Block of flats compliance package from £395

In a block of flats the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the communal parts, and the responsible person — usually the freeholder, the residents' management company or the managing agent acting for them — must make and record a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and keep it up to date. Since January 2023 the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add specific duties: fire door checks in blocks over 11 metres, resident information about fire doors in all multi-occupied residential buildings with communal areas, and, above 11 metres, floor plans and a secure information box for the fire service. Separately, the dutyholder for the common parts must manage asbestos under Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 where the building predates 2000. Emergency lighting and signage sit inside the fire assessment but need their own testing evidence. Four obligations, one building, usually four suppliers. This package makes it one.

Not every block needs the same depth of assessment, and paying for a Type 4 where a Type 1 is adequate is a waste of service charge money. A Type 1 assessment is non-destructive and covers the common parts only; it is the right default for most blocks. A Type 2 adds destructive sampling of the construction where there is genuine doubt about compartmentation. A Type 3 extends into flats non-destructively and is normally reserved for blocks where the evacuation strategy or the flat entrance doors are in question. A Type 4 combines both and is a major exercise. We tell you which your building needs and why, and we will talk you out of an unnecessary upgrade as readily as we will recommend a warranted one.

Most purpose-built London blocks were designed for a stay put strategy, which depends entirely on compartmentation holding: the flat of origin contains the fire long enough for the fire service to arrive, and everyone else stays where they are. That strategy fails quietly when compartmentation is breached — a cable run drilled through a compartment wall, a fire door replaced without certification, a riser left unsealed after a telecoms upgrade. A large part of what this package is for is testing whether the strategy your building relies on is still true. If it is not, we say so, we say what would restore it, and we set out the interim measures — including, where warranted, a waking watch or a common alarm — rather than leaving a note in a report nobody reads.

One PDF and one editable action plan. The fire risk assessment with photographs and risk-rated findings; the door schedule as PDF and spreadsheet, ready for a contractor to price; the asbestos register with plans and the written management plan; the emergency lighting and signage review with a testing schedule; a resident information sheet on fire doors you can print and post; and a one-page board summary saying what has to be spent now, what can wait a year, and what is simply housekeeping. Every item carries an owner, a timescale and an indicative cost so budgeting is possible immediately.

The package starts at £395 for a small block and is priced on the number of flats, the number of storeys, the number of communal doors and whether asbestos sampling is required. Because everything is priced as one job the total sits below four separate instructions, which matters when the money is service charge and every line will be questioned. We can then hold the block on a programme: annual fire review, quarterly door checks where Regulation 10 applies, asbestos register review annually, and a single reminder schedule so nothing lapses between managing agents or between directors.