The Government's annual English Housing Survey has shed light on the serious lack of carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in privately rented homes. Honeywell is calling for a change in legislation to ensure tenants have more protection.
Figures published in March 2017 revealed that from 2015 to 2016, just over a quarter of households had a CO alarm. This figure is even worse in rental properties where four in every five homes did not have a CO alarm and are not protected from the risks of CO poisoning.
Owner occupied dwellings (31%) were more likely than the private rented sector (21%) to have a CO alarm. Social rented dwellings are also more likely than private rented dwellings to have one.
In light of this research, Honeywell is calling for an overhaul of the current legislation around CO alarms in private rented accommodation.
Adrian Keats, from Honeywell's Home Safety business, commented, "We desperately need to see some improvement on the number of homes protected by CO alarms. In October 2015, the Government introduced the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations for private rental homes. However these regulations currently only require landlords to fit CO alarms in rooms containing a solid-fuel burning appliance. The issue with this is the legislation completely disregards gas-fuelled products such as boilers and cookers, therefore covering a mere 8.2% of the entire private rental sector."
This article appeared in the May 2017 edition of Installer
