I live in a rented property in London, there are 3 bedrooms; two with a couple in each and one single. The flat is 3 storeys and is 1 storey above a shop with the entrance to the side of the shop. Shop on ground floor, my bedroom and a bathroom on first floor, kitchen, living room, one bedroom on second floor and an en-suite bedroom on third floor. This staircase is the only staircase which leads me to believe that it is the only means of escape in the even of a fire.
When I moved in the lights on the stairs from the ground floor to first and first floor to second did not work, therefore making the stairwell completely dark at night. That was midway through May, i requested they be fixed when i moved in and my landlord told me they would be next time their electrician was around, I didnt make much of a fuss as i had just moved in. The subject arose once again recently (last week) as they still have not been fixed. My landlord is being completely unreasonable about the lights and making up reasons for why they cannot be fixed, why are utter bullsh*t, the latest being that the electricians she uses have been told not to do work in central london until after the olympics and to work from home, she mistakenly told me their name and i called and asked when the earliest they could fix the problem would be, turns out its tomorrow morning?! shock horror.
Anyway, as ways of persuasion what points of call do I have, who should I contact to have her fix this. I am pretty sure that this is illegal in terms of having an un light fire escape route as my main argument?
Can anyone verify (or not as the case may be) this or show me where there is anything stating that stairs must be light, especially if they are a means of escape in the event of a fire. Or am I wrong?
