Fire Safety Regulations for Landlords

The Grenfell Tower disaster brought home just how devastating a fire in a residential property can be. If you are a landlord in the private rental sector, you are responsible for protecting your tenants from fire risk. It is a daunting enough prospect even without the many regulations and pieces of legislation you will need to get to understand.

To help you, we have compiled a quick guide explaining a landlord’s primary duties regarding fire safety based on the latest England regulations.

Fire Safety Regulations For Rental Properties

Housing Act

The Housing Act 2004, including the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), sets out the primary fire safety responsibilities applicable to landlords in the UK. In particular, it states that tenants must be able to escape quickly during a fire. Landlords must make repairs to ensure that, where possible, fire-resistant materials are used in the structure of the building, such as ceilings, so that fire cannot spread quickly to other rooms.

Specifically, landlord responsibilities include:

• Keeping escape routes clear and ensuring that your tenants understand their need to do so too – so no bikes or pushchairs blocking exits.
• Being careful to avoid fire hazards – electrical leads or tea towels near hobs, for example – and educating your tenants about these risks.
• Carrying out an annual portable appliance test (PAT) on any small electrical appliances you have supplied.
• Ensuring that all electrical appliances have a British or European safety mark. If they do not display this label, they must be replaced.
• Making sure that a spark device is used to light any gas appliance or hob and never matches.

Furniture And Furnishings Regulations

All upholstered furniture and furnishings provided by the landlord must meet fire safety standards. Sofas, cushions, chairs, or mattresses must carry the fire-resistant symbol. These rules are outlined in the Furniture and Furnishings Fire Safety Regulations 1988 (as amended in 1989, 1993 and 2010).

During property inspections, ensure your tenant has not taken these labels off for any reason.

An accurate inventory is essential because if a fire were to break out because of something a tenant had added that wasn’t safe from a fire perspective, you could prove that it wasn’t your fault.

The Smoke And Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations

Landlords are required by law to have at least one smoke alarm installed on every floor of their property. A carbon monoxide alarm must be installed in any room containing a solid fuel-burning appliance, such as a gas/oil boiler, a gas or wood-burning fire, or a gas cooker.

The landlord is responsible for ensuring the alarms are in working order at the start of each new tenancy.

The London Fire Brigade also recommends heat detectors in the kitchen and a smoke alarm in the lounge and hallway to give early warning to residents.

Find out more in this publication on the gov.uk website.

The Regulatory Reform Order (Fire Safety Order)

The Regulatory Reform Order 2005 is a fire safety order that covers fire safety in shared areas, such as shared kitchens or hallways in a block of flats. It says that the person responsible for multi-occupied residential buildings must carry out a fire assessment in communal areas, ensuring precautions and procedures are in place to protect the occupants in case of fire.

This order applies to landlords who own a block of flats or HMO and only covers shared communal areas.

Building Regulations

If you are refurbishing a property before letting it out, ensure you adhere to the latest fire safety rules in building regulations.

Remember that even if you hire a contractor to complete the building work, the responsibility for compliance lies with you.

What are landlord’s fire safety responsibilities?

Gas safety check

Any gas equipment supplied by the landlord must be safely installed and maintained by a Gas Safe registered engineer, with annual gas safety checks on each appliance and flue. You can check the Gas Safe register to find an engineer to complete your gas safety checks. A copy of the gas safety check must be provided to the tenant before they move in or within 28 days of the check for existing tenants.

Electrical inspection check

Landlords must ensure that electrical wiring, sockets, and fuse boxes are safe throughout the tenancy, with electrical installation inspections taking place at least every five years. The tenant should be provided with a copy of the electrical inspection report under the electrical safety regulations.

PAT testing

PAT (portable appliance testing) is not mandatory in the electrical safety legislation. Still, it is highly advisable to have electrical appliances tested, as most accidental domestic fires in the UK originate from cooking appliances and white goods.

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are critical to saving lives in a fire. Landlords must have at least one working smoke alarm installed on each floor. A carbon monoxide alarm must be in every room that contains a solid fuel-burning appliance. The landlord is responsible for checking that alarms are working on the day tenants move in, and they should encourage tenants to check that the alarms are working at least every month.

Furniture and furnishings

If landlords provide furniture and furnishings in the rental property, they must ensure they meet fire safety standards and are made from fire-resistant materials. Landlords are not responsible for furniture or appliances the tenants bring to the property.

Access to escape routes

Another important landlord fire safety responsibility is ensuring tenants always have access to a safe and reliable fire escape. The escape routes can be internal or external and must be accessible from every room in the property.

