Owning a property with electronic gates

27 October 2010

In the recent past two young children have been crushed to death by electronically operated gates whilst playing at their homes, in separate incidents.

Accidents may be avoided if electronic gates are fitted with safety features, such as an electronic eye which will recognise the presence of a person and automatically stop the gates from moving further.

The alarming fact is, however, that the vast majority of electronic gates fitted on homes in the United Kingdom have no such safety features.  

Woodford Stauffer advise as follows:    if you have electronic gates fitted at your home (and this may also apply to electronically operated garage doors)  you should immediately take steps to find out whether they are fitted with safety stopping features.  If not, we advise you to have them fitted immediately.  If someone is injured because your electronic gates are not fitted with a safety stopping advice, you may well be liable for that injury.  

In addition, you should consider the following:

1.         Check whether your household insurance policy requires you to have a safety stopping feature on electronic gates.  If not, you may not be covered by your insurance if an accident does happen.

2.         Ensure that your electronic gates are regularly maintained. 

If you are thinking of buying a property with electronic gates, ask the owners to provide you with evidence that the gates are fitted with an electronic stopping device and that they have been regularly maintained.

Your solicitors will probably not be aware that the property you are buying has electronic gates unless you expressly tell them so.   Solicitors submit a list of questions, which is set by the Law Society and used across the profession, on behalf of any potential property purchaser.  These questions do not include any queries relating to electronic gates.  If you are not able to obtain the reassurance suggested above direct from your Vendor, therefore, you will need to ask your solicitor to raise a special enquiry on your behalf.