Getting Your Home Ready for the New Fire Safety Legislation - T.B. Mackay Energy Services
Getting Your Home Ready for the New Fire Safety Legislation
In News by Thea Vermeulen 03/03/2021
The new fire and smoke alarm laws has been delayed, until February 2022, for all homes in Scotland. The change in legislation comes following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London in 2017, and aims to ensure everyone in Scotland has the same level of protection whether they own or rent their home.
From this date, every home must have:
– a smoke alarm in the living room and in circulation spaces such as hallways and landings
– a heat alarm in every kitchen
– all alarms ceiling mounted and interlinked
– a carbon monoxide alarm where there are fixed combustion appliances, such as boilers and wood burners
It will be the responsibility of the homeowner to ensure the new safety standards are met.
How many alarms will I need?
The standard requires one smoke alarm to be installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes, one alarm in every circulation space on each storey such as hallways and landings and one heat alarm installed in every kitchen.
Where there is a carbon-fuelled appliance such as boilers, fires (including open fires) and heaters or a flue, a carbon monoxide detector is also required which does not need to be linked to the fire alarms.
What if I already have smoke alarms fitted in my home but they are not interlinked – do I need to change these to interlinked ones?
What type of alarms should I get?
You can install tamper-proof long life linked lithium battery alarms, however if you are renting your property you must have at least one of the alarms mains powered. However, mains-wired alarms will need to be installed by an electrician so there is an additional cost to consider.
Compliance with the new rules will form part of any Home Report when you come to sell your property. As this will be a minimum standard for safe houses, local authorities will be able to use their statutory powers to require owners to carry out work on substandard housing.
We at T.B. Mackay Energy Services can help you install, service and interlinked current fire and smoke alarm systems. Our skilled and qualified team of electricians can help make sure that your home is line with the new legislation.
For more information contact us on 0131 552 6103 or book your free home survey today.