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Private Accommodation: Queen's Campus

Accreditation Scheme

The Accreditation Scheme sets out agreed standards of:

  • gas safety
  • security
  • electrical safety
  • fire safety
  • amenities.

All landlords must read and sign a paper copy of the Accreditation Standards which will be sent to you after you register. 

The criteria that must be met are given below:

Gas Safety certificate - issued by a competent Gas Safe Registered Engineer.  Please send the original and we will copy and return to you. 

Electrical periodic inspection report - Issued by a member of NICEIC or ECA or NAPIT or ELECSA.  Reports from other governing bodies may be considered - please contact the Accommodation Adviser for further advice.

 EPC

From 1 October 2008, an EPC will be required whenever a building in the social or private rented sectors is let to a new tenant.

The landlord must commission an EPC and ensure a copy of it, including the recommendation report, is available free of charge to prospective tenants at teh earliest opportunity.  As a minimum, this should be when prospective tenants are first given written information about a dwelling or are arranging to view it, and before any rental contract is entered into.  A copy of the EPC (rating and recommdation report) must be given free of charge to the person who ultimately becomes the tenant before any rental contract is entered into.

For a property to be advertised through the Accreditation Scheme, an EPC must be submitted with the property registration form.

Automatic fire detection

(To comply with B.S 5839 Part 6 2004 Grade D Category LD2) should be provided in the kitchen, living room, ground floor hall and first floor landing.  The detector in the kitchen should be a fixed temperature heat detector and the other detectors to be optical smoke detectors.  They should be interlinked and hard wired into the mains electrical supply before the tenants' meters if they are of the pre-pay type.  The individual detectors should also have a battery back up. In addition, Stockton Council recommend independent automatic fire detection to be fitted to all bedrooms, shared lounge and dining rooms. We recommend that hard-wired smoke detectors are fitted to each bedroom and this may become a legal requirement in the future.

Mains Carbon Monoxide Detector

Every year, approximately 30 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by faulty gas appliances and flues.  A gas safety check can only certify that the appliance is safe at the time of the inspection.  By installing a detector, tenants can be alerted at an early stage if there is a leakage of carbon monoxide into the room.

Fire Blanket in the kitchen

The blanket must conform to British Standard BS 6575 and must be fixed to the kitchen wall in a standard blanket box. 

Fire extinguisher near exit door

1 x 13A multi-purpose dry powder fire extinguisher or AFFF type fire extinguisher to be located near the exit door.

Half-hour fire resistant door with self-closer to kitchen

Including smoke seals & intumescent strips. Most fires start in the kitchen, therefore a fire door (FD30) will give the tenants additional time to escape in case of a fire.

Half hour fire door on cupboard understairs & half hour fire protection under stairwell

Stairs to be underdrawn to provide ½ hour fire resistance and understairs cupboards to have ½ hour fire resistant doors and lining or the cupboard to be taken out of permanent use.

Solid doors to all bedrooms

Bedroom doors should have no glazed element. 3 storey properties require 30 min fire doors including self-closer, smoke seals & intumescent strips

Thumb turn locks on all external doors

To ensure students can open the door without a key from the inside in case of fire.  Yale locks are not acceptable on external doors as they do not provide a sufficient level of security. Yale locks are acceptable on bedrooms doors. 

Window locks on ground floor and accessible first floor windows

Tenants must be able to open and lock these windows.

A minimum of 4 electrical sockets in each bedroom (2 double sockets)

As you are no doubt aware, students bring a lot of electrical appliances with them.  If there is an insufficient number of electrical sockets in a room, students may use adapters and extension leads, which results in trailing wires and can cause overloading.

Burglar Alarm

Student properties are often targeted by burglars - especially over the vacation periods.

Security light in yard (Dusk to Dawn type - NOT PIR)

Following advice from the local Community Safety Liaison Officer, we are asking for all properties to be fitted with a Dawn to Dusk security light in the back yard to deter burglars and improve the safety and security of tenants.

Deposits

Deposits must be protected in accordance with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme which came into force on the 6th April 2007.

If you are not protecting a tenant’s deposit taken after this date, you may be ordered to repay three times the amount to the tenant so find out how you can protect deposits and resolve disputes.

Visit the Direct.Gov website to find out more about the Tenancy Deposit Scheme

Microwave & Washing Machine

The majority of student landlords now provide these additional facilities.  For the comfort and convenience of students we are asking for all properties to include a washing machine and microwave.

Further advice and information can be obtained from:

Mandy Wright/Emma Cuthbertson 0191 3340033 email wright.cuthbertson@durham.ac.uk