Question regarding a new tenancy in furnished flat

[redsturgeon]

My daughter has just rented a furnished flat. She moved in last week, she has just received the inventory and some questions arise.

1. There are no FFR labels on any of the sofas or beds or mattresses. Is this legal? What is the responsibility of the landlord and letting agent. My understanding is that it is a criminal offence not to comply. What should my daughter do?

2. The flat contains a lot of random items that are not useful to her eg. two vacuum cleaners, an old umbrella, old pots and pans, old consumables like paint and decorating material and cleaning products, five random keys that do nothing and two disgusting old toilet brushes. These items are listed and photographed in the inventory. Does this mean the landlord expects them to remain or is she at liberty to throw these things out/replace as necessary?

3. Most if not all items are described as worn/used/marked, some items however are, in my daughters opinion so old as to be not fit for purpose eg, a chest of drawers where the drawers are broken. What is the landlords responsibility here?

My daughter actually does not necessarily want the landlord to replace non compliant stuff but would rather they just got rid of it so she could use her own stuff, I'd assume this would be a matter for negotiation.


I would value any thoughts on this.

TIA

John

[PinkDalek]

No-one has replied but presumably there’s an agent. I’d definitely make contact, not least in view of items not as described. One could then discuss the bog brushes etc.

Make sure all exchanges are documented.

Posted under the influence but with Foolish intent.

Edit: May have misread!

[AsleepInYorkshire]

RESIDENTIAL LANDLORDS ASSOCIATION LANDLORDS GUIDE TO FIRE SAFETY FOR FURNITURE AND FURNISHINGS
https://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/guides/ ... ings.shtml

2.7. Managing agents as well as landlords can be regarded as suppliers.

The flat was let as furnished. "Furnished" must meet the requirements of statute. Perhaps a quiet word with the letting agent to get some constructive response? They may be able to help? (see 2.7)

AiY

[modellingman]

1. There are no FFR labels on any of the sofas or beds or mattresses. Is this legal? What is the responsibility of the landlord and letting agent. My understanding is that it is a criminal offence not to comply. What should my daughter do?

According to the National Landlords Association (page may be restricted to NLA Members only)

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire)(Safety) Regulations 1988 make the following requirements:

All new domestic upholstered furniture, furnishings and other products containing upholstery (except mattresses, bedbases, pillows, scatter cushions, seat pads and loose and stretch covers for furniture) must carry a display label at the point of sale. This is the retailer's responsibility.

All new domestic upholstered furniture (except mattresses and bed bases) and loose and stretch covers are required to carry a permanent label providing information about their fire retarding properties. Such a label will indicate compliance, although lack of one would not necessarily imply non-compliance as the label might have been removed.

Although mattresses and bedbases do not have to carry a label under these regulations there are separate labelling requirements under British Standard 7177: 1989)

All furniture (new and second hand) must meet the Fire Resistance Requirements:

• Furniture must pass a cigarette-resistance test
• Cover fabric, whether for use in permanent or loose covers, must pass a match-resistance test
• Filling materials for all furniture must pass ignitability tests.

As you clearly have concerns, then I would advise approaching whoever is responsible for managing the property (the person or organisation who receives the rent is a good indicator here). The absence of labeling does put the onus on the landlord to demonstrate that the furnishings are compliant.

The relevant regulations are the The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations. Unfortunately, the legislation.gov.uk website does not show the effect of later amending regulations on earlier versions (unlike with primary legislation) so working out what the regulations actually require from the legal texts will require a bit of work (or someone with detailed knowledge of this area). The original regulations were put in place in 1988 and the most recent amendments in 2010. Between these two sources, it should be possible to construct the text of the currently applicable regulations.

2. The flat contains a lot of random items that are not useful to her eg. two vacuum cleaners, an old umbrella, old pots and pans, old consumables like paint and decorating material and cleaning products, five random keys that do nothing and two disgusting old toilet brushes. These items are listed and photographed in the inventory. Does this mean the landlord expects them to remain or is she at liberty to throw these things out/replace as necessary?

My guess is that the agent has compiled the inventory (or subcontracted it to an inventory clerk) and it will be a case of if it was in there at the time the inventory was compiled then it will get documented. Some of it may have been left by the landlord (or tradesmen engaged by the landlord or on the landlord's behalf) and some by previous tenants. If your daughter just throws them out then she may run into difficulties if there are any disputes at the end of the tenancy. From a landlord's perspective one purpose of an inventory is to provide an evidential record that can be used at the end of the tenancy to justify any claims on the tenant's deposit.

In this situation your daughter should contact whoever is responsible for managing the property, proposing what she wishes to do. The proposals could vary by item and the range might include

• disposal without replacement
• disposal with replacement at the landlord's expense
• disposal with replacement at the tenant's expense with the item retained by the tenant at the end of the tenancy
• disposal with replacement at the tenant's expense with the item retained by the landlord at the end of the tenancy

3. Most if not all items are described as worn/used/marked, some items however are, in my daughters opinion so old as to be not fit for purpose eg, a chest of drawers where the drawers are broken. What is the landlords responsibility here?

In addition to 2., above, there are some other things to consider here. First, does the inventory accurately describe the condition of items such as chests of drawers? If drawers are broken, perhaps because the bottoms are dropping out or the runners don't function properly, then is this noted in the inventory. If not, then this definitely needs to be brought to the attention of the property manager because, if not, your daughter could find herself with a claim on her deposit at the end of the tenancy for bringing the item back to a proper, functioning condition. Second, would attempting to use such items possibly lead to injury (such as trapping a hand, injury from an exposed nail head, etc). If so, then again this should be reported, since the landlord is under a general duty to ensure that landlord provided items are safe to use.

My daughter actually does not necessarily want the landlord to replace non compliant stuff but would rather they just got rid of it so she could use her own stuff, I'd assume this would be a matter for negotiation.

For the matters you raise, yes, you can attempt to enter into negotiation with the property manager. However, to be successful, you need to think about the other side as well. Whilst, it might seem reasonable from the tenant's perspective to replace the landlord's old tat and rubbish with the tenant's own stuff landlords and agents will have their own perspectives. These will revolve around: disposal of the unwanted (who does? who pays?), what happens when the tenant leaves (does replacement stuff stay or leave?) and updating the inventory (prior to July many agents would have levied a fee on the tenant for doing this - now they can't, so why co-operate?)