Jul 3 2007
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned landlords to ensure gas appliances are safe for tenants. The warning follows the prosecution of two landlords after a mother and two children were hospitalised as a result of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning from a gas-powered warm air heater.
Landlords Philip Preece and Elisabeth Struthers have been found guilty of failing to ensure a warm air heater had been maintained safely¹ and also of ensuring it was regularly serviced by a CORGI registered gas fitter². They were fined £2,500 each with an additional £1,800 costs awarded against them – totalling £6,800. The defendants were found guilty of contravening the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
The two landlords owned a flat in Yardley Court, Hemingford Road, North Cheam and rented it out to the victim Danielle Collins, who lived there with her two young children, who were aged 12 weeks and 17 months at the time of the incident.
An ambulance was called to the flat on the 22nd December 2006 after reports that a baby was suffering from breathing problems. Miss Collins, and her two children were taken to St Helier Hospital where they stayed for two nights. The family did not return to the Yardley Court flat until 5th January 2007.
The City of London Magistrates Court heard that when the heating system in the flat was tested by the HSE it was found to be producing 24,000 parts per million of CO. The test found CO started to leak into the bedroom and hall and had already reached dangerous levels in four minutes. Once the inside of the heating system had been cleaned CO levels fell to two parts per million. The w arm a ir h eater had not been inspected or maintained since 1996.
In noting the trend to buy-to-let the magistrates said they were seriously concerned by the lack of interest in the safety of tenants:
“We want to send a clear signal to private landlords to look after the health and interest of their tenants instead of their own financial interests”
HSE Inspector Andrew Withers, said: “I am pleased the Court took this matter so seriously and I believe this will be a real deterrent for landlords who don’t pay attention to their duties. It should be remembered that this is a case where no one was left with permanent injuries, where the defendants have modest incomes and were sorry. In different circumstances the fine could have been much higher.
“Keeping gas appliances in a safe condition and having a competent person to maintain them is not hard to arrange. Landlords need to realise they can potentially face charges of manslaughter if they fail in their duties and someone dies as a result.”