THE landlord of a Hillhead flat has been refused a licence extension amid fire safety fears and concerns over his management.

Firefighters found 15 issues during an inspection of Douglas Duncan’s property at 8 Cecil Street in September.

These included a faulty smoke detector, missing certificates and trip hazards near a fire escape.

Licensing chiefs turned down Mr Duncan’s application for an extra three years on his house in multiple occupation (HMO) licence after hearing from Scottish Fire and Rescue.

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Mr Duncan, his daughter Jane Duncan or a representative were not present during the hearing, which was held via Microsoft Teams.

Five people were living in the flat when council and fire service officers visited.

Glasgow City Council’s licensing chairman Alex Wilson asked whether the fire service had “serious concerns” regarding safety.

Kevin Murphy, head of fire safety enforcement for Glasgow, said: “We aren’t in a position to say that we are satisfied with the premises as we haven’t been able to reinspect.

“To see the necessary paperwork would give us the comfort that the fixed systems within the building are safe and the management of the address was being conducted to a suitable standard.”

A council officer said he supported Mr Murphy’s view, adding: “We have really tried to engage a lot with this applicant in the circumstances, without success.

“The management of this property, I would have to say, is inadequate.”

Mr Murphy listed some of the issues discovered during the inspection, including no fire risk assessment, no maintenance certifications for the fire detection system and no portable appliance testing (PAT) records.

The fire chief said there had been a bedroom door which did not close effectively and evidence of wedges in use on the kitchen and bedroom doors.

There was also no evidence of any safety training given to the tenants although it was “advised this was included in the tenancy agreement”, Mr Murphy added.

He said: “There would appear to be no evidence of any suitable management in terms of fire safety within the property, and there were combustible and trip hazards stored within the means of escape.”

Following the inspection, a deficiencies letter was sent to the applicant and his daughter on October 4. An email requesting an update on progress was sent on October 10.

Mr Murphy told the licensing committee how, one week later, Ms Duncan said a fire safety check had been conducted and a few issues had already been fixed.

However, he said, the documents were not sent to the fire service and a further email was sent to the applicant on November 25.

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In early January, the fire service told the applicant, due to “no further updates”, it was not “in a position to say it [the flat] was satisfactory at this time”.

Later that month, a copy of a fire risk assessment and action plan “which showed all works were complete” were emailed to the fire service, Mr Murphy said.

He added: “However, we have still never received any current certificates to back that up, or any confirmation that the alarm detection system is operating effectively.”

Some information, including previous PAT records and the current gas certificate, was made available in January.

Further certification was requested via email in February and attempts to call the applicant were made in March, Mr Murphy told councillors.

He said Ms Duncan called back and was advised the paperwork was still required: “It was promised that this would be done in the next few days.”

Mr Murphy added: “We still haven’t received any documentation.”