Do we have to have kitchen doors?

[kid]

I have just had a phonecall from our housing officer and the HA surveyors want to check my property. She said its just to check the keeping of the property.

My worry is, we removed the downstairs doors (kitchen to living room, living room to hall and hall to kitchen) I don't know whether its a fire hazard not to have these doors in place and wondered if anyone else has any experience of this.

[Twiglett]

yes its a fire hazard - put it back and take it off again when she's gone

there must be a door between kitchen and stairs

[sparklymieow]

you are suppposed to have doors to stop fire spreading

[expatinscotland]

Really? What if it's your own house? I'm curious, b/c in some countries, open plan means just that.

[Spacecadet]

apart from anything else they could charge you to put the doors back on,.

[kid]

the previous tenents had the doors stored in the garden for who knows how long. The doors had started rotting so we decided to replace them. After removing them, we decided we liked it better without the doors.

If they do comment, maybe we could just say about the doors were rotting (they are bcak in the garden now) and we are replacing them once we have finished decorating the hall, its clear that its in the process of being painted.

[Xena]

Expat I think that the building regulations for a door between the kitchen and the stairs only applies if you have more than 2 floors (i.e. if you have a loft conversion)

[Twiglett]

not according to our architect - 2 floor house

[tamum]

Hmm, we don't have a door between our kitchen and the stairs, and because of the work we've had done on the house we've had several building surveyors round checking for safety issues. It's never been an issue for them I wonder if there are local variations in the rules, possibly?

[Xena]

Thats strange my sister has an open plan hall kitchen and diner and she has no door and she got her building reg cert when it was done. Maybe your house is bigger twiglett?

[lemonice]

I think it applies if it's an apartment where there should be a door or hall with doors between the bedrooms and the kitchen but not in a house unless with a loft conversion when the doors should be self closing

[Twiglett]

tis quite possible our architect talks rubbish

[tamum]

Ooh, you're a hard woman Twiglett We've got three floors FWIW but I'm not sure I can even follow what people are saying!

[golds]

Sounds as if you should have them on regarding a fire hazard, however I haven't between my kitchen and hall.

We sold our last house with NO doors on downstairs, I don't think the buyers noticed

[Tinker]

But what's the point of the regulation if you never close the doors???

[kid]

I went to see my housing officer today to find out if we had to allow them to do the survey. She said we didn't but it was nothing to worry about, they just want to look at the different types of properties and also how they are being kept. I felt bad to say no, they couldn't look at mine so I said I had to change the date. She couldn't change the date so said they would just choose another property to view, very relieved I don't have to worry about the doors now!