Fire extinguishers and blankets

While fire extinguishers are not a mandatory requirement for standard buy-to-let properties (non-HMOs), it is still a good idea to provide domestic fire extinguishers and blankets to help protect tenants and minimize property damage.

Additional Fire Safety For Houses In Multiple Occupation (HMOs)

There are more things to consider regarding houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) than with a straightforward buy-to-let property.

The rules for HMOs are much stricter because the tenants living in the property won’t necessarily know each other, and often, individual rooms are locked, which restricts the exit routes from the building.

The local housing authority sets fire safety rules for HMOs, so you should speak to your HMO Enforcement Officer, who will often assess the property for free and offer tips and advice on how you can protect your property and tenants from fire.

While the rules will vary for different properties, the additional fire safety responsibilities for landlords of a house in multiple occupation will generally include the following:

Fire alarm systems

HMOs must have a system of smoke and heat detectors that sound an alarm when fire is detected. Break glass call points may also be required for some HMOs. The complexity of the system will depend on the size of the HMO. HMO landlords must also install carbon monoxide alarms.

Fire doors

Fire doors should be fitted with self-closing devices for bedrooms and shared kitchens. All doors leading off an escape route must be fire doors that close automatically. Most fires start in the kitchen, so this room should have a fire door.

Fire safety signs

Fire doors should be clearly labeled with a ‘Fire door keep shut’ safety sign. These signs are required on fire doors along escape routes, communal kitchens, and other communal rooms. A ‘keep fire door open safely’ sign should only be used on doors legally propped open with a door stopper.

Escape routes

All habitable rooms in the HMO building must have a means of escape in emergencies, such as fire escape windows. In a fire, all staircases and escape routes must be lit adequately. There should be a power cut, an alternative lighting source must be available.

An emergency light source, which will light up the emergency exit after a power cut, is required for buildings higher than two storeys. Emergency lighting is not necessary for smaller buildings if the route is not far and enough light is shining from outside.

These requirements are additional to the standard buy-to-let conditions listed in the previous section.

How To Carry Out Landlord Fire Risk Assessments

Landlords should conduct periodic risk assessments on any rental property, as this is the best practice to demonstrate that you did everything reasonably possible to protect your tenants.

Local authorities usually require a Fire Risk Assessment when applying for an HMO license. You can outsource this to a fire risk assessor or take the responsibility yourself.

If you carry out your fire risk assessment yourself, you can use this checklist to ensure you cover everything when you inspect your property for fire risks:

1. Fixed electrical installations have been periodically inspected and tested with an Electric Installation Condition Report (EICR) completed within the last five years.
2. PAT is carried out on a risk assessment basis, and electrical appliances supplied have a CE or Kitemark safety label.
3. Smoke alarms are fitted (and working) on each floor.
4. Carbon monoxide alarms are in every room that has a fuel burning appliance.
5. Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms have been checked in the last 12 months.
6. Gas appliances and flues are checked annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and there is a valid Gas Safe certificate.
7. Gas boilers are serviced annually.
8. Escape routes are clear, well-lit and signed. Escape routes communicated to tenants.
9. Opening windows are working and are child-safe (with keys easily accessible).
10. Suitable extinguishing appliances provided, i.e. fire extinguishers and fire blankets.
11. Furniture and furnishings have fire-safe labels.

If you are conducting a fire risk assessment for an HMO, you should ensure that all requirements included in the HMO license requirements set out by the local council are covered in your checklist. This should be done before tenants move into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).

Fire Safety Advice For Tenants

To enable tenants to protect themselves in the event of a fire or gas leak, landlords should provide fire safety advice, including instructions for what to do if a fire breaks out. You can print off fire safety advice to display in your rental property to raise awareness of fire risks.

The following advice will help to prevent tenants from accidentally causing fires:

1. Test the smoke alarm at least every month.
2. Do not smoke inside the property.
3. Keep fire doors closed, and do not block fire escape routes.
4. Make sure that plugs are not overloaded.
5. Do not dry clothes on electric heaters.
6. Always check that candles have been fully extinguished.
7. Keep door and window keys close by.

In addition to this advice, you should provide tenants with information on how to safely use all appliances and ensure they know how to respond in the event of a fire. You should also encourage them to contact you if they have any concerns about any of the gas or electric appliances in the property.

We Can Help

Landlords need to adhere to fire safety regulations and undertake risk assessments. Part of meeting your responsibilities for fire safety is knowing when to seek help. As a letting agent with many years of experience, we keep up with all the changing rules and regulations. We can advise our customers on fire safety and other landlord obligations. If you have a rental property in Brighton, get in touch today.