Commercial Landlord Obligations Re: Fire Safety Equipment

Ronan H

Hi all. Hoping you can shed some light on something or point me in the direction of relevant information.

We rent a small office in an enterprise park. I'm unsure as to whose responsibility it is to provide fire extinguishers for our premises. I always thought it would be the landlords responsibility, but some people have suggested otherwise.

Thoughts? If anyone has any links to documentation that might clarify the situation that would be great.

Thanks in advance.

R

Askthe EA

Ronan H wrote: »

I always thought it would be the landlords responsibility, but some people have suggested otherwise.

R

Doesn't this depend on the type of lease you have?

Ronan H

Askthe EA wrote: »

Doesn't this depend on the type of lease you have?

I'm awaiting a copy of the lease ('twas signed before I joined) so I can check what's in it. Maybe that is dealt with at lease level and all the landlord has to do is ensure that the building complies with the fire aspects of the building regulations at the time of construction (fire cert).

Gumbo

It depends on whether you are renting a shell and core or a fully furnished space.
Is the space fit out yet?

subpar

The answer lies in who pays the fire insurance on the building. Whoever pays the policy will be responsible for ensuring that all fire detection and fire fighting equipment and fittings are installed and service as per best practice. The insurers will insist on this before they agree to cover the premises and will send out auditors from time to time to check the status of the risk they are covering

Under Health and Safety Legislation all employers are responsible to ensure that their employees have a safe system of work and a safe place of work , that includes training in the use of fire extinguishers and practice in the operation of regular fire drills as per the Fire Services Act.

All fire extinguishers should be tested by a competent person every 12 months and the date of inspection should be recorded on file and displayed on each fire extinguisher.

wowy

Is it a shared building, and do you pay a service charge? If so, I would imagine it's a landlord responsibility.

Lux23

When we rented a commercial property (a pub) it was our responsibility to get the Fire Marshall in, get the alarms and other equipment checked. But when I worked in an office it was a bit of a grey area because the organisation I worked for purchased all the equipment like extinguishers and fire blankets, but the landlord managed the fire alarm system and the drills etc. Another time I worked in serviced buildings and the landlord managed everything on their side so it must depend on the lease or type of agreement.