Fire prevention crucial, landlords warned

Landlords have been warned to take responsibility for their tenants or face student fatalities.

A number of fires in student flats, including a student fatality in February, prompted Palmerston North chief fire officer Roger Calder to make the comments yesterday.

Palmerston North had many old wooden buildings and even with smoke alarms, the interiors in many of the flats could ignite so quickly tenants would have no chance of escape, he said.

The Residential Tenancies Act did not require landlords to supply smoke alarms but Mr Calder believed responsible landlords should incorporate it, regardless.

"I think that landlords should provide smoke alarms as part of their tenancy agreement, and the maintenance should be the tenants' responsibility -- which the landlord can keep check of."

Kevin Reilly from the Tenants' Union believed it should be compulsory for all landlords to install smoke alarms.

"It's just common sense. Whose property is it? (The landlord) is the one who's going to have to fight for their insurance."

Insurance companies should support the notion, and make having smoke alarms installed a compulsory policy, he said.

The price of a smoke alarm varied depending on quality, ranging from $9.99 to $44.99.

- nzpa