Information and guidance on fire safety legislation.
Fire safety legislation
As a landlord you have to comply with two pieces of fire safety legislation
- The Housing Act 2004 applies to all residential properties
- The Fire Safety Order also applies to some of these and this can be confusing for landlords.
National guidance
There is national guidance on fire safety for a variety of different kinds of houses and flats. If the guidance is followed landlords can be confident they have met both sets of legal requirements. The guidance is not a set of standards; there can be a number of ways of reducing the fire risk.
If you wish to carry out your own fire safety risk assessment before deciding on what you should do the guidance contains a pdf fire safety risk assessment template. (88 KB)
There's also guidance for landlords and tenants on smoke and carbon monoxide alarms regulations, which come into force on 1 October 2022.
Fire safety hazard on your property
If we find a fire safety hazard on your property, we will:
- assess the fire safety hazard.
- specify what work is needed. This work will reduce the fire safety hazard to a satisfactory level; this will not necessarily mean that on completion of the work the guidance will be fully complied with.
- inform you if we believe that the Fire Safety Order applies. This can be checked with Avon Fire and Rescue Service.
If the Fire Safety Order applies and the work specified by us is completed, Avon Fire and Rescue Service will accept that fire safety measures have been improved. If the work is in accordance with the national guidance then a landlord can be assured that the measures needed under the Fire Safety Order have also been provided.
Landlords should be aware that Avon Fire and Rescue Service may contact them at a future date to audit the risk assessment and fire safety measures provided as a result.
Property converted to the latest Building Regulation standards
The fire safety measures are likely to be satisfactory as long as there have been no alterations to the layout. If the Fire Safety Order applies, Avon Fire and Rescue may inspect to check compliance with other aspects of the Fire Safety Order.