Which fire safety rules apply to a block of flats?

The Fire Safety Order 2005 requires a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of the common parts, structure, external walls and flat entrance doors. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add resident information, annual flat entrance door checks, and — above 11 metres — quarterly communal door checks, monthly lift and equipment checks and wayfinding signage.

What counts as a higher-risk building?

Under the Building Safety Act 2022, a building at least 18 metres tall or with at least seven storeys, containing two or more residential units. Those buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator and the accountable person must hold a safety case report.

Do I have to put my fire risk assessment in writing?

You must record the significant findings if you employ five or more people, if a licence is in force, or if an alterations notice applies. In practice a written assessment is the only way to demonstrate compliance to a fire officer, insurer or lender, so we record one for every building.

Free tool

Fire safety compliance checker

Answer five questions about your building and see which fire safety duties apply to you, from Article 9 to the 2022 Regulations and the Building Safety Act.

1. What sort of building is it?

2. How tall is it?

3. Do you employ five or more people there?

4. Do you hold a written fire risk assessment?

5. Has the building changed, or has there been a fire or near miss?

Duties that apply to this building

Block of flats · Under 11 metres (roughly up to 4 storeys)

A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment
Every responsible person must assess the fire risk in the premises and act on what it finds. For a block of flats or mixed-use building that covers the common parts, the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors.
Fire Safety Order 2005, article 9 · Fire Safety Act 2021
How we handle this
Resident fire safety instructions
Residents must be given the building's evacuation strategy, how to report a fault, and instructions they can act on. New residents get it when they move in, everyone gets it at least annually.
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, regulation 9
How we handle this
Annual flat entrance door checks
Best endeavours to check every flat entrance door onto a common escape route each year, with the outcome recorded — including the doors you could not get access to and what you did about it.
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, regulation 10
How we handle this

Worth acting on now

You do not currently hold a written assessment. That is the first gap an inspecting officer, insurer or lender will find.

Want this checked properly on site?

One of our IFSM-registered assessors can cover the assessment, the door checks and the record keeping in a single visit, and hand you the evidence pack afterwards.

This tool summarises the duties in the legislation. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace a fire risk assessment carried out on site.

Background

Why the answer depends on the building

Fire safety duties in England are layered. The Fire Safety Order 2005 sets the base duty to assess and act. The Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that in multi-occupied residential buildings the duty reaches the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added specific record-keeping and information duties, most of which switch on at 11 metres and again at 18 metres. The Building Safety Act 2022 sits on top of that for higher-risk buildings.

That layering is why two blocks on the same street can carry different duties: height, use, occupancy and whether anyone is employed on site all change the answer. Getting it wrong usually shows up not as a missing assessment but as missing evidence — the quarterly door checks nobody recorded, or the resident information nobody issued.

The checker maps your answers onto the duties in the legislation so you can see the whole set in one place. It is a summary, not legal advice, and it cannot see the condition of your building — that still needs an assessor on site.

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