“Admin” now have a new posting in relation to Health & Safety issues, and Solitaire’s responsibilities. Yes we are all annoyed (apart, it seems, from “Phil”…) at the issues with management, general maintenance, invoicing etc, but Health & Safety should take priority over all of these, as – potentially – it is our lives at stake.

Perhaps “Andy” could advise on the standard procedure when a report of a problem with a fire alarm (or other high-risk item) is reported by a resident to Solitaire. If there is a procedure, it seems to have failed, as Brian’s alarm system woes seem to demonstrate.

If this was a public building and the fire brigade did an inspection and found that the alarm wasn’t working, they could close the building immediately, or set a time limit for repairs to be made before re-visiting (with the threat of closure). Why then do Solitaire seem to not deal with non-functioning alarm systems – it’s there for a reason, not because the big shiny red bell on the wall looks nice…..

Keep on to them Brian – as you state, you pay a management fee for such things to be done on your behalf.

I have pushed this back to Solitaire by writing to them and making it clear that the responsibility for the alarm and alarm testing is theirs. Further I informed my propoerty manager that as I have told her personally about the issue, it is my understanding that she could face a “corporate manslughter” charge in the event of a fatality caused in part by a non-operational fire alarm system. I have also written to Cheshire Fire Service. As a landlord I am not in a position to test the alrams and fire extinguishers etc – this is what I pay a management fee for, but i think it is important that you document your concerns to Solitaire to safeguard yourself.

Phil

Trust me this isn’t a hobby, its a pain. If I am fortunate enough to enjoy the “vast improvements” in service that you “apparently” enjoy , then I won’t need to post anything. Is your lunch time at Peverel over now?

Irrespective of legislation, the landlord of a building and/or their managing agents surely have a duty of care to make sure their property (and it’s residents…) are protected to the best of it’s abilities. If a fire alarm is fitted, it should be maintained in full working order, and checked / serviced / repaired on a regular basis.

The death & subsequent prosecution (and prison sentence…..) as noted above is a lesson not to be ignored.

If you’ve got a fire alarm in your building, find out whether it works, and when it was last tested (I’m sure testing should be done annually). If there’s a problem, get onto Solitaire (or whoever your managing agent is) and pester them constantly to get the problem/s fixed, or otherwise contact your local Fire Service. If you’ve only got extinguishers, find out when they were last serviced – there should be a sticker / label on them to confirm this. Again, I’m sure extinguishers should be checked annually, and (I believe) it’s the landlord’s responsibility to do this.

I don’t have a fire alarm in my development, but Brian’s comments about the state of the alarm where he lives is very concerning – I agree with “a n onymous” about going directly to your local Fire Service if your landlord / managing agent fail to deal with the repair / maintenance / testing of a fire alarm installation. If I did have an alarm in my block (we haven’t even got any extinguishers…) and found it wasn’t working, I would at first contact the management company and INSIST that they get it fixed immediately, or otherwise go straight to the Fire Service within a couple of days.

It might sound melodramatic, but potentially it’s your life we’re talking about here…..

A year or so ago a person died as a result of a fire in a London flat – the fire was due to breaches of fire regulations by the landlord. The landlord, Mr Mehmat Parlak was jailed for four years and his company, Watchacre Properties Ltd were fined £21,000.
I understand it was the Fire Service that took him/them to court.

If you are worried abour fire safety issues why not ask your local Fire Service to come and inspect.

An article on this incident can be found on the ‘news on the block’
website and by then searching for ‘first landlord jailed over fire safety’. Maybe admin can set up a link.

Service = better
site vists = better
accounts = more accurate (at last)
straightforward payments line,
senior people with a clue what they are talking about

it’s easy to complain but Peverel’s improvements are vast…do we need to find a new hobby?

This would surely solve many of the problems without having to resort to the complex and at times costly, RTM process.

I am in Bristol and I only saw quite a small woman and a guy in combats / grey workwear going round the place.

Best bit was, I overheard the woman say when they were in my stairwell “we get all the aggro from this block”.

Nice customer service I thought!! Nothing like knocking on my door and introducing themselves, considering all the ‘aggro’ they get from me.

Well Andy ,

I said i was optimistic about recent communications and true to form Solitaire once again prove incapable. The new code given for the “repaired” bin store doesnt work, so having convinced residents they should not just break into it they have all piled their stinking rubbish by the doors and called Solitaire to let them know. Did anybody come out this week NO, did the cleaner just ignore it YES; its a bloody joke and a health hazard, it stinks and there is rubbish blowing everywhere. A resident asked me if the fire alarm works and when it was tested last – I told him to ask you!!! As for the deep clean of the porch and the cleaning of the light fittings – well I can only presume the cleaner is a one armed blind man!!!

So to all contributors to TTAS, I am sad to inform you that my earlier optimism was totally misguided

As Sheps suggests (and I agree), they keep site visits quiet to avoid potential confrontations with residents – if I had arrived home 5 minutes later yesterday, I would have missed them, and not have known they’d even visited.

It was good to see that people from head office are getting out & about as well, and therefore hopefully are now also understanding the issues on their developments, and realising that the complaints from residents are justified. Whether it will actually help to get things done remains to be seen…..