Rental Properties: Smoke Alarms

Lord Hoyle Excerpts

Thursday 8th May 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Hoyle]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all rented properties are fitted with smoke alarms.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)]

My Lords, we strongly encourage landlords to install smoke alarms as part of their responsibility to offer a safe and decent home to all tenants. We are currently considering, as part of a review of conditions in the rented sector, whether smoke alarms should be made compulsory. The review will conclude in the summer.

[Lord Hoyle (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that reply. I am sure that, like me, she welcomes the fact that a large number of properties are fitted with smoke alarms, although that is not the case with older properties built before 1919. On the rented property side, she says that the Government are encouraging landlords to fit these alarms. What response are they getting and are they prepared to exercise the powers they could take under the Energy Act 2013 which would compel landlords to fit smoke alarms?

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

My Lords, the public are safer now than previously, given that the installation of smoke alarms in properties has increased hugely since 1988, when only 8% of homes had a smoke alarm. That figure now stands at 88% of all homes. All that said, this Government listened to the debates in your Lordships’ House and, in November last year, I announced at this Dispatch Box that our comprehensive review of safety in the rented sector would be extended to include consideration of whether to make smoke alarms mandatory. I introduced an order-making power to make them mandatory if our comprehensive review leads us to that decision, so we are conscious of this important matter.