Scotland's Fire Alarm Legislation

The driver for the legislation was the Grenfell Tower disaster in London allied with a laudable desire to reduce the toll of death and injury from house fires in Scotland. Scotland is the first part of the UK to introduce legislation of this nature. 

The legislation provides – in simple terms - that residential properties require to have satisfactory interlinked equipment to detect fire and carbon monoxide in place.

The introduction of this legislation has already been delayed by a year because of the effects of the covid pandemic and, for the time being at least, there is to be no active enforcement of the legislation. Only time will tell how the enforcement regime will develop in due course. 

There are also remain fundamental questions of resourcing such a significant policy objective. 

Here at MM, we will seek confirmation from vendors that the property is compliant with the new rules. Inevitably, levels of compliance – or even awareness – will vary and it is always important to bear the “bigger picture” in mind if a property does not comply. 

In simple terms the best advice is do not lose a sale or purchase just because these matters have not been attended to or that other people see this more fundamentally than you. 

We are, of course, here to guide you through this further regulatory hurdle on the path to owning your new property and, if you have any queries on this – or any other – matter, our highly qualified people are here to help you through the maze. 

The Scottish Government guidance can be found here - Fire and smoke alarms: changes to the law - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).