Letterbox seal cuts fire risk
With the new GDPR rules in force, councils and housing organisations are required by law to demonstrate that any excess mail delivered to vacant properties is removed and disposed of in a confidential manner. Many insurance policies insist that combustible materials are removed to maintain the fire regulation compliances of vacant sites.
Many makeshift seals have been used to overcome these problems, but now a purpose-built letterbox seal prevents the accumulation of post, helping local councils save money and comply with their obligations.
The property management specialist VPS, who introduced the custom-made kits, has had them cut from steel, and already installed them in over 500 vacant properties.
"When we saw how some of our clients were sealing up letterboxes, with bits of mesh, wood, nails and so on, we designed a letterbox seal that is a well-made, easy to install, strong piece of kit that prevents combustible materials building up inside an empty property," Dave Butcher, VPS' north west operations manager, said.
"There are almost 20 deliberate fires started a day across the UK, and empty properties are a prime target."
