Homeowner Responsibilities – An Anchor Article

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As many of you know I write a weekly Real estate article for the Chestermere Anchor which goes out to the Chestermere, Langdon, Strathmore region. Every now and then I write an article there that I also put on the blog, and next week’s article I thought I needed to post here as well. This article is in regards to the recent fire in the rental property in NW Calgary and includes some information to help homeowners and landlords..

I’m still working on a second article regarding MIC’s, but that will probably be next week. Hopefully you can pick up some hints here for any rental properties you may have or have been considering, and possibly even make you aware of concerns in your own home. Enjoy.

With all the news about the house fire in NW Calgary that caused the death of three tenants earlier this year it may be time for not just landlords, but homeowners to do a quick inspection of their properties.

If you have a basement bedroom in your property it is essential to ensure it has a working window that a tenant or a family member can escape out of without any special tools or knowledge to open. In the case of the property in Parkdale that the tenants were trapped in, the windows were barred preventing any exit.

If you have security bars of any type on basement windows, either as a homeowner or as a landlord, you need to ensure everyone in the home knows how to open them. If they are padlocked, the keys need to be very close to the actual locks and possibly secured so they cannot accidentally wander away. If the bars require a specific tool to open, make sure this tool is located nearby and everyone is instructed how to use it.

If they are older bars, make sure they still actually open and haven’t rusted close, or the property hasn’t shifted making them impossible to open. These bars should be inspected every six months if not more often, especially in older properties.

Also for older properties, you need to ensure the windows can actually be opened and they are of a large enough size someone can escape through them. The specific bylaws for the actual window size vary by region, but for both Chestermere and Calgary, the window is required to be a minimum of 380mm in height and .35m2 in total area. Please be sure to confirm these sizes with the local bylaw officials for the area you live in as bylaws do change.

Current bylaws require smoke detectors in new homes to be hard wired and interconnected into the electrical system of a home, including basements. Interconnected refers to the smoke detectors one each level being connected so if an upper detector sounds it’s alarm, the lower detector also sounds.

By having all the alarms connected it can provide valuable time that may be required for someone to exit the property. If you are currently living, or renting out, an older house you can have an electrician come in and typically convert any battery operated smoke detectors into an interconnected and hardwired system for less than a couple hundred dollars. This is an expense well worth the money spent to protect your family or your tenants.

For further safety, having a fire extinguisher located both upstairs and downstairs in a property can be a great precaution. Great locations are near the kitchen and near the furnace or laundry room in the basements. Also, if the home has a garage, an additional extinguisher can be installed there to further ensure a safe home.

These are just a few of the steps property owners should be checking and considering for their own homes and any rental properties they own. As a homeowner, you have responsibilities to your own family. As a landlord, you have responsibilities to your family and any others that you provide shelter to.