Building Standards

Housing Grants

Smoke Detector Grants

The amount of grant aid offered will be subject to a test of financial resources and can be up to 100%.

Grant aid for the installation of mains powered smoke detectors may be available for the elderly (over 60) or disabled living in privately owned houses in South Ayrshire. Occupants of privately owned flats and maisonettes may also be eligible.

The installation of mains-powered smoke detectors should meet the requirements of the Technical Standards. The installation should only be carried out and certified by qualified and competent electricians, e.g. members of - The Electrical Contractors' Association of Scotland (SELECT) or National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation (NICEIC) approved.

Further advice is available from the Building Standards Service, 2nd Floor, Burns House, Burns Statue Square, Ayr (Tel. North Team - 01292 616176 and South Team - 01292 616264)

Any grant aided works must be carried out to the satisfaction of the Council. Inspection by Officials of the Council will be necessary.

An application for an Improvement Grant must be accompanied by two detailed estimates and specifications of the proposed works.

A copy of Title Deeds/Land Certificate must be submitted before registration of the application can be made.

If your application is not approved or if the amount of grant is less than that which may be fixed under the relevant legislation, you will be given reasons in writing.

Grant is not available:

where the grant is calculated at less than £100.00
for houses built or provided by conversion within the last 10 years do not qualify for grant.

The applicant must be the owner of the house or the lessee. If the applicant is not the occupier of the house the occupier's consent to the proposed improvements should be obtained before making the application (in general a landlord may not carry out improvements without the consent of the tenant).

If the applicant is not the owner then the owner/s consent should be obtained before making the application. The owner's declaration sheet attached to these explanatory notes should be signed and returned with your application if the house is security for a loan, eg. a mortgage, the Building Society or other lender should be notified of the application for grant.

A copy of any necessary letter of consent should be attached to the application. If you are not the owner of the house, the owner (and all joint owners) must agree to the application being made.

If grant is given, the following conditions apply to the house for 5 years after the work is completed.

the house must be used as a private dwelling-house (although part may be used for business purposes);
if the owner or a member of their family occupy the house, it must be their main home; and
the house must be kept in good repair, as far as possible.

The conditions will be registered on the Title Deeds/Land Certificate of the house. If the conditions are breached, the local authority may require the grant to be repaid, with interest. If there are any loans secured on the house the lender should be informed of this application.

Section 242(5) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (as amended) provides that, where grant or assistance has been given in respect of a house under:-

Part 13 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (ie. an Improvement or Repairs Grant)
and as described in subsections (5A) and (5B) of section 242(5)

Section 42(2) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993

then any such grant paid will be deducted from the maximum approved expense of this application.

If after the application is approved, the Council are satisfied that owing to circumstances beyond the control of the applicant the expense of the works will exceed the estimate contained in the application, they may on production of a further estimate substitute a higher amount as the amount of the approved expense.

Some questions on the application may require information available to the owner who, where he is not the applicant, should be asked to complete it and sign the declaration form.

The amount of grant that may be offered usually depends on the income of the applicant and their partner over the past year. ('Partner' means someone you are married to, or someone who normally lives with you as if you are married).

If you are a joint owner, joint tenant or joint liferenter, the income of all the joint owners, joint tenants and joint liferenters, and of their partners, is also taken into account. You will need to collect information from all these people to fill in part D of the form, and ask them to sign to confirm that the information about them is correct.

You must tell them what the information is for, and which local authority you are sending this application to.

If the application relates to a house which is not your main home or the main home of a member of your family, or if the applicant is a company or organisation, the amount of grant depends on the cost of works compared to the increase in value of the house due to those works, and certain other criteria.

Specification Sheet

The estimates submitted with the application have to be obtained from and certified by qualified and competent electricians, e.g. members of The Electrical Contractors' Association of Scotland (SELECT) or National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation (NICEIC) approved and meet the requirements set out in Part E of the Technical Standards.

Further advice is available from:
The Building Standards Service, 2nd Floor, Burns House, Burns Statue Square, Ayr
(Tel. North Team - 01292 616176 and South Team - 01292 616264)

Extract from Part E of the Technical Standard

Dwellings with no storey greater than 200m²

A dwelling where no storey is greater than 200m², should be provided with 1 or more smoke detector(s) located on each storey with a standby supply to BS 5446: Part 1: 1990 and installed in accordance with the following recommendations:

Standby power supply

The standby power supply for the smoke detector(s) should take the form of a primary battery, a secondary battery or a capacitor. The capacity of the standby supply should be sufficient to power the smoke detector(s) when the mains power supply is off for at least 72 hours while giving an audible warning of mains power supply being off. There should remain sufficient capacity to provide a warning of smoke for a further 4 minutes. An audible warning should be given at least once every minute where the capacity of the standby power supply falls below the recommended standby duration when the mains power supply is on; or persist for at least 15 days when the mains power supply is off.

Location of smoke detector(s)

A smoke detector(s) should be ceiling mounted and located: in a circulation area which will be used as a route along which to escape, not more than 7 m from the door to a living room or kitchen and not more than 3 m from the door to a room intended to be used as sleeping accommodation, the dimensions to be measured horizontally; where the circulation area is more than 15 m long, not more than 15 m from another smoke detector(s) on the same storey; at least 300 mm away from any wall or light fitting, heater or air conditioning outlet; on a surface which is normally at the ambient temperature of the rest of the room or circulation area in which the smoke detector(s) is situated. The above recommendations are broadly in line with the recommendations of BS 5839: Part 6: 1995 for a Grade D Type LD3 system.

Interconnection of smoke detector(s)

Where more than one smoke detector(s) is installed in a dwelling they should be interconnected so that detection of a fire by any one of them operates the alarm signal in all of them.

Wiring arrangement

A smoke detector(s) should be permanently wired to a circuit. The mains supply to the smoke detector(s) should take the form of either: an independent circuit at the dwelling's main distribution board, in which case no other electrical equipment should be connected to this circuit (other than a dedicated monitoring device installed to indicate failure of the mains supply to the smoke detector(s)); or a separately electrically protected, regularly used local lighting circuit. Where smoke alarms are of a type that may be interconnected, all smoke detector(s) should be connected on a single final circuit.

Supported accommodation

Any smoke detector(s) in a dwelling which forms part of residential accommodation with a warden or supervisor, should have a connection to a central monitoring unit so that in the event of fire the warden or supervisor can identify the dwelling concerned, and the system should follow the guidance in BS 5839: Part 6: 1995 for a Grade C Type LD3 installation.

Dwellings with a storey greater than 200m²

A dwelling with any storey area greater than 200m² should be provided with a fire detection and alarm system designed and installed in accordance with BS 5839: Part 6: 1995 for a Grade B Type LD2 installation.

Note. All estimates should include sufficient detail of the proposed installation to demonstrate compliance with the relevant requirements of this specification.

Please contact us if you require further details.