Fire risk assessment for HMOs & flats
Landlords and managing agents of HMOs and blocks of flats must ensure a fire risk assessment covers the building’s common parts under the Fire Safety Order 2005 — clarified by the Fire Safety Act 2021 to include external walls and flat entrance doors.
Last reviewed: June 2026
Who is responsible?
The Responsible Person is usually the landlord, freeholder or managing agent who controls the common parts. Where control is shared, each party is responsible for the parts under their control and must cooperate.
What is assessed
- ·Means of escape from the common parts and final exits
- ·Fire doors, including flat entrance doors
- ·Detection, alarm and emergency lighting
- ·Compartmentation and protected routes
- ·Signage, housekeeping and management arrangements
The Fire Safety Act 2021
The Act clarified that the Fire Safety Order applies to a building’s external walls and flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings. Responsible Persons are expected to assess and manage these risks.
Sleeping and higher-risk buildings
Because people sleep in these buildings, assessments are more detailed, and higher-risk residential buildings typically require a competent, third-party certified assessor (such as BAFE SP205).