"Morons" ignore fire evacuation
Question from Maureen Clark updated on 5th September 2014:
I wonder if you could offer comment on the following issue. I am currently chairperson of an owners body borporate committee. We have 14 units in our complex, all wired to a central fire alarm system, which in turn is wired directly to the local fire station. The building is fully compliant having a current fire WOF, which is regularly maintained by a reputable alarm testing service. Recently, we had a fire service call out, due to a smoke alarm being triggered within one apartment. We were able to isolate the problem from our fire alarm console. When the fire department arrived, some residents had evacuated the building following the alarm. But the fire chief was neither amused nor impressed to find that some tenants/residents did not evacuate the building despite the alarm being clearly heard by all tenants/residents. Our in-house rules for all tenants/residents require all to follow the rules - which include evacuation on hearing the alarm sounding, irrespective of weather/time of day/night. At a recent body corporate AGM our professional body corporate secretary advised that we could not compel tenants/residents to exit the building from their place of residence......as this would violate their human rights! Is this in fact the case, or an interpretation of the human rights law? Can we be held liable if we condone this practice, and not compel tenants to leave the building during a fire alarm? Can we legitimately require tenants to follow in-house body corporate rules - designed with their safety in mind? Can we hold or not hold fire drills legally? With the shifting sands of tenants coming/going this would be a highly unpopular practice! Does the Human Rights Act supersede all others in this context?
Our expert Krister Samuel responded:
I've discussed this question with a number of experts in human rights law, insurance and fire safety and we are unanimous in response. What kind of moron doesn't evacuate their property when the fire alarm goes off? I'm not surprised that the fire chief wasn't impressed. Are these residents trying to win a Darwin Award? I completely understand the fire chief (and your) frustration. Irrespective of the law the common sense position here would be that when individual safety is threatened members of the emergency services have authority. Anyway, it's an interesting topic of discussion as to how far a body corporate can dictate the lifestyle within your private dwelling. A more common example is a blanket body corporate ban on keeping pets in the building and is a repeated bone of contention where the body corporate rules prevail over the right to keep an animal. The solution here is to attend the body corporate AGM and lead a majority ruled vote to amend the rules. If you have an urban woof or meow and are looking for a building which is pet friendly do contact me. If you're one of the people refusing to evacuate, definitely don't."
Krister is ranked in the top 1% of all real estate agents nationwide and specialises in the high yielding Auckland apartment market. He is happy to share insights and information on any aspect from an extensive knowledge base built up over a decade.Search the Ask an Expert archive
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