All fire risk assessments for HMO's & Short Term Let Licences are undertaken by an approved registered experienced assessor.

Tel:07772610799

House in Multiple Occupation in Scotland- (HMO Licencing & Registration)

Firehouse (Scotland) specialises in HMO fire risk assessements and training for and is available for prospective clients in Scotland who may be seeking these services, quotes will be found to be competitive, service efficient and undertaken by a competent person.

An HMO is the closest you will get to a Domestic, very popular in University towns, an HMO is generally defined as premises were three or more persons who do not form a single household live together as their sole or main residence with shared washing and cooking facilities. As an HMO is subject to registration the person in control normally the Landlord or sometimes the Factor on behalf of an absent landlord will require under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 as amended to undertake a written fire risk assessment and record the significant findings. The risk assesement is generally undertaken by professional persons as it can be quite a technical undertaking. Landlords or their Factors lacking inhouse expertise i.e. defined as 'A person who has sufficient technical knowledge, training, experience and other matters'; are advised to shy away from trying to have a go themselves, and to get a professional, at least for the first assessement. Using a competent third party approved assessor will give the peace of mind and legal assurance to Landlords or their factors that the risks have been properly assessed.

It is incumbent on Landlords/Factors to ensure that any risk assessor nominated to undertake the task on their behalf is competent, generally a good indicator for this is for the fire risk assessor to be able to claim a third party certification and inclusion within a list of third party approved assessors e.g. with the Institute of Fire Engineers. A professional fire risk assessment for a moderately sized HMO is likely to cost just under £300 although some companies may charge well above this figure, being offererd these services for around £100 should raise questions on the quality of the risk assessment document. A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment should be thorough, comprehensive and have substance using a nationally recognised template such as PAS 79 although other templates are available. A fire risk assesement is not a tick in the box document to satisfy the Local Authority but an audit that highlights the state of the management, control and adequacy of the fire safety measures within the premises.

The sector specific guides which relates to small HMO premises in Scotland is titled 'Practical Fire Safety Guidance For Existing Premises with Sleeping Accommodation' although this is a guide it does set a benchmark by which to gauge the level of fire safety arrangements that has been provided for your HMO and on whether more needs to be done to raise the existing standard found in the premises.