stop timber that makes it look like a Toytown door.

Christian.

I cant work out if it's classed as a HMO (House in Multiple Occupancy) or not, there are 3 self contained flats. I read on landlordzone that if it's not a HMO then there are no specific regulations but that does not seem right, it already has a fire escape, interlinked fire alarms, and some fire doors, but does not seem to fit into the category of a HMO properly with it being 3 self contained flats. Are there a set of regulations for a house which is converted into flats but is not a HMO?

Thanks

The way I see it is...

If you have 3 students occupying a house but the bedrooms are on the... ground floor,1st floor & second floor and the fire escape is at the back of the premises then all three students have access to that fire escape because they have a free run of all levels to escape.

I believe this is HMO?

The same situation would be classed as flats when the occupants don't have access to the fire escape because each floor has occupants doors stopping them getting to the fire escape,so therefore access to the fire escape has to be done via building walls so that each occupant can gain access to the fire escape at any level.

Unless the fire escape is accessed within each flat.

If the flats were properly created i.e. by formal planning permission and building regulations approval, then AIUI (from a Scottish perspective) they are treated as individual dwellings. An individual dwelling requires HMO licensing if it has three or more unrelated people living in it.

If the flat requires HMO licensing then it requires a means of escape from the flat to the exterior door (and other measures). Depending on the arrangement of flats within the building, this may require all doors onto the designated escape route to be fire doors - even if those other flats belong to someone else and are not HMOs. Similarly with interlinked fire alarms. If the owners of the other flats within the building do not agree to this work being done, then the flat in question will not be approved for HMO. A shop I used to work in had to have new smoke detectors put in because the offices upstairs were converted into a hostel (HMO), at the hostel's expense, obviously.

If the flats were not properly created and are still considered as one dwelling, then the whole property will be subject to HMO regulations if applicable.

Owain

The person to ask is your local Fire Prevention Officer,

The rebate against which the door closes needs to be of a minimum size, which used to be at least 25mm deep and 25mm wide.

Colin Bignell

This is probably more relevent -

The person to get confirmation from (in writing!) is the Housing Officer at the county council who deal and advise on all types of housing.

"If the block is a house which has been converted entirely into self-contained flats the conversion will be regarded by local housing authorities as an HMO if it does not comply at least with the standards of the 1991 Building Regulations and if more than one third of the flats are let out on short leases. These blocks of flats will not be subject to mandatory HMO licensing although the local housing authority may introduce additional licensing to cover them."