<p><span class="">Conducting a fire risk assessment entails identifying and mitigating potential fire hazards in a building</span></p>
As a landlord, you have a legal obligation to provide safe accommodation for your tenants, and fire safety plays a big part.
A fire in your property, no matter how big or small, can cause significant damage and fire damage claims are among the most expensive that insurers receive – our average fire claim over the past five years has been more than £22,000 – our infographic highlights the fire related insurance claims that have occurred from the past five years.
As a landlord, it’s crucial that you have an appropriate insurance policy that will cover you in case your property is damaged or even completely destroyed by fire.
While taking appropriate fire safety measures in your rental property is hugely important, you also have to make sure your tenants know what they should do – both to help prevent fire breaking out in the first place and in case of an emergency.
This should be covered when you or the agent check them into the property and we also recommend including a fire safety sheet in the property information pack, detailing everything they need to know, such as: how often to test smoke alarms, the main escape routes from the property and the importance of not overloading electrical sockets.
Be aware that if you breach fire safety laws, you could be fined up to £30,000 by your local council, prosecuted in court with an unlimited fine and may even face jail time for the most serious violations, particularly if they result in the injury or death of a tenant.
In December 2021, a landlord in London was ordered to pay more than £20,000 for fire safety breaches. One of his tenants raised concerns with the council and when inspectors visited the property, they found that fire doors had been removed on the ground floor, there was no emergency lighting and no fire alarm.
The tenants were evacuated immediately, and the landlord was later charged with six offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. He was fined £500 for each offence and ordered to pay £17,335 in costs.
The first step to reducing the risk of fire in your property is to carry out a fire safety risk assessment.
Unlike gas and electrics, there is no fire safety certificate to obtain, however landlords in England and Wales are required to carry out fire risk assessments periodically under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
The risk assessment will take you through the property, step by step, so you can:
Identify possible causes and potential sources of fire
Assess the likelihood of fire breaking out
Identify potential hazards
See what sensible precautions could be taken to mitigate the risks
You can carry out the fire risk assessment yourself but may prefer to use a third-party fire safety specialist. As professionals in the field, they can often spot potential risks and make recommendations that might not have occurred to you.
The cost can vary, depending on the size of the property, but it’s likely to be around £300 for an average family home. Once you’ve had an initial professional assessment, you may then feel confident enough to review and update it yourself in future.
We’ve put together a useful landlord fire risk assessment template to help you, which you can download here.
Although there aren’t any hard and fast rules around how often you should review or update your fire risk assessment, the general advice is:
For modern buildings of up to three storeys, review the assessment every two years and update it every four
For older buildings or those over three storeys, review the assessment annually and update it every three years
Note: The information below relates to single-let properties in England and Wales. The fire safety rules for Houses in Multiple Occupation are different.
In Scotland, basic fire safety guidance for assessing risks and removing potential fire hazards is much the same as in England & Wales, although there are some differences – mainly in relation to the location of fire alarms. Full fire safety information is available on the Scottish Government website.