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FIRE SERVICE AND GENERAL FIRE SAFETY TOPICS => Fire Safety => Topic started by: Paul2886 on November 21, 2011, 05:57:54 PM
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The situation: Dance studio above a car repair and spray workshop and furniture storage depot. Detection system plus other stuff required in the dance studio. Shared means of escape for an adjacent first floor office complex via an external fire escape. Does the landlord have any responsibilities here as does not seem interested when approached by the dance school owner. Thanks
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Firstly the dance studio, car repairs place, furniture depot and RP of adjoining block have main responsibility as employers of persons by virtue of tenancy or similar having control.
All should do FRAs, which should consider other relevant persons (i.e. each other potentially) and co-operate and coordinate with each other regarding fire safety.
The landlord may have no control if there are no internal common areas and thus not need to be interested - whose is the stair - just because it is shared doesn't mean it isn't under the control of one of the tenants by virtue of the lease, if it's the only 'common' thing on the whole site some landlord's will demise it in order to lose any day to day responsibility.
Shared escapes between totally different buildings brings the spectre of easements (or lack of) into play as well.
Without visiting the site and knowing the extent of the leases it's difficult to be exact, but I've been to a site with multiple tenants above and alongside each other where the landlord controlled nothing (all demised) & just collected rent, the IO was happy with an FRA that pointed that out and included tenant advice regarding their own FRA and need to cooperate.
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Check out the definition of a workplace (Art2) which makes the RP responsible Art 5(1) for Art 8 to 22 from the dance studio to the public road.
The owner may be responsible under Art 5(3) or 5(4) depending on which areas he has control of, this will depend on any contracts, tenancy agreements and such.