Rent rise fears over new ‘laws’

8:59am Tuesday 13th May 2008

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RENTS could be set to rise for thousands of tenants across York if landlords are forced to adopt strict new fire safety standards.

That is the warning of York Residential Landlords Association, which today called on City of York Council to throw out its proposed local guidelines and adopt the less stringent national ones.

Members claimed the new requirements were "unreasonable" and involved bringing rented properties virtually in line with hotel standards - costing thousands of pounds to implement.

Niall McTurk, chairman of the association, said dozens of landlords had already decided to sell their houses due to the increasing amount of legislation in recent years.

He said: "We treat fire safety very seriously as landlords and we fully accept that improvements need to be made, but not to the level that City of York Council is demanding - that is unrealistic.

Ruth Abbott, housing standards and adaptation manager at City of York Council, said the council's guidelines, drawn up with the help of North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, were necessary.

She said: "It's all about making sure there is adequate fire protection in houses, particularly houses of multiple occupancy where the risk of somebody dying is much higher than in a single family property."