The Property Unleashed Podcast

Essential Fire Safety Measures for Serviced Accommodations: Protect Your Property and Guests

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 302

Share episode

Send us a text

This episode emphasizes the importance of fire safety compliance for serviced accommodation providers, detailing essential measures such as conducting thorough fire risk assessments, installing reliable alarms, and maintaining clear escape routes. By prioritizing safety and implementing necessary fire precautions, hosts not only enhance guest security but also establish a responsible and trustworthy business reputation.

• Importance of conducting thorough fire risk assessments 
• Installation of reliable smoke and heat alarms 
• Necessity for clearly marked fire exits and extinguishing equipment 
• Guidance on maintenance checks for safety devices 
• Importance of providing fire safety information for guests 
• Considerations for fire doors and emergency lighting 
• Regular inspections and compliance with upcoming regulations 
• The role of guest education in promoting safety awareness 
• Setting up proper logs for maintenance and safety equipment 
• Emphasizing total guest safety as a competitive advantage

VALUABLE RESOURCES:


CONNECT WITH ME:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.fitzgerald.7921
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markfitzgeraldentrepreneur/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fitzgerald-59200079/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgwQNC72nEJQ0tKkKERdQOQ
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@markfitzgeraldentrepreneur

http://www.thepropertyunleashed.com

Speaker 1:

Are your serviced accommodation units fire safe? Have you done the right risk assessment? Let's find out. Hello, my name is Mark Fitzgerald. It's great to have you joining me here today. So today I want to cover a topic that a lot of serviced accommodation providers don't always get right. Some of them know they need to do it and half-heartedly do it. Some people get in a specialist, a fire risk assessment officer, so to speak, to come in and do this for you, and other people do it themselves. Now you can do this yourself, but it must be done and it must be set out in your guidelines as well, and I'm going to take you through a lot of the things here that you need to have. Obviously, do check in your area for compliances Local council websites will help you with this, Local government websites will as well and also print off or get your HMO pack from the council. The HMO pack is, realistically, what tells you all the compliances fire safeties at HMOs because we're going to have some compliances coming in soon into the UK and some regulations as well for serviced accommodation, holiday lets, Airbnb properties, call them what you will and we need to make sure that we're compliant with those. So if you look along the lines of what your HMOs need to be set up like. Well, you can't really go far wrong, to be quite honest with you, because it will probably be very, very similar to that. So what we put together here is a bit of a check sheet or a checklist for you to be able to go through. Now what I might do is on my website, thepropertyunleashedcom, where it's free tools and resources. I might put this check sheet on there so you'd be able to go on there and download it for yourself. So check out the links in the comment section below, and we'll hopefully have done it by the time this comes out. So your fire risk assessment is, for furnished holiday lets, a legal requirement. You need to conduct this assessment and update it regularly if there's any changes to the properties and identify any fire hazards and any risks to any of your guests as they come into the properties.

Speaker 1:

All right, so you want to be making sure that you've got the right smoke and heat alarms in your property. Yes, I am reading this as I'm going along because it's very, very important. I don't want to miss anything by just trying to remember off the top of my head. You need to make sure that they are up to the relevant standards. Of course, smoke alarms are installed, maybe interlinked smoke alarms as well. You want them in all the hallways, stairways and living areas. You also want to make sure you've got, maybe heat alarms, depending on the types of the properties, that you've got Carbon monoxide alarms as well in the relevant areas, particularly if you've got boilers and things like that there.

Speaker 1:

And most of the alarms need to be mains powered, so not just powered by your battery or your battery backup. They want to have a battery backup, but a lot of fire detectors or fire alarms that people put in cheaply can sometimes just be battery operated. Get them wired in to the actual property. If you can Remember, we're looking at this as a business and we want to make sure people are safe there, and what you can do is if you get a good electrician, they will be able to wire in alarms without making too much of a mess as well. Okay, so also on top of that, you want to make sure that you've got fire extinguishers or, if nothing else, fire blankets in the right places, particularly in a kitchen. We don't always depending on the size of the property and the compliances as whether we think it should have a fire extinguisher, because we don't really want guests fighting fires. I'd rather they got out of the property and let the professional fire brigade come in and sort that out for us. But we do need to make sure that we're on the right path here. So sometimes we do have fire extinguishers in our properties.

Speaker 1:

You need to ensure clear use and instructions of these items as well. Sometimes what we do is we get like an A4 picture frame and we'll put exactly the steps to how to use whatever said item is fire extinguishers, fire blankets, what they should be used for, and we'll put it near where they are as well. So it doesn't look like a notice board with loads of things, but it's their instructions. It can't go anywhere if anybody needs to use it very, very quickly. Nothing worse than having a quick fire. Somebody's like I don't know what to do with this. Try to read it on the bottle. Let's give them clear instructions and have it in the house. Rules and guides as people are coming in, you want to look at all fire doors and escape routes and potentially there's some great apps out there at the moment where you can get floor plans of your property just by taking pictures and it'll make your floor plan up. You could then have a floor plan and then put in your emergency exits, your fire exits and the routes that people need to be taking in the event of a fire in the property. Okay, Fire doors, relevant particularly for the kitchen areas, want to be at least 30 minutes of fire resistance on those.

