Where the duty sits when an agent manages the block
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places the duty on the responsible person — usually the freeholder or right-to-manage company for the common parts of a residential block. Appointing a managing agent does not move that duty, but the agent almost always becomes the person who has control in practice, and the Order applies to anyone with control to the extent of that control. In practice that means the agent arranges the assessment, holds the records, chases the remedial works and answers when an enforcement officer, insurer or leaseholder asks. Getting the arrangement wrong is common: the freeholder assumes the agent has it covered, the agent assumes it is in the freeholder's budget, and the block goes three years without a review.
The 2022 Regulations duties agents carry day to day
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added specific, recurring duties for residential buildings with two or more domestic premises. These are the duties enforcement officers most often ask an agent to evidence, and they are recurring rather than one-off — which is exactly why they slip.
- Fire safety instructions provided to residents, and repeated annually
- Information on flat entrance door fire safety given to residents
- Quarterly checks of communal fire doors in buildings above 11 metres
- Annual best-endeavours checks of flat entrance doors in those buildings
- Wayfinding signage on every storey in buildings above 11 metres
- Secure information box, building plans and monthly equipment checks in buildings above 18 metres
Why leaseholder-readable reports matter commercially
A fire risk assessment for a residential block is not a private document. Leaseholders can ask for it, and increasingly do — particularly where a service charge demand includes fire safety works. A report full of unexplained technical shorthand generates a queue of anxious emails to the agent and, occasionally, a formal challenge to the service charge. We write findings in plain English, state what the risk actually is, and set out why each recommended action is proportionate. Agents tell us this is the single thing that saves them the most time after the report lands.
Handling the difficult findings
Some findings are commercially awkward: a stay-put strategy that is no longer supportable, compartmentation breaches behind leaseholder alterations, or storage in a stairwell that residents regard as theirs. We set out what the law requires, what the proportionate remedy is, and what interim measures reduce risk while the permanent fix is funded. Where an assessment identifies something that would justify a waking watch or a change of evacuation strategy, we say so directly and explain the alternatives, because agents need to be able to defend the decision to both the freeholder and the residents.
Consistency across a managed estate
Agents typically inherit blocks in batches as contracts are won. Without a single supplier the estate ends up with assessments in five formats, five risk scoring systems, and no way of ranking which block needs money first. Running the estate through one assessor produces comparable reports, and the portfolio summary lets an agent tell a client board — or a new freeholder client — exactly where their buildings stand. It also means that when a leaseholder in one block asks why their building is being treated differently to the one next door, there is a defensible answer.
Working to your service charge year
Fire safety spend has to fit a budget cycle. We schedule assessments and door check cycles around the service charge year, quote per block so costs can be allocated cleanly, and flag anticipated remedial spend early enough to be included in the next budget rather than becoming a mid-year supplementary demand. For blocks where a major works consultation may be needed, the report is written with enough detail to support the section 20 process.
What we need from you to start
A block list with addresses, storey counts, unit numbers and any known review dates is enough to price a programme. Beyond that, the more existing paperwork we can see — previous assessments, alarm and lighting servicing records, door survey reports, any enforcement correspondence — the more useful the new assessment is, because the assessor can test what is on paper against what is actually in the building.
Response when something goes wrong
If a block suffers a fire, receives an enforcement notice, or an insurer raises a fire safety condition at renewal, the assessment needs revisiting quickly. We prioritise existing clients for urgent revisits and can usually attend within a working day. Where an enforcement notice is in play, we will read it with you and set out precisely which findings address which requirement, so the response to the fire and rescue authority is evidenced rather than asserted.
Costs and how they are quoted
Blocks are priced on storeys, units and complexity — from £149 to £349 for a two-storey communal block, £349 to £449 for three to six storeys, and from £449 upwards for taller or mixed-use buildings, with portfolio pricing across a managed estate. Regulation 10 door check programmes are quoted per building per cycle. Everything is fixed in writing before any visit, so there is nothing to explain to a client board after the event.
