Need advice on removal of fire door

[Mel65]

I purchased a flat 5 years ago .the previous owner removed the door from living room in which there is an open kitchen, and obtained from the surveyor of the management company a Licence for alterations accordingly to the lease agreement. The management company surveyor is now saying that it is not in compliance with fire regulation as the only way to leave the flat is not protected . Is the management company responsible for having granted the licence in the past ? They say it is my responsibility to have checked it even though they granted the Licence 6 years ago.
Thanks for your feedback.

 

[denso13]

Sometimes the Licence can contain a clause along the lines of.... "It is for the tenant to be sure that the works can be carried out without difficulty with all the necessary consents and that the building is suitable".

The License is a legal document and the lease agreement should be endorsed with all of its details. This means you should have a copy of all agreed works and should be able to check the extent and specification or the proposed works. Seems a bit over the top just to remove a door, was there anything else included?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Frankly of more concern is that if there is a fire you need to be able to escape, if the escape route is compromised you will not be able to. Its not very clear if this is the case tbh.

People have little respect of fire with old adage that 'it won't happen to me'!

 

[Mel65]

There is a drawing with the licence for alterations which specifies the work as removal of the doors between the living room and the hallway. And work was completed. But by checking the licence, my solicitor at that time didn't advise me to check if the owners had obtained a building certificate for this work, and especially a fire regulation certificate. So I am not sure who bears the responsibility .

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I think you'll get more response from Building section, I've asked the mods to move it.

 

[^woody^]

The management agents have given permission for this work, then that's it.

They are professionals, they have had the details, have studied the proposal and given their consent. They can't come back later and say that the work is now "unapproved" and require changes.

There are other ways to meet fire safety/means of escape requirements, instead of fitting a fire door

 

[Mel65]

Thanks. What are the other alternatives to a fire door ?

 

[^woody^]

The alternatives are to do a risk based assessment of the flat and determine if there are other escape routes or means of early fire detection, and if an occupier is less safe without this door.

Ground or first floor flats tend to have alternative escape routes. For flats above the first floor, then escape is normally via the front door though, and if a lounge or kitchen is between the bedroom and the escape door then it may well be that a self closing fire door is the optimal thing to have.

But, as people leave doors open, then a mains powered smoke or flame detector may actually be better than a fire door.

It all depends on the individual flat and layout, but what I was illustrating is that the management agents are not correct in saying that a fire door is the only thing that will do