Landlord's responsibilities
If you have some control over a premises e.g. employer, owner, managing agent, landlord or occupier, you may be designated as a 'responsible person' under the Fire Safety Order.
If you have some control over a premises e.g. employer, owner, managing agent, landlord or occupier, you may be designated as a 'responsible person' under the Fire Safety Order.
If you are a landlord you and your letting or managing agents may have a legal duty to keep the people who rent your property safe from fire through the provisions of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005.
Fire safety law also applies if you own a business premises. Learn more about your legal obligation on our living above a business section.
A careful look at your premises and the people who use them, from a fire prevention perspective. It’s about understanding the potential risks, then improving your fire safety precautions to keep people safe.
If you are an employer, owner or occupier of premises that aren't a 'single private dwelling' (a private home), you need to complete a Fire Risk Assessment. This is a legal requirement – your duty to identify fire risks and and hazards in your premises.
If five or more people work at your premises, you’ll need a written record of your assessment, too. It’s good business sense as well as a legal requirement, often businesses don’t recover after a fire, and effective fire prevention starts with properly understanding the risks.
You can do the fire risk assessment yourself with the help of standard fire safety risk assessment guides.
If you do not have the expertise or time to do the fire risk assessment yourself you need to appoint a ‘competent person’ to help, for example, a professional risk assessor.
If there's a fire and you haven't met your legal duties to keep people safe, you could be fined and may even spend time in prison. Learn about your legal obligations here.
Broadly speaking, assessments are conducted in five key steps:
We do. Inspecting premises is part of our duty to keep people safe from fire. If your premises aren't safe, or you haven't done an assessment, you may be fined. If we believe people are at risk, we may even have to close your business until you can make it safe for employees and members of the public.
You must also maintain fire detection and the structural protection provided within the building (for example fire resisting and self closing doors) to protect residents and allow them to safely escape from fire or smoke using the corridors and staircases.
You should develop an emergency evacuation plan for residents and make sure they know the actions they need to take in the event of an alarm or fire occurring.
Though prevention is always best, you are also required by law to make a detailed fire emergency plan so people can keep themselves and members of the public out of danger.
A simple emergency plan must show that you have:
Find guidance about how consider the needs of people with disabilities on the gov.uk page 'Fire Safety Risk Assessment: Means of Escape for Disabled People.'
You can find a good overview of your wider responsibilities on the gov.uk website.