UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello

I wonder if anyone can help with some advice on my tenants.  Before they decided to rent the property they asked me to fit a second banister rail.  There is one on the wall side but the other is open.  I declined to do this as it would mean it would be difficult to fit one that would allow furniture upstairs.  I said at that point that if they wanted to fit one they could....  Anyway very unfortunately one of the tenents had a fall on the stairs and broke their ankle.  My letting agent is now implying they would have cause to sue over this if I do not have the banister fitted and pay for it myself.

While I think it is unfortunate that it happened I now feel blackmailed into paying for something I didn't want to do before they moved in.  Would they have grounds to sue?

Thanks!

Not a lawyer or expert on building regs but...

First point of call would be building regs. AFAIK you only legally require two bannister rails if the stair is more than 1m wide. However of more legal concern would be the tenants' request for a second bannister. Was their request for any particular reason, i.e. diability, infirm, children etc? Also are the stairs unusually steep/shaped etc? The basis of the civil case would probably be whether you were negligent to the risk that a person would face without the bannister.

If you fit a bannister now you go some way to recompensing the tenants, but also by that action you are admitting some kind of liability by its previous absence. You obviously also incur a cost. Rather than spending £100 on fitting a bannister. Spend it on legal advice. Armed with the fact your lawyer stating you are in the clear it is unlikely that a tenant would pursue their own legal claim.