Do you have to have a banister if you're letting to a couple with a child?

[Gooter]

Hi,

 

The house I am thinking of renting has a staircase going to the first floor which does not have a bannister or handrail. Am I right in thinking that this is against health & safety regulations?

 

Also, my girlfriend is pregnant and will be having a baby a month after we move in. The state the staircase is in at the minute, we can not place a safety gate to the bottom of it (although we can at the top). Obviously this is a danger for the child.

 

I've now paid a registration/credit check fee, and the agent is saying that if we want the banister installed, we have to pay for it. Is this correct? If they are letting a house that is unsafe for it's occupants, surely it is for the landlord to pay for the improvements?

 

If not, am I within my rights to ask for my money back? They said the fee is non-refundable unless the landlord rejects us as an applicant.....by refusing to make the house safe, is he effectively rejecting us?

 

Thanks

[Steve__M]

If you viewed the property when it was like that then you may have a problem.

 

My friend let out his former house which did not have a banister on one side till about 5 feet up and did not have a rail on the other side. It was successively rented by a couple with a 4 year old, a couple with a baby and a person with a toddler *and* a baby. It is more an issue for older people unsteady on their feet. Toddlers get the hang of it and just crawl up and down.

 

It won't be an issue at all for at least a year for you, so you can give notice and leave if you decide you are still unhappy. Maybe the landlord will see the error of his ways if you start planning to leave, and fit a bannister for you and future tenants.

[MrShed]

*cynical hat on*

 

I dont understand why you would view a property, decide on it, pay a deposit and then look to query such items.

 

*cynical hat off*

 

To answer the question, I dont THINK that you can enforce this - building regs may well apply, but only for new installs, not retrospectively.

[cerberusalert]

It's covered by part K of the building regs;

Height of handrails Approved Document K states that flights should have a handrail on at least one side if they are less than one metre wide and on both sides if they are wider than one metre. There is no need for handrails beside the bottom two steps of a stairway. Minimum domestic handrail heights of 900mm for both stairs and landings, public handrail heights should be a minimum of 900mm on stairs and 1100mm on landings.

 

It is also a Building Regulations requirement that no openings in any balustrading should allow the passage of a 100mm sphere.

[raydetinu]

Agree handrail and balusters will be responsability of tennant. Not to have one is defo a serious risk!

[Ed999]

If you viewed the property when it was like that then you may have a problem.

 

Caveat emptor - buyer beware - is the name of the problem.

 

The purchaser, here the prospective tenant, must inspect the premises and satisfy himself as to whether they are suitable for his requirements, before signing the contract - because the seller, in this case the landlord, has no legal obligation to make any alterations or improvements to the property afterwards.

 

It will be otherwise only where the landlord has contracted to carry out specific works of alteration in the tenancy agreement.