A landlord of a house in multiple occupation in Bath has been convicted of failing to comply with an improvement notice under the Housing act 2004. The improvement notice previously served on the landlord specified battery fire alarms were not working, there was no fire door to the kitchen and there were unsuitable door locks which in the event of a fire could cause occupants to become trapped. Councillor Ball, cabinet member housing and planning at Bath and North East Somerset council said: “Landlords must ensure that their housing is in safe condition or feel the full force of the law. They must get their houses in order. A worrying trend with many of these cases is the use of deadlocks on fire doors by landlords which turn the house into a death trap. This must stop and we will take action against those who put their tenants in danger.”
So if there is a deadlock on the communal front door and it is locked at night or when you leave the property, you may wish to replace it with a lock which has a thumb turn on the inside.
You must always be able to open the communal front door from the inside without the use of a key.