Dear Landlords,
I am sure you all hear about fires caused by e-bikes/e-scooters. I am thinking if it is time to restrict charging of these items under tenancy contract within the property. As much as it is inconvenient to restrict - I am struggling to find another way to protect both parties. What do you think or do you have an alternative solution?
If you have such clause - Do you mind sharing?
Thank you
I’m not sure if you would be able to restrict this. Even if you added this as a clause in the AST, how would you enforce it? I would expect your LL insurance would cover electrical fires - perhaps check with them?
After reading the post I rung up Directline on another matter and mentioned e-bikes and there is provision for fire but not e-bikes
There advise from a safety point of view was to write a letter to the tenants advising them of the possibility of e-bike fire and strong advise keeping them outside .
After the conversation was coming to an end I was passed over to a manger who said there would soon be a clause in the terms !
We wait and see.
Thank you. Great follow up! I guess this proves my point of concern. There must be some mandatory tenant insurance which must be paid by occupier really.
I think there are many things we cannot enforce but should be able to cover ourselves.
I have prohibited them in contract
A legal expert advised not to permit them in the property due to risk of fires
I can’t remember if I read it in the newsletter or heard it on a webinar
I also have a clause that documents if tenant invalidates insurance policy they would be liable
I dont see how it would invalidate insurance since ebikes are legal, but you are certainly free to put a clause in your AST banning them, just as you can ban smoking in your property if you wish.
The Gov need to get on this because they want to encourage Electric vehicles, but until they control the quality of batteries on sale, they present too great a risk for most insurers.
Modern flats are built with a 60 minute compartmentation, but that assumes a normal fire. A Lithium fire is much hotter and the way to put it out is to apply copious amounts of water.
The FB simply will not be able to put it out before compartmentation is breached and the water is going to do massive damage too.
You can ban them from your flat but unless every other flat owner does the same, you can expect to see premiums rise even further 
The peer reviewed literature demonstrates that electric vehicles and lithium batteries actually shows they are more toxic to the environment than fossil fuel run vehicles
Disposable of lithium batteries it’s way more toxic than running a car on fossil fuel
Auto Industry insiders are well aware of this
But we follow like sheep ……
Not to mention that we need to find more cadmium and lithium in the next 20 years than we have extracted in the history of the planet and there STILL won’t be enough to scrap oil 
My insurance bans portable calorie gas heaters - I’m guessing e-bikes & scooters will follow.