Fire safety duties in residential blocks changed materially after Grenfell, and they are still moving. The legislation now stacks the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Fire Safety Act 2021, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and, for higher-risk buildings, the Building Safety Act 2022.
This guide unpicks what each layer requires, who is responsible in a residential block, and what to look for if you are an RTM director or leaseholder trying to work out whether your block is compliant.
1. Who is the Responsible Person
Under the Fire Safety Order, every multi-occupied residential building has a Responsible Person (RP) for fire safety in the common parts. In a typical East London block this is:
- The freeholder, in a conventional freeholder-managed block
- The RTM company, where Right to Manage has been exercised
- The Resident Management Company, where the lease grants it the management functions
- The managing agent is not the Responsible Person - they are an appointed competent person assisting the RP
The RP cannot delegate the duty itself, but they can - and should - appoint competent people to discharge it. In most blocks, that is the managing agent and a specialist fire risk assessor.
2. The Fire Risk Assessment
The Fire Safety Order requires a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment (FRA) of the common parts. For purpose-built residential blocks, the Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that the FRA also covers the structure, external walls (including cladding, balconies and attachments) and flat entrance doors.
An FRA in a residential block should be produced by an assessor with relevant competency - ideally listed on the IFE, FRACS or BAFE SP205 schemes - and reviewed annually as a minimum, sooner if there is a material change to the building.
PAS 79-2 sets the format for residential FRAs. Anything materially shorter than the PAS 79-2 template, for a building of any meaningful size, is worth questioning.
3. Type 1 to Type 4 FRAs
Residential FRAs come in four levels of intrusion:
- Type 1 - non-destructive, common parts only. The standard annual FRA for most blocks.
- Type 2 - non-destructive plus some opening up of compartmentation.
- Type 3 - non-destructive, common parts and a sample of flats.
- Type 4 - destructive, common parts and a sample of flats. Used where there is doubt about structural compartmentation.
Most blocks operate on annual Type 1 FRAs with a Type 3 or Type 4 commissioned periodically or when concerns arise.
4. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
Effective 23 January 2023, the regulations introduced duties scaled to building height. For most East London blocks this is the practical day-to-day fire safety workload:
All blocks of flats (any height)
- Provide fire safety instructions to residents at move-in and annually
- Provide information on the importance of fire doors to residents
- Maintain quarterly checks of communal fire doors (in blocks over 11 metres)
- Maintain annual checks of flat entrance doors (in blocks over 11 metres)
Blocks over 11 metres
- Quarterly inspection of communal fire doors
- Annual inspection of flat entrance doors (best endeavours)
Blocks over 18 metres (high-rise residential)
- Monthly inspection of lifts intended for firefighter use, with faults reported to the local Fire and Rescue Service
- Electronic building information and external wall information shared with the local Fire and Rescue Service
- Wayfinding signage on every floor
- Secure information box (SIB) installed and maintained
5. Building Safety Act 2022 - higher-risk buildings
A higher-risk building is a residential building over 18 metres or seven storeys with at least two residential units. If your block meets that threshold, the Building Safety Act adds:
- Registration with the Building Safety Regulator (a division of the HSE)
- Identification of the Accountable Person and Principal Accountable Person
- Production and maintenance of a safety case demonstrating how the building risks are managed
- A safety case report submitted to the Regulator on request
- Mandatory occurrence reporting of fire and structural safety events
- A residents' engagement strategy
This is a serious workload. It is also where many blocks need a managing agent who has built the systems to handle it, rather than learning on the job.
6. Stay put or evacuate
Most purpose-built blocks of flats in London operate a "stay put" strategy, on the basis that each flat is its own fire-resisting compartment. This is only valid where compartmentation is intact and external walls are safe.
Where the FRA finds compartmentation or external wall risks, the evacuation strategy may switch to a simultaneous evacuation, sometimes supported by an alarm system and a waking watch as an interim measure while remediation is planned. Waking watches are expensive and resented; they are a holding measure, not a strategy.
7. What good looks like, operationally
- Current FRA on file, produced by a competent assessor, with a clear action plan
- FRA actions tracked with owners, dates and evidence of completion
- Quarterly communal fire door inspections recorded with photographs
- Annual flat entrance door inspection programme, with non-compliant doors logged for replacement
- Emergency lighting tested monthly and annually
- Fire alarm tested weekly where one is fitted
- Lift LOLER and firefighter lift checks recorded
- Resident information pack issued at lettings and annually
- BSR registration and safety case in place where the block is in scope
Fire safety as part of management, not an add-on
Across the blocks we manage in East London, fire safety actions are tracked alongside repairs and contractor work - one system, one owner, one report. If you want a second opinion on your current FRA or compliance position, send it over.
8. What leaseholders can ask for
- A copy of the latest FRA - leaseholders are entitled to see this
- The action plan and current status of each item
- Evidence of quarterly fire door inspections
- Evidence of fire alarm and emergency lighting testing
- BSR registration confirmation, if the block is in scope
A reasonable managing agent will provide all of this without resistance. A refusal is itself a signal.
Speak to our team about your block
We manage residential blocks and estates across Romford and East London. If this article raised a question about your specific situation, send it across - we will give you a straightforward, plain-English answer.
General guidance only. Fire safety law is technical and fact-sensitive; obtain advice from a competent fire risk assessor and, where appropriate, a specialist solicitor.