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Question Title: Non compliant sofa
| Question: 329 |
| We have a landlord who has a sofa that does not have the required label on it to indicate that it satisfies the Furniture & Furnishings (Fire)(Safety) Regulations 1988. The incoming tenant is happy to buy it from the landlord and the landlord is happy to sell but does this fall foul of the Regulations?
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| Answer: |
| Firstly, it must be remembered that the Regulations do not apply to furniture whose date of manufacture is pre-1950. If the sofa is clearly of this vintage - for example, it is an antique sofa, then no safety labels will be present and neither will they be required. Also, the regulations do not apply to any furniture that is not supplied with the accommodation. Thus a tenant may bring his own non-compliant furniture into the property. The advice provided by trading standards officers suggest that a private landlord may pass any non-compliant furniture to a tenant as a one-off transaction. But a landlord should not do this on a repeated basis to successive tenants at the same property or otherwise leave such furniture at the property in such a way that it can be 'found' by the tenant. The Regulations only cover those who are a "supplier in the course of business", so it would not cover a private owner who lets his home on a one-off short term basis (whilst, for example, he is temporarily working away from home). Finally, it should be remembered that an agent, when acting for a private landlord, is subject to the Regulations even if the landlord is not. This means that an agent should, in no way, become involved in any transaction where furniture is passed or sold from landlord to tenant - the parties should be advised to liaise directly.
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References:
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Pages:
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Hyperlinks:
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Letting Update Journal |
Oct 1998 page 11 |
letting-update-journal.html
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Letting Handbook |
Chapter 8 |
letting-handbook-and-factsheets.html
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Letting Factsheet No 3 |
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factsheet-3
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For more information, discuss on the Forum
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