Fire safety
Fire Safety Duties for Blocks of Flats
A fire risk assessment of a rented home is not the whole of the fire duty in a block of flats. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add building duties for anyone who is the Responsible Person of a residential building in England. They have been in force since 23 January 2023.
This is general information, not legal advice. The regulations apply in England, to buildings that contain two or more sets of domestic premises.
Who they apply to
The duties sit on the Responsible Person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. In a block, that is usually whoever controls the common parts: the freeholder, the resident management company, or the managing agent appointed to do it. The landlord of a single flat, who does not control the stairs, the doors or the alarm panel, is not the person these checks attach to.
A house let as one home is outside these regulations. It isn't outside fire safety. Alarms and, where the Order applies, a fire risk assessment still matter. Those are the property-level duties.
Every block with two or more homes
Residents must be given:
- Fire safety instructions, including how to report a fire and what the evacuation strategy is.
- Information about fire doors, in particular that they should be kept shut and that defects should be reported.
The instructions are given when the resident moves in, and they are reissued at least annually. Displaying them in the common parts does not replace giving them to the resident.
Buildings of 11 metres or more
Two inspection cycles are added:
- Fire doors in communal areas, checked at least every three months.
- Flat entrance doors, checked at least every 12 months, using best endeavours to get access.
A check that never records which door, what was wrong, and what was done about it will not show you met the cycle. Best endeavours on flat doors means more than one unanswered letter.
18 metres, or at least seven storeys
These buildings add duties aimed at the fire service, not only at residents:
- Monthly checks of lifts for use by firefighters, and of essential firefighting equipment.
- Wayfinding signage, a secure information box, and floor plans and a single-page building plan shared with the fire and rescue service.
A higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act, generally 18 metres or seven storeys with at least two homes, has a further set of duties on the accountable person, including registration with the Building Safety Regulator. That's a different statute. Don't treat a completed fire-door check as registration.
Where the records sit
Keep the resident-information issue dates, the door-check log, and the monthly equipment checks against the building, not copied onto every flat. The Responsible Person is a building role. Vantage tracks a fire risk assessment on each rented property — alongside gas, electrical, EPC and every other certificate the flat landlord needs. Start a free trial.
For the property-level certificates that sit alongside this, start with the landlord compliance checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Do the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 apply to a single house?
No. They apply to buildings in England that contain two or more sets of domestic premises, and they have a common part the Responsible Person controls. A single house let to one household is outside them. That house still needs a fire risk assessment where the Fire Safety Order applies, and it still needs smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
How often do fire doors in a block of flats need checking?
In a building of 11 metres or more, the Responsible Person checks fire doors in communal areas at least every three months, and best endeavours are used to check flat entrance doors at least every 12 months. Below 11 metres the regulations still require residents to be given information about fire doors, but not this inspection cycle.
Who is responsible, the flat landlord or the freeholder?
The duties fall on the Responsible Person for the building, which is usually the person who controls the common parts. That is often the freeholder or the managing agent, not the landlord of one flat. A landlord who owns the block, or who controls the common parts, is the Responsible Person.
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