Philip Barker
10 Jan 2023
New Requirements apply to most Landlords
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 come into forces 23rd January 2023.
The Regulations are made under article 24(1) of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (“the Fire Safety Order”), which enables the making of regulations regarding precautions to be taken or observed in relation to the risk to safety of persons from fire in premises to which that Order applies. They implement some of the recommendations that follow the Grenfell Tower fire and in the main relate to High Rise building above 18m in height.
Regulation 3 defines “high-rise residential building” and regulations 4 to 8 impose obligations on the responsible person (defined in article 3 of the Fire Safety Order) in relation to such buildings. These obligations require wayfinding signage, a secure information box to be installed in the building and for various plans and information to be placed within the box and for fire-fighting equipment to be regularly inspected.
Regulations 9 and 10 impose obligations on responsible persons as regards information to residents and fire doors in all residential buildings with communal areas.
Regulation 11 requires certain information to be supplied to fire and rescue authorities
Most private landlords outside of Social Housing will not have to comply with the bulk of the new regulations which relate to high rise buildings. However as stated above Regulations 9 and 10 apply to allow landlords who have properties with 2 or more domestic properties sharing communal areas and escape routes. These regulations are likely to apply top more properties than is immediately evident, Examples will include old Victorian houses that have been made into flats on two or more levels, shops with flats above etc. etc..
Information to residents
Regulation 9 —
(1) The responsible person must display fire safety instructions in a conspicuous part of any building
(a)which contains two or more sets of domestic premises; and
(b)which contains common parts through which residents would need to evacuate in the case of an emergency.
(2) The fire safety instructions must—
(a)be in a comprehensible form that the residents can be reasonably expected to understand; and
(b)include—
(i)instructions relating to the evacuation strategy for the building,
(ii)instructions as regards how to report a fire to the fire and rescue authority, and
(iii)any other instruction that tells residents what they must do when a fire has occurred.
(3) The responsible person must provide a copy of the instructions referred to in paragraph (1)—
(a)to a new resident of domestic premises within the building, as soon as reasonably practicable after that resident moves into the premises; and
(b)to all residents of domestic premises within the building within each period of 12 months beginning with the date these Regulations come into force.
(4) After any material changes to the instructions, the responsible person must display the fire safety instructions in accordance with paragraph (1) and provide a copy to residents.
Fire doors
Regulation 10.—
(1) The responsible person, in relation to a building which contains two or more sets of domestic premises and which contains common parts through which residents would need to evacuate in the case of an emergency, must provide the required information about fire doors to the residents of the building.
(2) The required information referred to in paragraph (1) is information to the effect that
(a)fire doors should be kept shut when not in use;
(b)residents or their guests should not tamper with the self-closing devices; and
(c)residents should report any faults or damages with doors immediately to the responsible person;
(3) The required information must be provided by the responsible person—
(a)to a new resident of domestic premises in the building, as soon as reasonably practicable after that resident moves into the premises; and
(b)to all residents of domestic premises within the building, within each period of 12 months beginning with the date these Regulations come into force.
(4) The responsible person, in relation to a building which contains two or more sets of domestic premises and which is above 11 metres in height, must use best endeavours to undertake checks of fire doors at the entrances of individual domestic premises in the building at least every 12 months.
(5) The responsible person must keep a record of the steps taken to comply with the obligation in paragraph (4) including in any case where access to the domestic premises was not granted during any 12 month period, the steps taken by the responsible person to try and gain access.
(6) The responsible person in relation to a building which contains two or more sets of domestic premises and which is above 11 metres in height, must undertake checks of any fire doors in communal areas of the building at least every 3 months.
(7) The checks required by paragraphs (4) and (6) must include ensuring that the self-closing devices for the doors are working.
(8) For the purposes of this regulation, height measurement of a building is to be calculated to the height to the top storey in accordance with regulation 3(2)(a).
Our Advice
Landlords should review their Fire Risk Assessments to identify properties which may fall into the types or property where Regulations 9 and 10 require them to provide the necessary information to their tenants.