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'Astronomic’ £56,000 bill for fire safety in HMO flats sparks fury from residents

Posted by Intime at 01:37, January 17th 2012.

Residents have been left fuming after being handed an ‘astronomical’ bill for fire safety measures, of which just the admin costs run into more than £56,000 - two days before Christmas.

A total of 240 HMO blocks in Carlisle are to have their communal areas fitted with alarms, emergency lighting and other fire safety measures after building managers the Riverside Association agreed the works.

However, works were not agreed as a result of an enforcement action, but were decided after a number of off-site recommendations made by Carlisle Fire and Rescue Service.

It followed a fire that devastated a block of flats managed by the housing association in 2009.

A later inspection of the block, in Melbourne Road, revealed lighting, alarms and maintenance to be insubstantial, among other breaches of the Fire Safety Order (FSO).  Riverside was subsequently handed an enforcement notice in June the same year. There was no fine levied.

Housing association doing 'all it can' to comply with FSO

It was this that led Riverside to seek advice about its other properties and while the flats have not been served with enforcement notices, the fire service has said that the association is doing “all it can to comply with the FSO”.

Stuart Graham, crew manager for fire protection at the fire service who has been involved in the consultation with Riverside, said: “I feel sympathy for the residents being hit with a bill just before Christmas, but the Riverside Association is doing all it can to comply with the FSO.

“The fire service's point of view is one of it's better to place people in a place of safety than in harm's way. It is better to be safe than sorry.”

He added: “It is a grey area. Whereas the landlord is responsible for communal areas, if hypothetically, a fire was to spread from a flat into a communal area because there was no fire door installed in that flat, then the resulting damage could be down to the resident if they refuse to allow remedial works to be carried out.”

However the residents, 141 private lease-holders in total, say they are happy to pay some cost for safety measures, but argue that the prices quoted for works is exorbitant and that they should have been given the opportunity to choose their own contractor.

As info4fire understands it, some of the costs have been absorbed into regular payments agreed under an existing contract with Riverside - but some works, have been classified as outside the agreement.