Enforcement Notice's

[wotnot]

Can anyone help me with this.

I have bought a property which unknown to me had been subject to an inspection from the local council health and safety office. They wrote to the previous owner outlining all their concerns and action needed. I came into possession of this letter a few days after I completed on the property and phoned the council to find out what it was all about (this is about two months ago). After the call I called the NLA to seek advice, they said that most of the points related to HMO and didn’t apply. I called the council back and explained this but they didn’t want to know.

Today (two months later and with no official written communication to myself from the council) I received 3 enforcement notices requiring work to be done that I have been told by the NLA is HMO and does not apply, 1 hazard awareness notice and a 'Request For Information' under the 'Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 Section 16 in which they require information within 14 days or I will be guilty of a 'summary offence' and liable for a fine not exceeding £5000. They want to know owner, tenants, mortgage company etc.

Anyway since buying the property most of the work, regardless of whether it needed doing, has been done so most of what is in the enforcement notices is irrelevant ie: It mentions a faulty gas fire that no longer exists. One particular sticking point is that they are insisting that I need mains wired smoke detectors in a property over 100 years old and the removal of the battery ones?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Steve__M]

DIY tip for smoke alarms. Fire Angel (google them) sell a smoke alarm that can be wired into the lighting circuit and tested using the light switch. You can also wire them together so they all go off at once. They were 30 pounds each from B&Q when I bought them.

While I'm here I imagine to get advice from others you need to describe the house - number of floors, number of tenants and whether the rooms are individually let or whether the whole house is rented under one contract to several tenants, because it's not clear from your message what the issues are.

[wotnot]

OK, I was just about to send off my appeal to these notices and it says I have to pay £150 per appeal! Why is this?

The council can just issue these willy nilly and I have to pay £150 to fight my case! One notice says I must make safe a gas fire that was not in the property when I bought it and does not exist - how do I fight that one?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Many thanks

[sillygirl1]

Go to the council in person and explain that you are the new owner of the property and you would need a new inspection done as the notices are applicable to the old owner and not yourself. Insist on this happening or you will go to the Council Ombudsman and complain about the lack co-ordination on the issuing of notices to you and not a previous owner.

[citizenB]

wotnot, was there a final outcome to this ?

[wotnot]

Council saw sense and removed some of the restrictions. I completed various parts of the work but in the meantime sold the property to get them off my back. Just in time I'd say - due to the credit crunch. I reckon the property has lost 25% of its value now (but that only matters if you need to sell)

[citizenB]

Excellent. Yes, sounds as though you did the right thing at the right time. Well done