A bill which proposed forcing landlords to fit smoke alarms in their rental properties at the change of tenancy has been scrapped, it has been revealed.
Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders, MP for Torbay, developed the Fire Safety (Protection of Tenants) Bill in an attempt to improve fire safety standards in rental properties.
At present, there are only guidelines for landlords relating to the installation of smoke alarms but it is not required by law.
However, the bill will not be brought into law after it failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session.
Smoke alarms are a vital part of fire safety measures, with figures from the UK Statistics Authority showing that a smoke alarm was not present in over a third (38 per cent) of domestic fires in 2008.
Furthermore, a smoke alarm was not present in 37 per cent of the 353 domestic fire fatalities in 2008, while an additional 28 per cent had a faulty smoke detector fitted.
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