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Some good news
We have been contacted by a
newly formed company Life on
the Ceiling Ltd who are offering a
simple and affordable system to
help landlords comply with the
new smoke alarm regulations.
In
October
2015,
business
partners Paul Cronk and Alex
Russell formed Life on the Ceiling
after realising they would have
difficulty managing the new
changes in their own properties
and it would cost them time and
money to meet the new criteria set
out in the regulations.
Paul has detailed the issues
he encountered in three of his
properties when starting a new
tenancy agreement and has added
how the Life on the Ceiling system
would help overcome them.
Paul says, "Whilst at my first
property I realised my current
tenancy agreements were no good
as the smoke alarm section was
invalid and required updating. I
contacted my solicitor who wrote me
a new update at the normal fee. This,
of course, took two weeks, costing
a small fortune in fees, lost rental
income and my time."
[Our system offers an appendix
change to your current agreement,
which is downloadable from our
website, as part of our service.]
"On arrival at my second property,
I found both batteries in the alarms
were dead and the alarms not
working. I had to ask the new tenant
to wait while I went to buy new
batteries from a local shop, returning
after 30 minutes and having paid
£3.99 for each battery. I then found
I could not reach the smoke alarms
and had to borrow a step ladder from
the neighbour, as you can imagine
the tenant was not impressed."
[As part of our service we mail
directly to your properties new
batteries for the alarms and tenants
confirm receipt and installation
via our clever tracking system and
website. At this time, we also offer
fire safety advice and encourage
alarm testing during the tenancy,
again being recorded, offering
landlords excellent due diligence
documentation.]
"My third property is managed by
an agent as it is 40 miles from my
home and had been empty for two
months. I was excited when the
agent told me they had a new tenant
moving into the property, with all
the checks and paperwork in order,
deposits paid, all was looking good.
However, as the tenants were given
the keys in the agents office, the
smoke alarms were not tested by the
agent with the tenant present and
12 Landlord & Buy-to-Let Issue 64 • March 2016
no record was made, so again I was
breaking the law."
"When I asked my agent about
this, they said if they had to change
batteries or alarms in properties, they
would charge for the service, cost
would range from £15.00 to £85.00.
When I asked how they would record
the compliance information they said
they could put a note in my file. My
worry was that this is not good enough
and had left me legally exposed."
[Our system is so comprehensive, it
even deals with mid-term changes of
tenant an