Updating post from Reddit.
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Having dealt a bit with flats it can be incredibly difficult to stop smoke (like cigarette smoke) filtering to at least some extent between flats. Even very slight interchange between ventilation ducts or very tiny holes around bathroom piping will allow smoke through. So you may be asking the landlord to fix an impossible problem and if they are not the freeholder it may not even be within their remit to fix.
At the end of the day if you want to breach your contract and if push comes to shove you may need to convince a court of your case. I think it's going to be pretty difficult to make a convincing case that you fear for your life because of a previous fire and this you can show some obvious breach of fire regulations.
Did the landlord pay for your alternative accommodation during the crisis? It is not clear what exactly you're asking them to "fix". If what you are asking them to do is to arrange the eviction of other tenants this might be impossible even if these tenants are their own.
People do break fixed term tendency agreements - this comes down to negotiation.
Thanks for the reply.
I get smoke can waft up but having our flat completely filled with smoke seemed abnormal. We’ve asked them to look into the ventilation and flooring as the smoke was visibly permeating through the floorboards.
The landlord has not responded, nor have they paid for alternative accom.
Do you have any advice on negotiation? I don’t really know how to go about this
They're cooking meth.
We probably need some more information:
Overall, it’s an older building converted or made into flats in the 1980s or prior there isn’t much you can do to have it completely restructured to fit modern building regulations.
The extent of the landlords responsibilities under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 depend to some extent on the answers to the above.
Thanks for your reply!
Yes, flats are accessed through an internal common area/corridor
The flat was built in 1998, so it’s not very old
The landlord only owns our flat, downstairs have a separate landlord. There is a separate management company involved with cleaning and maintenance services of common areas.
I would really appreciate any further advice you have on how to go about dealing with this! Thank you
I think you’re going to struggle here - your landlord is only responsible for what’s inside your flat and even then it’s just making sure there’s smoke and CO detectors which he should have tested at the start of the tenancy (then over to you to test regularly). He should provide a fire blanket in the kitchen and make sure there are no obstructions internally on day one to the main flat door.
The owner of the common area (freeholder) should ensure you have a fire door with an automatic closer and fire and smoke strips, that there’s a functioning fire alarm for the common area and similar obligations. You could ask if they’ve done an updated fire risk assessment but I doubt those assessors will pick up on these issues as they don’t have xray vision into the structure.
When it was built, the developer should have followed part B building regulations for fire safety and ensured full fire compartmentalization for all flats. This means 60mins fire protection through the floor and proper fire stopping barriers for anything that penetrates between the floor (e.g. down lights, pipes).
You could check your local areas planning portal to see the certificates but if there’s still a problem you could complain to the freeholder and if no luck complain to local building control. Hard to see it going anywhere. It could be the residents below who have drilled new unsuitable lights or other fixtures and fittings into their ceiling.
If you’re intent to leave you could negotiate with the landlord and tell him he’s responsible to mitigate his loss by finding a new tenant. Besides most likely losing your deposit you’d have to assess how far he’d seek to make you responsible for the balance your fixed term tenancy.
I don't think fire blanket is required by law unless it is a HMO.
Your landlord isn’t responsible for the actions of a completely unconnected tenant of another property not owned by him.
Fires happen. Smoke happens following. Is there any damage to your flat, if so the landlord may have a claim on his insurance for repairs.
Any damage to your property, claim on your contents insurance.
There’s unlikely to be any way to force the landlord to let you exit the contract early in this situation.
You should probably amalgamate your posts - you have the identical post in two different forums. This is probably the more relevant forum