Speaker 1:

So look at the standards of the doors and things. Obviously you need to make sure that they are compliant. Don't just buy any old doors and expect them to be fire resistant doors. You want them on the kitchens, the living areas, in the bedrooms, if you can. That is not a legal requirement, that is just a good thing to do. So if you have a property and you're doing it up at the moment you're refurbishing it ready for serviced accommodation I would potentially put these doors in from the word go, Because I have no doubt that potentially, going down the line down the road, when new regulations come in from the government, they'll probably want stuff like that put in. So rather than buying things twice, do that Sometimes.

Speaker 1:

On kitchen doors, where applicable, you can have self-closing doors as well. You can just have the hinges. You don't have to have those horrible looking door closers. Above that, you're seeing a lot of HMOs. You can have self-closing hinges on fire doors and things, but escapes must be clear at all times and potentially even put on certain doors or windows fire exit or fire escape if need be. Okay, List any emergency contact details in your house guides as well, or even on potentially, as I say, another notice board or a picture frame.

Speaker 1:

So, emergency lighting if your property is really really big, it may be a compliancy to have emergency lighting. As I say, if we have six beds or more in our HMOs, a lot of areas want us now to have emergency lighting. This is the lighting that comes on if, potentially, the power goes off or there is a fire and stuff. So, for larger properties with more complex layouts, install emergency lighting to illuminate escape routes and make sure that you check those regularly. Equally to that, you'll have your fire safety information for guests.

Speaker 1:

So all of this really wants to be in a pack and something that is given or placed for the guests to be able to read, and it's a bit I always look at it, it's a bit like getting onto a plane. Okay, when you get onto a plane, they hand you their little check sheet of you know, put your mask on, put your head between your legs and all of that. Make sure your seat belts are done up and things. You really want to be looking at that in your essays as well. And I think one of the things that I love about this is if you get this right and it's easy enough to consume to really get the basics. You know, if I go somewhere and I got my young family there, I will have a look at this, or my wife will have a look at this, and it'll be oh, that's interesting. But it also shows that you care. It shows that the experience that the people that are staying in your property is going to be a good, safe experience. Why? Because you're covering all of the emergencies for them and putting it in one simple little brochure, potentially, or at least in your house pack as you're going along. So make sure that you've got that. Make sure you have fire action notice and it's visible, so you know fires with arrows. You don't have to plaster them all over the place if you think. Well, that's going to spoil the look of the property, Trust me. It's just making sure they're in the right locations in the right part. Instructions in case of a fire. This is what we want you to do and this is why we want you to call these. These are our fire exit. These are our meeting points.

Speaker 1:

Depending on your properties If you've got a part hotels and things you might be having meeting points you do want to make sure that you have no smoking, potentially no vaping, in the properties. If that's what you want, you want to have little signs, potentially on the backs of doors and things like that, just to remind people that that is what your expectations are of somebody saying. So, when it comes to gas and electricity in your property, you want to obviously make sure that, annually, your gas safety checks are done, that your boiler is checked, that you have a certificate for that as well. Done that your boiler is checked, that you have a certificate for that as well. You want to also, with the electrics, make sure that you've got your EICR report for your electrics. That needs to be done every five years. And also, on top of that, you want to make sure that you've got your PAT, your PAT testing, done for portable appliances, and this is recommended. This doesn't have to be done, but it's recommended to be done yearly. I always remember when I worked in my corporate job, we used to get it done every year on everybody's toolkits and chargers and everything like that. So it's a nice to do. Potentially you can actually go and do a course yourself in pack testing by the device and do it yourself so you can make sure that it's done.

Speaker 1:

We get an electrician just to come around and do all of our properties one after the other and make sure that it's nice and safe and that there's no wires that have potentially been caught in a drawer, snagged or anything like that, so that nobody's at risk. But of course, having a fire through an electrical force is more commonplace than having a fire any other time, because that is where you normally get the fires that nobody knows are happening. If somebody drops something or something catches a light, people are with it. They're actively there. But a lot of the time electrical or potentially even gas although you tend to get more of a boom with a gas, let's be right will be the faults. Where somebody's asleep, something's sparked out and of course we've got to make sure that those alarms go off, the house lights up like a Christmas tree and people can get out. We don't want anybody getting hurt in any of our properties, do we?

Speaker 1:

So furniture is another one that you want to be looking at. You want to make sure it's safety. It's fire safety compliant, okay, particularly with sofas, you know, mattresses, curtains, anything that really can catch fire. You want to make sure that it's sort of fire resistant up to a certain standard. So make sure that you're checking those things. Oh, it looks beautiful that couch. Let's put that over there. Oh, yeah, it's great.

