Source · Prevention of Future Deaths

Fehim Ahmet

Ref: 2024-0683 Date: 11 Dec 2024 Coroner: Mary Hassell Area: Inner North London Responses identified: 3 / 2 View PDF

Estate agents lack industry standards or guidance for informing tenants about property hazards, such as unsafe accessible flat roofs, and failed to follow up on prior complaints.

Date 11 Dec 2024

56-day deadline 10 Feb 2025

Responses identified 3 of 2

Other related deaths

Coroner's concerns

AI summary

Estate agents lack industry standards or guidance for informing tenants about property hazards, such as unsafe accessible flat roofs, and failed to follow up on prior complaints.

View full coroner's concerns

1. I heard at inquest that, as industry standard, there is no requirement or even guidance regarding action to be taken by estate agents about particular property hazards, say noting on the property file to warn tenants about a flat roof that is easily accessible via a window but is not in fact safe to access. Such information is not automatically passed on when tenants change and is not necessarily enshrined in the tenancy agreement.

2. In this instance the café owner downstairs had rung the estate agent to complain about tenants from the upstairs flat being on the roof of the café and it was reported that there were emails about this, but nobody from the estate agency had made a note or followed up with the tenants.

Responses

3 respondents

Health and Safety Executive Regulator / Inspectorate

10 Feb 2025 PDF

Noted

The HSE outlines the duties of letting agents under the Health and Safety at Work Act, but notes their undertaking is unlikely to extend to areas outside the property or managing tenant behaviour. They suggest the letting industry may wish to consider passing on information about risks beyond their direct undertaking. (AI summary)

View full response

Dear Ms Hassell PREVENTION OF FUTURE DEATHS REPORT: FEHIM AHMET I am writing in response to your Regulation 28: Prevention of Future Deaths report of 1 December 2024 following the investigation into the death of Fehim Ahmet in July 2024. This was a tragic incident, and I would like to offer my condolences to the family of Mr Ahmet. In your report you raise as a matter of concern that as industry standard, there is no requirement or even guidance regarding action to be taken by estate agents about particular property hazards, say noting on the property file to warn tenants about a flat roof that is easily accessible via a window but is not in fact safe to access. Such information is not automatically passed on when tenants change and is not necessarily enshrined in the tenancy agreement. HSE is Britain’s national independent regulator for workplace health and safety. We work to ensure people feel safe where they live, where they work and in their environment by providing worker protection and public assurance. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) and associated regulations letting agents have duties to protect their employees, and others, from risks arising from their work activities. This includes a duty under Section 3 of HSWA to conduct their undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that persons not in their employment are not exposed to risks to their health and safety. They are furthermore required by the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of persons not in their employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct of their undertaking. Those in control of areas that are not safe to access will have duties with respect to those areas which may include preventing unauthorised access, particularly where such access is known to be taking place. In most cases a letting agent’s undertaking is unlikely to extend to areas outwith the property being let or managing the behaviour of tenants or their guests. The letting industry may however wish to consider whether it would be good practice for letting agents to pass on information about risks beyond the scope of their undertaking and issue guidance addressing this point.

2 I hope you find this information useful.

Network Agencies

21 Feb 2025 PDF

Action Planned

The agency will reinforce tenancy agreements to prohibit access to non-designated areas like roofs, issue written warnings for violations, and collaborate with Islington Council on tenant safety procedures. (AI summary)

