Smoke alarms in rented homes could save 200 lives a year. Torbay MP pushes for new bill

By PRSD, on Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Torbay MP Adrian Sanders continues his campaign for better fire safety for rented properties with the presentation of his proposed new law to Parliament.

His proposals, if passed into law, would require all private and socially rented homes to have a working, hard-wired, smoke alarm at the beginning of any tenancy agreement. The measure could save around 200 lives every year, with hard wired alarms proving more effective than battery powered alarms.

Currently it is not a legal requirement for most homes to have a working smoke alarm while legal standards exist for gas appliances, furnishings and so on.

The importance of the issue, which Adrian has campaigned on since 2004, was highlighted last year with the death of two children in a social rented property in Ellacombe, Torquay.

Adrian told the PRSD: “It is very often the most vulnerable in society who live in homes that do not have working smoke alarms and the figures show that this costs dozens of lives a year and causes hundreds, if not thousands, of injuries.

“There is a small minority of private landlords, many of them absentee landlords, who do not sufficiently look after their tenants but more worryingly it is social providers who have the most to do on this issue; the fact that over a quarter of Riviera Housing properties did not have alarms this time last year is shocking.

“Social homes often contain some of the most vulnerable tenants who are more at risk from fire and often less able to take responsibility for their own protection.”