Fire alarm maintenance for managing agents in London

What a managing agent needs from a fire alarm contractor

Most of the work in a portfolio is not the visit. It is knowing that every building had one, and having the paper to prove it. This is how we set it up.

• Paperwork per building. A service certificate and a written report for every building after every visit, sent to you, and to your client if you ask.
• Nothing done without approval. Faults are priced in writing, and no work goes on your client’s account until you approve it.
• Access arranged on site. Visits agreed with the caretaker, concierge or keyholder.
• The weekly test covered. Whoever does it in each building, usually the caretaker or site staff, is shown how at the first visit and keeps the log book.
• BAFE SP203-1 registered for fire alarm work, so competence is shown by independent certification, not by our word.

Service charges and section 20

Fire alarm servicing in a block is usually paid through the service charge, so the way it is contracted matters to the leaseholders as well as to the client.

Under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, an agreement for more than 12 months that costs any one leaseholder more than £100 a year is a qualifying long-term agreement, and works that cost any one leaseholder more than £250 are qualifying works. Both need consultation first, or recovery is capped at those sums.

Whether consultation applies is for you and your advisers. What we do is quote in writing before any work, with remedial work priced item by item.