Query;building regs-fire

[tarquinlinbin]

Hello, I have a friend who recently bought a 1st floor flat. The flat is on the first floor of a building which was previously a semi detached house. The semi is now converted with one ground floor and one 1st floor flat.

The coomunal entrance is via the front door. Upon entering, there is a small hallway with another door to the left which is the entrance to the ground floor flat. The stair way is straight ahead and this leads to the first floor flat. At the bottom of the stairs , just forward of the communal entrance,i s the front door of the first floor flat. It is not however a door in the normal sense. It is a normal wooden door with glass panel(s) and it is on a sliding rail!.

This house was converted to two flats fairly recently, possibly in the last 5 or 6 years. There is no rear fire escape for the upstairs flat. I would have thought that the front door for the first floor flat would have to be a fireproof door with intumescent strip etc etc and that the stairway etc would have had to have additional fireproofing?. Perhaps this conversion took place without adequate or any supervision from building control inspectors?.

Before purchase she had a full survey done but no mention was made of this?

Is there a problem here or is such fire proofing not required?

thanks

joe

[Owain]

"tarquinlinbin" wrote | I have a friend who recently bought a 1st floor flat. The flat | is on the first floor of a building which was previously a | semi detached house. ... | This house was converted to two flats fairly recently, possibly | in the last 5 or 6 years. ... | Perhaps this conversion took place without adequate or any | supervision from building control inspectors?.

Possibly, but it's also possible the ground floor door has been modified by its owner since the conversion was done. Without saying whether or not it complies with regulations, it is the door to the ground floor flat which is of most concern. It may be that there are suitable doors to both ground and first floor flats and this sliding door partway along the hall isn't actually responsible for maintaining the integrity of the escape route.

| Before purchase she had a full survey done but no mention was made | of this?

The survey may not have included the communal staircase, that's quite possible. However it is up to the purchaser's solicitor to demand sight of building warrants / completion certificates from the vendor for all work done. Your friend should raise this matter with his/her solicitor as a matter of priority. It might be wise to check also that there are planning consents for subdivision of the property.

Owain

[Toby]

I have, and would expect a 30min fire door, particularly if the stair leads to an open landing with habitable rooms off. The sliding door may be safer than usual arrangement if you consider the potential for him to fling himself down the stairs, blocking an inward opening door. You don't say but I suspect it is not fire resistant glazing either.

There's no requirement for a fire escape as such, so long as a window in each room can provide a sufficient opening. My belief is that upstairs resident should not rely on the downstairs resident keeping their front door shut in the event of a fire.