Recently been working on a system design for a LL. I was told the building would be a three floor 16 room HMO, so the design was done to the current Regs for that use. When the LL saw the cost of AFDD's he 'blew a fuse' and said no way was he fitting them at a cost of over 3K. I explaned that this was now a legal requirement and that they had to be fitted in HMO's from the new regs come into force. Needless to say he wasn't best pleased.
He come back to me a few days later and said it was not going to be an HMO now but a Hostel instead so he wouldn't be required to fit AFDD's - which is correct from what I can see in the regs.
The thing is that I'm the only one being told that - everything else is still being done (as cheeply as possible from what I can see with the not so occisional stretching of rules and requirements) to facilitate an HMO. Speaking to other trades on-site has borne this out with some telling me they had been told to say it's a hostle if anyone asks, but the building conversion is going ahead as per original instructions for an HMO.
So, have the IET left a risky unintentional loophole here? - Tell the sparks it's a hostel and save yourself some money! It's difficult to call this one out as in some cases there isn't much of a difference between the apperance of a hostel and a HMO but the electrical requirements are very different.
Are we potentially going to end up with a case where a spark doing a EICR or an install certifies to the spec for a Hostel, the LL then runs it as an HMO and if something goes wrong the spark is the fall guy as the LL will say the spark did not tell him the requirements were differrent?? If the LL says it's something it's not how can a certifying make that call and certify to the specs he believes the building is actually being used for?
I can see this becoming an issue with unscrupulous LL's once they twig the loophole - and they are the very ones whos properties are likely to have the problems and the ones that were - I suspect, a big part of the reason why HMO's are now required to fit AFDD's.
Interested to hear peoples views especially anyone on here with IET connections.
He come back to me a few days later and said it was not going to be an HMO now but a Hostel instead so he wouldn't be required to fit AFDD's - which is correct from what I can see in the regs.
The thing is that I'm the only one being told that - everything else is still being done (as cheeply as possible from what I can see with the not so occisional stretching of rules and requirements) to facilitate an HMO. Speaking to other trades on-site has borne this out with some telling me they had been told to say it's a hostle if anyone asks, but the building conversion is going ahead as per original instructions for an HMO.
So, have the IET left a risky unintentional loophole here? - Tell the sparks it's a hostel and save yourself some money! It's difficult to call this one out as in some cases there isn't much of a difference between the apperance of a hostel and a HMO but the electrical requirements are very different.
Are we potentially going to end up with a case where a spark doing a EICR or an install certifies to the spec for a Hostel, the LL then runs it as an HMO and if something goes wrong the spark is the fall guy as the LL will say the spark did not tell him the requirements were differrent?? If the LL says it's something it's not how can a certifying make that call and certify to the specs he believes the building is actually being used for?
I can see this becoming an issue with unscrupulous LL's once they twig the loophole - and they are the very ones whos properties are likely to have the problems and the ones that were - I suspect, a big part of the reason why HMO's are now required to fit AFDD's.
Interested to hear peoples views especially anyone on here with IET connections.
