Fire Safety Law UK: Duties for Existing Buildings

Overview

Fire safety in existing buildings is governed by a patchwork of statutes and regulations that place ongoing duties on whoever controls the premises. In England and Wales, the core legislation is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which applies to almost all non-domestic premises and to the common parts of buildings containing two or more homes.

Scotland has its own regime under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and related regulations, and Northern Ireland operates under the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. What ties these regimes together is the concept of a 'responsible person' (or 'duty holder' in Scotland) who must carry out a suitable fire risk assessment, put proportionate safety measures in place, keep them maintained and review them regularly.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire, the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduced further duties specifically aimed at residential blocks, including structural items like external walls, flat entrance doors and shared facilities. The legal test is not perfection, it is whether the steps taken are reasonable in the circumstances.

Key steps

1. Identify the responsible person. Work out who legally holds the duty for each part of the building. In workplaces this is usually the employer, but in mixed-use or multi-let buildings it may be the freeholder, managing agent, or several people sharing responsibility for different areas. Get this clear in writing before anything else, because every other duty flows from it.
2. Carry out a suitable fire risk assessment. The assessment must cover the building as it actually is today, not how it was designed decades ago. It should identify fire hazards, people at risk, existing precautions and any gaps. For buildings of any real complexity, or where sleeping accommodation is involved, bringing in a competent external assessor is usually sensible and is expected by enforcing authorities.
3. Prioritise and act on the findings. Translate the risk assessment into a written action plan with realistic timescales. Life-critical issues, such as missing fire doors, broken detection systems or blocked escape routes, need immediate attention. Structural works to walls, compartmentation or cladding may take longer, but should be scheduled and tracked rather than quietly shelved.
4. Maintain systems and train people. Fire alarms, emergency lighting, extinguishers, sprinklers and fire doors all need regular servicing by competent contractors, with records kept. Staff and, where relevant, residents should know how to raise the alarm, where to go and what not to do. A plan that lives only in a folder has little legal or practical value.
5. Review, record and respond to change. The law expects the fire risk assessment to be reviewed regularly and after any significant change, for example a refurbishment, a change of use, new tenants, or an incident. Keep dated records of assessments, actions, inspections and training. If a fire officer or tribunal ever asks, a clear paper trail is your strongest defence.

Common questions