View full response

Dear Senior Coroner ME Hasselll Contacts 209 Seven Sisters Road We acknowledge receipt of your Regulation 28 Report regarding the tragic incident involving Mr. Fehim Ahmet; and we extend our deepest sympathies to his family. Finsbury Park London Before providing our position on the matter outlined below, would Iike to formally request any recordings N4 3NG and minutes taken at the coroner'$ court. There appears to be conflicting information in the report that we do not agree with, and we seek clarification on these discrepancies Tel : 020 7281 6171 Our primary concern is the report's assertion that we were notified multiple times by the cafe owner: must Fax 020 7281 1158 clarify that this was not the case regarding the existing tenants. Additionally, the tenant's contract start date was the same date as the incident, making notifications impossible WWW, networkagencies com We appreciate your prompt assistance in providing the requested records_ Please let us know if there are lettings@networkagencies com any formal procedures we need to follow to obtain them: sales@networkagencies com We wish to clarify that the window in question is not balcony, fire exit, designated access point to the accounts@networkagencies com flat roof. It is fitted with child safety restricting mechanism, which would have had to be deliberately bypassed for anyone to climb through it: Additionally due to the height and positioning of the window, maintenance@networkagencies con access to the roof would not have been possible without standing on furniture or another elevated surface, demonstrating clear lack of common sense and regard for personal safety: Notably, this incident also occurred on the tenant's very first day in the property, the first day of their tenancy: As letting agents we are not responsible for the flat roof, which is under the control of the landlord and the commercia tenant below The cafe owner, as the occupier of the premises beneath, also bears responsibility for ensuring that the roof structure remains safe and secure. Whilst we were informally made aware of previous concerns regarding individuals on the roof, we contacted former tenants each time to reinforce that the roof is not accessible and not & part of their property. Ultimately, it was the responsibility of the landlord cafe owner to take further action to prevent unauthorised access While we are always willing to implement reasonable measures to improve tenant safety, we maintain that tenants must also exercise basic persona responsibility and adhere to the terms of their tenancy agreement: Climbing through a window that is not designed for access is an unacceptable misuse of the property However, considering this unfortunate incident, we are taking the following steps: Reinforcing all our new tenancy agreements to include explicit clauses stating that tenants must not attempt to access any non-designated areas , including flat roofs_ Continue issuing formal written warnings should we receive reports of such behavior in the future. Working closely with Islington's Residential Team Public Protection Division to ensure that our procedures align with best practices for tenant safety and compliance moving forward. We hope this clarifies our position. We appreciate the opportunity to respond and remain open to further discussion should it be required. deposits Kind Regards For on Behalf of Network Agencies 6+ networkagencies Nclwork Agencies the trading nane of Network Agencles Lud Registered England No.02972566. Rcgistered Olice: Solar Ilouse 202 Chse Rozd London NI4 GNZ and and

National Trading Standards Other

PDF

Noted

National Trading Standards explains their remit and states they do not have enforcement powers in this situation, recommending the Coroner contact other agencies. (AI summary)

View full response

Dear

In response to your Prevention of Future Deaths Report related to the death of Fehim AHMET on 25/07/2024 following your inquest on 19 November 2024, in relation to an incident involving a visitor to the tenants of a rented property managed by Network Agencies. I would explain that our team’s remit is to enforce the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Tenant Fees Act 2019. It appears that the incident in question involves Network Agencies who are either a Property Management Agent or a Letting Agent, and a Landlord who is not named in your report. As such, we do not have enforcement powers which apply to this situation. We would recommend that you contact the Local Authority Housing team, The Health and Safety Executive, the Fire Service and the Local Authority Environmental Health team.

Report sections

Investigation and inquest

On 29 July 2024, one of my assistant coroners, Melanie Lee, commenced an investigation into the death of Fehim Ahmet aged 81 years. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 19 November 2024. I do apologise for the lateness of this report.

The medical cause of death was: 1a traumatic brain injury 2 traumatic cervical spine injury, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with cor pulmonale

Circumstances of the death

Whilst sitting in a social club/café a little after 7.30pm on 7 July 2024, Mr Ahmet was hit by a man falling through the skylight above. He died a fortnight later from the injuries sustained. The man had gone out onto the flat roof of the café via a window from the flat above and had sat on a plastic skylight, which had then given way. The man was in the property having gone round to the flat to see friends who were brand new tenants. They had rented the property from Network Agencies.

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Shared signals

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Report details

Reference: 2024-0683
Date of report: 11 December 2024
Coroner: Mary Hassell
Coroner area: Inner North London

Responses identified

Responses identified 3 of 2

All listed responses identified

Organisations named in PFD reports are normally expected to respond within 56 days. Deadline: 10 Feb 2025.

Sent to

National Trading Standards

Network Agencies Estate Agents

Source links

Judiciary.uk page → Report PDF →

Data: judiciary.uk under OGL.