Kidde customer and specialist student housing provider Rob Hunter, Managing Director of Place Group UK, is the first private landlord to be awarded Mayor Boris Johnson’s ‘London Rental Standard’ badge of accreditation.
The Mayor personally visited one of Rob’s properties in Haringey to meet tenants and to hear about their positive experiences of renting from an accredited landlord.
Rob was selected as the first private landlord to be awarded the so-called ‘Boris badge’ as a pioneer of accreditation and a vocal supporter of higher standards in the rental property industry.
The new Standard is linked to the ‘Housing Health and Safety Rating System’ (HHSRS), which identifies both fire and carbon monoxide poisoning as primary risks and the importance of fitting appropriate alarms –already top of Rob’s list of priorities.
Rob’s company has been operating for 20 years in north London and provides students with high specification, refurbished 5 and 6 bedroom shared HMO accommodation in traditional Victorian houses. In all his properties, original battery powered alarms have been replaced with Kidde’s Slick smoke and heat alarms using wireless interconnect.
Every bedroom now has its own smoke alarm, as well as circulation areas, and there are heat alarms in communal living areas and kitchens. In addition, Kidde’s hard-wired CO alarms with digital displays are installed on each floor.
Rob Hunter commented: "We needed a fast-fit system of smoke and heat alarms using wireless interconnect to minimise disruption to the building fabric with wiring, that also allows us flexibility to deal with any future changes.
"The alarms also had to fit our ethos of providing robust, quality housing and anticipating higher standards to come. Kidde has given us tremendous support and back-up. They are quick to reply and offer a no quibble satisfaction policy that is wholly supported and managed by very experienced staff. As we expand out of London to Lincoln, we have ensured that Kidde is specified by each and every contractor we use to ensure that we future-proof our work there”.
Rob has been accredited by the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme (LLAS) - part of the UK Landlord Accreditation Partnership (UKLAP) - for nearly 10 years and was again voted ‘LLAS/ UKLAP Landlord of the Year for Student Housing’ in 2014, following his success in 2012. His properties are also accredited by Unipol under the AFS/Unipol Code.