Part 4: Higher-risk buildings Residents’ etc duties Section 95: Duties on residents and owners Background
The purpose of this section is to ensure residents and owners of residential units in higher-risk buildings play their part in keeping buildings safe. The Independent Review recommended that residents should have a clear understanding of their responsibilities in relation to helping to keep their building safe.
Example
A resident’s items are being stored in front of a fire exit in the common parts and are blocking access to the fire exit. This would be considered a breach of a resident’s duties, as in the event of a fire, residents may not be able to safely evacuate through this fire exit due to the blockage, thereby interfering with the intended function of a safety item, the fire exit. In this instance the Accountable Person may investigate the matter in order to make sure residents’ safety isn’t being put at risk. As part of this investigation the Accountable Person would be able to require the resident to take action to address the breach of their building safety duties. This could include the Accountable Person issuing a contravention notice to the resident who has breached their duties.
Residents are required to comply with a request made by the appropriate Accountable Person for information reasonably required to perform their building safety duties. For example - An owner of a flat has replaced their front door which is a fire door. The owner did not inform their Accountable Person prior to carrying out these works and has not provided the Accountable Person with any information on the specification of the new door. Replacing a fire door could affect the passive fire safety systems and compartmentation. The Accountable Person in this instance would be able to request the specification of the door and any other pertinent information from the owner of the flat in order to assess whether the new door poses a building safety risk.