Speaker 1:

If it's not fire safety or fire checked, then you need to have it up to a good standard. And, of course, you really want a fire escape plan. As I say, if you've got those floor plans showing the exits, even put some arrows on there and really make it easy. I touched on a carbon binoxide alarm as well, but you should have one of those. Obviously you've got gas or anything like that. Make sure that it's there and make sure that all of these things are tested regularly.

Speaker 1:

Test fire alarms weekly or monthly, but weekly is really what we should be doing. What you can do in an SA, which is a lot easier than a lot of the other properties, is you're going to have more churn. You're going to have more people come in and go in, Get it as part of your cleaner's job to test the fire alarms. A lot of the time you can just hold the button on one fire alarm and it will set them all off if they're integrated. But make sure that they're checking out for that. They're checking out for any tweak tweaks if any of the batteries are going. That noise that absolutely drives you crazy. You know when it chirps at you and things. They're checking out for that and they're reporting anything that they see. Likewise, if they're tidying up and they notice a wire or something like that's been snagged or something doesn't look right, they should be taking a picture of that, potentially WhatsApping it across to you, your team, so that you can get on there.

Speaker 1:

Okay, but make sure it's all tested. Make sure if you have fire extinguishers, if you have blankets there as well, they all have a used by date, a best before, so to speak. Make sure that they're in date, because the last thing you want again is for something to happen. Something doesn't work the way it should do. Why? Because it's two years out of date. You have to stay on top of those things and, of course, keep regular maintenance checks. The property needs to be maintained anyway, but make sure that your maintenance and you stay on top of that.

Speaker 1:

If something is faulty, if something is broken, either remove it if you can, or replace it as quickly as possible, and I would even go as far as to log it for each of the properties. Log when you change something around. The toaster is broke, right. We've changed the toaster. When was that toaster changed? Obviously, we've got receipts and things, but I'd log it. I would have it somewhere on file, even on a CRM system, so that you can say what maintenance has happened in that property. What have we done about it? Okay, to keep things updated, just in case the unmentionable happens in one of your properties.

Speaker 1:

Also, additional considerations are the licensing requirements that potentially are coming our way as well. If your property is an HMO, maybe you let it out by the rooms and things. It needs to be up to standard of that. But I would definitely go and get the HMO pack off of your local council. You can normally download these. It tells you all the requirements for HMOs, including all the fire and safety standards, and I would start making your service, accommodations, furnished, holiday lets, Airbnb properties as compliant as an HMO would be, and you'll be on really, really solid ground. If you can do that.

Speaker 1:

Landlords should have the appropriate insurance. So if you're doing rent to rent deals and things, do make sure that the landlord's got the appropriate building insurance. If nothing else, you might have put the content in so you might get the content insurance as well, because that will help you if anything gets broken. Or, of course, if there is a fire We've also got to think about the landlords. Or if we own the properties, what happens if the unmentionable happens, If we have a fire and things get damaged, ceilings get damaged or a house gets burnt down at the end of the day, as long as people are out and we're safe, that's the first and foremost main thing. The next thing is to try and make sure it doesn't happen.

Speaker 1:

What I'm talking to you about here is to try and prevent things from happening. That's why it's very, very important to get this right. That's why that list, whilst being quite long, quite comprehensive. You need to do your own research in your own areas as well. I can cover a lot of the basics which I've just done there, but you need to make sure that your properties are 100% fire safety checked, okay, on a regular basis and, like I say, if you change anything, update, update your risk assessment, because that'll be one of the first things you will be asked where's your fire risk assessment and what have you got in places for the things that have happened? And we'll be tied.

Speaker 1:

If somebody is is hurt and you haven't got this all in place, you will be liable with potentially a massive fine or prison, and we do not want things like that. We don't want people hurt. We want to do it and, like I say, it is such a great thing when it's in place that your guests, some guests won't care that your guests, some guests won't care, let's face it. But some guests like me, if I was staying in yours and you had a nice little brochure about the fire safety, a floor plan and everything, all of the routes, keeping it nice and easy, keeping it nice and simple and keeping it in my eyeshot so that it's something I look at, I'll be like, oh, these guys are on the ball and they care about us as well, and like they do at a hotel, we have this on a couple of our bigger properties On the backs of the bedroom doors we have the little maps of the hallway and everything the fire windows that you can use and, of course, the fire exits and where to get out on those as well. So very much like a hotel. So do that Next time you stay in a hotel have a little look, see what they've done and then think how I could make that nicer and better and put it in my properties. If you do that, you'll be on the right path.

Speaker 1:

If you need any help with your serviced accommodation, then do check out the ultimate serviced accommodation business builder that myself and my business partner, Graham Lindley run. It is the most comprehensive and best essay training out there to help you get started, build and scale a successful six-figure serviced accommodation business. Likewise, we have some free tools and resources as well. On thepropertyunleashedcom, we have an e-book for serviced accommodation. We have a free masterclass as well to help you get started, to see whether serviced accommodation is right for you. If you need help with any of that rent to rent coaching, building your business then we are here to help and support you. So until the next time you take care and bye for now.