Fire regulations/landlord responsibilities

[Lieutenant Columbo]

My mother lives in social housing. She is elderly and disabled and as such the bungalow has been adapted for her use. The kitchen doorway has been widen to accommodate her wheelchair and a set of bi folding doors have been fitted against her will.
The doors are the cheap kind, corrugated cardboard with a plywood veneer. She asked not to have anydoors since she is physically unable to close them and wouldn't even if she could.
All they do is restrict the width of the doorway. Worse, they fold back against the storage heater in the kitchen which is right behind the folded doors. She is too scared to turn on the heater this winter because she thinks a fire may ensue.
Now the housing association has decided to replace her kitchen which was only partially adapted last year for her needs by social services. The association are insisting on fitting a new pair of cheap bifolding doors.
I have asked for the doors to be removed. I have explained that they are more of a hindrance than an aid, but they are telling me they are necessary for fire regulations.
This genuinely has me baffled. The current doors would surely be the first thing to go up in flames in the event of a fire and besides which, they don't even close fully. There is a 2cm gap along one side and all the way along the top of them.
Does anyone know the regulations, is this right?

 

[Nakajo]

Where in the UK is this?

 

[^woody^]

Fire regulations don't apply to a bungalow. Ask the association to provide you with the specific regulations that say they do - you'll have a long wait

 

[dpsservices]

If anything should be a fd30 door fitted if required.

 

[Lieutenant Columbo]

Fire regulations don't apply to a bungalow. Ask the association to provide you with the specific regulations that say they do - you'll have a long wait

Ideally I would like to quote some regulation at them, or have so,ething to show that proves that fitting the doors is unnecessary.

In the UK, are doors required to separate the kitchen from another room? I see plenty of houses where the kitchens have no doors. Flats often have one large room that encompasses the kitchen at one end and the living space at the other with no wall or doors partitioning them.
Heck, many modern homes are open plan this way now.
People don't seem to want to have smaller closed off rooms anymore downstair but rather larger open communal spaces.

 

[wessex101]

I think I can vaguely see their logic. If the resident has mobility issues they probably would not be able climb out of a window so the housing association think a fire door to the kitchen might give the occupant more time to escape in the event of a fire.

Their logic falls apart though because a bifold door cannot be a fire door, so now they are just being silly.

As Woody said it is not a statutory requirement but the HA might have done their own landlord's risk assessment and concluded it would improve fire safety.

 

[^woody^]

Ideally I would like to quote some regulation at them

Approved Document B volume 1 (dwelling houses) and you need the one from the time the house was built.

BTW, a folding door is not and can never perform as a fire door. The door lining (frame) wont be a fire rated lining either.

Or just take the thing off afterwards and throw it in the bin.