My tenants want to employ a nanny

...not to mention the moral obligations.

Of course you can't rent a flat in any state you like, and let the "buyer beware". There are all sorts of regulations now covering rentals. Numbers of bathrooms, fire safety. Boiler servicing.

(Apart from
Gas safe. They do have to be gas safe at the time you move in :))

Rentals don't have to be anything. You can call up and estate agent tomorrow and get them to rent your house out.

Potentially, if it's in a poor state (or sometimes if it's not) the tenants could contact environmental health and occasionally they can oblige you to do certain works. But this isn't the case here. The LL is under no obligation.

My guess is the OP thought the property wouldn't rent well if all the internal doors had glass panels, blondes. Painting over them is a nice cheap way of getting rid of them. Although incredibly stupid if you fail to tell the tenants what you have done. Particularly if they are not safety glass.

Why are the glass panels painted white? I think as a safety aspect they need to be changed and I think the op knows this

Maybe this is a trick post

And the tenants have complained and want safety glass

Tbh I thought all rentals had to be safety glass

My Dp does property maintenance for a lettings company and he said the doors need to be shown as glass if glass and get the protective film over them if worried about the glass

Ie they shouldn't be painted over white to hide it. So suggests new doors

I agree - surely a rental comes rent as seen. The tenant makes the decision whether it meets their needs or not.

If the family employ a nanny that's between them and nanny. I'm wondering whether there is anything in contract about it (some rentals have clauses about working in home - eg childminder) but other than that I'm not sure there's any responsibility that lies with you.

Harriet is right, it is not OPs responsibility. The tenants signed a contract to rent the house in the state that it is in. If they didn't like the doors they shouldn't have signed and moved in.

It is not the landlords responsibility to change the doors regardless of nannies or no nannies. What's next, tenants providing, stair gates for every flat/house, or kitchen cupboard locks etc. as a tenant you rent a house as it is advertised. It is up to the tenant to decide if it is suitable for themselves/family.

If you're worried the glass will injure a toddler, replace the glass or advise the tenants to get safety film. Isn't that the decent, human thing to do?

As a "mummy" would you be happy with your child living in that flat with the doors as they are?
Or are you just concerned about this issue from a purely financial point if view?

As a landlord I would change the doors. I've just had them done throughout my house, it's not that expensive and I couldn't live with a child being scared for life due to not wanting to spend a few pounds. Film would be fine, at a push, for adults. Nanny issue aside, you now have a 10 month old in your flat, pulling itself up, learning to walk. I'd have had it done before now.

I've never been a nanny (although I am a primary school teacher). In a rented house we lived in my 9 year old threw a toy into a toy box (rather then putting it in, he was lazy rather than deliberately naughty). However he missed and broke a large pane of glass in a door. No one was hurt. The glazier replaced it with safety glass.

Amazing they are all alive and unscarred now that I think about it!

I'm not sure if it's amazing as obviously not every person who comes across glass doors injures themselves, in the same way that not every person who travels in a car has an accident... but we still wear seatbelts.

I know someone who fell through a glass door as a child and has a badly scarred arm.

Anyway what risks you choose to take on behalf of your own family is a very different kettle of fish to what risks you should be taking in an income earning business. You are charging them money, it is reasonable for them to expect you to make what their buying reasonably safe and secure.

I would dispute that just being a nanny on a premises would constitute running a business as she isn't the tenant but "place of employment" of your tenants might be caught if you have that phrase. However you have been made aware of the situation and if the worst happens I suspect they could reasonably claim that they asked you and you agreed. Which may well make the insurance invalid... but I bet if you checked with them they would probably cover a nanny.

Check your insurance and do a risk assessment on the doors to see if there are any measures you could take to reduce the risk (plywood across low level glass panes) and discuss your concerns like a normal human being! I'm sure between you, you can come up with a sensible plan.

An au pair would be ok then for the tenant as then part of the family. This just serves to illustrate there should be more government rented property in this country not just Buy to Let. The tenant is trying to care for her family and earn a living.

My landlords insurance does not cover he house being used as a place of employment, it also forbids tenants running a business there. As does my mortgage. Both would rule this out.

I've brought up 4 dcs in 2 different houses that had glass panelled doors--until this thread it had never occurred to me what a potential death trap they were! Amazing they are all alive and unscarred now that I think about it!

There is no legislation to say you have to comply with building regs - as you say cucumber unless the OP is doing works which need to meet building regs anyway.

It seems like there is a simple solution if you want to resolve it for your own piece of mind but no legal obligation to do so and I agree the posters saying you should sound entitled

How do you even know your tenants are employing a nanny? Just don't get why they would tell their landlord

I deliberately didn't specify what what be negligent in this situation because I don't really know enough to do so.

So if your tenant wasn't employing a nanny you wouldn't be concerned about the dangerous doors, is that right? You are only worried about the threat they may pose to your tenant's child from an insurance point of view? Nice.

As the other nannies have said, whether my employers rent or own is not my issue, I make my own risk assessments and my insurance covers me for accidents that children have in my care. However, I wonder if the parents would have a case for claiming on your LL insurance if an accident were to happen regarding the doors?

I think you can legally avoid doing this unless work needs to be done anyway but Residential Landlords association advice is On the other hand if you do fail to replace existing non-safety glazing and an accident occurs there is a real risk that you could be successfully sued if someone is either injured or killed. A serious case could also result in criminal prosecution.

You should adhere to building regs Approved Document N which covers glazing in doors. You can access regs at www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADN_1998.pdf.

Pretty much to paraphrase - you (the landlord) should fit toughened safety glass in full length doors (with some caveats about very small panes).

I'm not sure window film would do it.

You are of course entitled to your opinion Harriet. I happen to disagree. The op obviously thinks this is an issue or she wouldn't have posted.

A landlord's negligence would only be if he/she did not replace a broken pane, not if they did not safety glass. Presumably the tenants signed their lease having seen the doors, and possibly pre-baby.

It is the tenants' responsibility to childproof their home, not the landlord's. What's next, landlord to supply stairgates?

The tenant could surely fit stick on safety film to the panels and remove it when they leave. Whatever, it's up to them.

Some of the responses here are ridiculously entitled.