Environmental health inspection - South Dublin?

redcard

hi all

got a letter today from south dublin cc environmental health section saying they are now inspecting rented houses due to some new ledgeslation. has anyone had this inspection done and what should i expect?

embracingLife

I've heard that SDCC are doing this during last year.

Under new/updated rental regulations that came into force approx 2 years ago these are now compulsary. I will expalin as best I can to you.

These include:

1)There should be a working extractor fan in bathroom/toilets. Also wall vents in every room-livingroom/bedrooms-these must not be blocked up or sellotaped over.

2) Boiler for central heating has to be serviced every 12 months by a registered plumber and the "service cert" available for tenants/council inspector.

3) The property should have a BER rating cert provided the present tenants moved in there after January 2009.

4) There has to be proper freezer in the property-either a separate under counter style freezer-separate to the fridge or a tall fridge/freezer combined unit. (Even if tenants don't use it-it still has to be there).

5)Working smoke alarms in the house-battery ones are fine but apparently some inspectors can be anal and demand you get main powered ones-look the same as the battery ones but are wired in etc.

6)You must have a fire blanket and small fire extinguisher in the kitchen-placed in an easily located position-usually screwed to the wall near the cooker.
(You can buy a fire blanket and small fire extinguisher in a pack in Powercity/Homebase/Woodies for about 20e/30e)

7)You have to have an "escape plan" for the occupants of the property. Basically this is a floor plan-same as the plans that accompany auctioneer brochures/architects drawings etc-with a red marker line showing the direction the occupants should go (ie down the stairs and out either the front and back doors) to leave the house/apt if it goes on fire.

This "escape plan/map/drawing" has to be clearly displayed in the property-best way is the frame it in a picture frame/clear plastic type holder and screwed to wall of downstairs hall. This escape plan is in the updated rental regs-I don't have a link for it just now.

I really not making this up. This has been told to me by council workers and seperately by engineers/architects.

I know they have gone to newly built apartment blocks in south Dublin-which have are built in full compliance for fire regs and yet the council inspectors have demanded that each apartment owner display the "escape plan" in the apt before signing off on the inspection.

Here is similar thread on the same matter,but it doesn't seem the person's property was inspected as severly as others!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=77195391

embracingLife

here is a newspaper article from 2010.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/politics/third-of-rental-properties-fail-to-meet-standards-113384.html

It does mention "rent books" to be provided too!

redcard

thanks for that info, ill let him inspect and give me a list as i havent got half of what you said there. just dont need the inconvience of this right now!!

embracingLife

Just giving you an idea anyway. As its a house they might not go to town too much, but just wait and see what they say.

good luck!

rdubz

Carbon Min detector also?

embracingLife

Its not compulsary by law.......yet! But no harm in putting it in.

It would be better if you got the boiler serviced by a registered gas plumber and had the cert to prove it. Also this service should include a gas leakage test, not all plumbers do it-some even don't know how to do it! Look up RGI for info or search the DIY-heating thread here for it.

Victor

rdubz wrote: »

Carbon Min detector also?

Carbon monoxide detectors are only really useful where you are burning a carbon-based fuel. Not essential when you have only electric heating or the boiler is in a separate building.

Gatling

Is this retroactive or does it apply to certain leases, expect rent increases

repsol

Before any tenants get too excited at conditions improving,just bear in mind who will ultimately end up paying for all this.It won't be the landlords,thats for sure.

Borderfox

They had a look at my place and instead of mains smoke alarms I had the 10 year battery ones and they were up to code. They couldn't see my fire fighting equipment in the kitchen (properly placed on wall) even though it was bright red!

Victor

Gatling wrote: »

Is this retroactive or does it apply to certain leases, expect rent increases

All private rented residential property.

redcard

hi all
well had the inspection today, nice friendly guy took about 5 minutes, asked about rent and how many people were living there and if they were on rent allowance, measured all rooms, asked about boiler service and fire extinguisher/blanket (which was on table in a homebase bag as i had just bought it) said the house was in great condition and that was it, thank god one less worry!!:)

xper

redcard wrote: »

hi all
well had the inspection today, nice friendly guy took about 5 minutes, asked about rent and how many people were living there and if they were on rent allowance, measured all rooms, asked about boiler service and fire extinguisher/blanket (which was on table in a homebase bag as i had just bought it) said the house was in great condition and that was it, thank god one less worry!!:)

Hmm, why is a person conducting an inspection for rented accommodation standards compliance asking about rent and rent allowance? You wouldn't want to be paranoid!

Also, glancing back through your posts above, its not entirely clear if you are the tenant or landlord of this property. You did realise that any shortcomings that came up were the landlord's problem to fix, right?

quietsailor

xper wrote: »

Also, glancing back through your posts above, its not entirely clear if you are the tenant or landlord of this property. You did realise that any shortcomings that came up were the landlord's problem to fix, right?

I wonder about this, I've seen tenants blocking up vents as "it was too cold" - that's not a LL's fault. Actually I wonder is a reason to terminate a lease as the tenant is deliberately making the LL in breach of their legal obligations, who's at fault there if the tenant refuses to take the cover off the vent

redcard

Hi there,
I'm a landlord and would have no problem in fixing anything for my tenants, having rented myself for years. I presume the question of rent and rent allowance might be to check the tennant isent receiving more rent allowance than the rent they are paying. Could be wrong but I didn't know how much they are receiving anyway I'm happy as long as I get my rent:-)

xper

quietsailor wrote: »

I wonder about this, I've seen tenants blocking up vents as "it was too cold" - that's not a LL's fault. Actually I wonder is a reason to terminate a lease as the tenant is deliberately making the LL in breach of their legal obligations, who's at fault there if the tenant refuses to take the cover off the vent

I suppose the landlord has to cover this in the lease and inventory. If the tenant bricks up a vent, that would be a structural alteration and a clear breach of any properly drawn up lease. If they've taped a bit of cardboard over it, take it off, preferably while tutting loudly. If they've chucked the fire extinguisher in the bin, the landlord should be able to show documentation that one had been supplied and the tenant is obliged to replace any inventory item by a lease clause.

The tenant can be notified to remedy any breach of the lease and this would fit in with the standards inspection process because, as I understand it, it too provides for a period for any problems discovered to be rectified. No one has to resort to the nuclear option straight away. If the tenant failed to remedy the issue, I am not sure what the local authority's attitude or course of action would be but if they did penalise the landlord for breach of regulations, I would think he could then reasonably take a case to the PRTB against his tenant. All very extreme and messy no doubt.

Or maybe something completely different, i'm just supposing ....

redcard wrote: »

Hi there,
I'm a landlord and would have no problem in fixing anything for my tenants, having rented myself for years.

Grand so, just wasn't sure.

I presume the question of rent and rent allowance might be to check the tennant isent receiving more rent allowance than the rent they are paying. Could be wrong but I didn't know how much they are receiving anyway I'm happy as long as I get my rent:-)

No doubt. Just that the inspection's remit seems a little beyond that which you were notified of.

Or how about this for paranoid: The local authority is gathering data on rental income to do a back calculation on the value of the property based on rental yield for the purposes of establishing its property tax level. Sleep tight!

quietsailor

xper wrote: »

Or how about this for paranoid: The local authority is gathering data on rental income to do a back calculation on the value of the property based on rental yield for the purposes of establishing its property tax level. Sleep tight!

Thank you so much for those thoughtful words, I'm not going to sleep now for a week! :eek: