Front door location

[omgboy2]

I am moving my front door of my flat. It's an internal fire door. The hall isn't very wide so when the front door will open it will block the hallway passage temporarily. Will this comply with building regulations? I really have no other option. See picture.

 

[Tigercubrider]

I would have thought that the freeholder would have to give permission and that building consent would be needed

 

[omgboy2]

I have permission from the freeholder. I didn't apply for building consent. The builder is starting tomorrow. Can I do this later? Is it likely to be approved?

 

[Tigercubrider]

I don't know.
But any change to the common areas MAY be required to be ok'd?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Is he an English builder?

Andy

 

[omgboy2]

Yes. A reliable sole trader

 

[^woody^]

The picture don't say much. Where is the front door now, where is it going?

 

[omgboy2]

The front door was originally see first pic. I am moving it to second pic. The door of the flat is inside the building on the first floor and is a fire door

 

[^woody^]

The way a front door swings is not the issue, rather that you don't make the existing escape routes worse, and ensure that other safety measures are in place.

In fact you seem to be improving the situation as you are creating a protected escape route from all rooms, where there was none previously. So the door position is ok.

You will also need to ensure that new walls to the hallway are 30 minutes fire rated, and provide suitable smoke or heat detection/alarms.

Regarding the alarms, your landlord should have told you that he will need to arrange a new fire safety risk assessment, and it will be this which will determine the number and position of fire detection - and this will supersede any building regulation requirement.

 

[omgboy2]

Thank you woody for your comprehensive and informative answer. Am I right in thinking that I do not need to apply for planning permission to move the door provided that I comply with all of the above measures you mentioned and that I will only need to apply for a fire safety risk assessment after that? Or do I need to notify the planning department or anyone else. I have never done this before so hence all the questions.

 

[Leofric]

Planning permission is different from Building Regulations approval.
Think about altering that door you show opening out near the steps, why not open it into the room and move it away from the steps.
ps interesting to see dimensions in feet and inches, the good old days, before we went metric 50 years ago
pps doors on escape route ,apart from bathroom, also need to be 30 mins fire resisting as bldg. regs.

 

[omgboy2]

Yes, thank you. That door by the steps should definitely swing in. I didn't know the doors need to be self closing. The flat is an old Victorian conversion. The old doors seem to be original too. I will be replacing the all with fire doors. So just to clarify do you think I still need to get planning permission?

 

[Leofric]

Planning permission isn't the issue.

 

[^woody^]

Thank you woody for your comprehensive and informative answer. Am I right in thinking that I do not need to apply for planning permission to move the door provided that I comply with all of the above measures you mentioned and that I will only need to apply for a fire safety risk assessment after that? Or do I need to notify the planning department or anyone else. I have never done this before so hence all the questions.

You don't need planning permission.

I would apply for building regulation permission tomorrow. Strictly you should give 48 hours notice before starting, but that's not too important. More pertinent is that this is fire safety work and so is high profile, and you really don't want to have unauthorised work going on just in case something unfortunate happens in the meantime.

Regarding fire safety risk assessments, these have a typical review date of 12 or 36 months - normally stated in the current report. However, as the landlord knows that this work is occurring, he should normally arrange a new review to assess the impact of the changes.

 

[Leofric]

I should clarify - FD30 fire doors within the flat do not need to be self closing but flat entrance door should be self closing with smoke seals.
Sort it out with Building Control asap including fire detection etc measures .