Blocks of flats sit in an awkward place in fire safety law. The individual flats are people’s homes, but the shared parts of the building are treated as non-domestic premises — and that is where the legal duties bite. Since Grenfell, the requirements have tightened significantly.
This guide explains who carries responsibility, exactly what the assessment must cover, and what the recent legislation changed.
🏢 What the Assessment Covers
The Fire Safety Order applies to the common parts of any building with two or more dwellings: entrance halls, stairways, landings, corridors, lifts and lift lobbies, bin stores, plant and meter rooms, communal lounges, and shared external areas such as car parks and refuse areas.
Who Is the Responsible Person?
The Responsible Person is whoever has control of the common parts. In practice that is usually one of:
- The freeholder — where they retain management of the building.
- A residents’ management company — often a company formed by the leaseholders.
- A right-to-manage (RTM) company — where leaseholders have exercised the statutory right to take over management.
- A managing agent — where day-to-day control has been delegated to them.
- A housing association or local authority — for social housing blocks.
Where more than one party has a degree of control, duties can be shared. The Order requires responsible persons to co-operate and co-ordinate with each other — so a management company and a managing agent cannot each assume the other has dealt with it.
⚠️ “The Managing Agent Handles It” Is Not a Defence
Delegating management does not automatically discharge the duty. If you are a director of a residents’ management company or an RTM company, you may personally hold Responsible Person duties. Directors have been prosecuted for fire safety failings in the common parts of their own building. If you sit on such a board, confirm in writing who holds the duty and that a current assessment exists.
What the Fire Safety Act 2021 Changed
The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified the scope of the Fire Safety Order for buildings containing two or more dwellings. It confirmed that the following are within scope and must be included in the assessment:
- The structure and external walls of the building — including cladding, insulation, balconies and anything attached to the external wall.
- Flat entrance doors that open onto common parts — these are a critical part of the compartmentation strategy.
This closed a genuine loophole. Before the Act, there was real ambiguity about whether external walls and flat front doors fell inside the assessment. They now clearly do.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
These came into force in January 2023 and impose specific, practical duties. What applies depends on the height of the building.
All buildings with two or more domestic premises
Residents must be provided with fire safety instructions and information about the importance of fire doors.
Buildings above 11 metres
Additional duties apply, including regular checks of fire doors in the common parts and of flat entrance doors, together with record keeping.
Buildings above 18 metres or seven storeys
Further duties apply, including providing the fire and rescue service with building information and floor plans, and checks of equipment such as lifts intended for firefighter use and other firefighting equipment.
📐 Type 1 to Type 4 — What They Mean
Type 1 — common parts only, non-destructive. The standard baseline for most blocks. Type 2 — as Type 1 plus limited destructive inspection of construction. Type 3 — common parts plus a sample of flats, non-destructive. Type 4 — common parts plus a sample of flats with destructive inspection; the most thorough. The right type depends on the building, its history and what is already known about its construction.
Stay Put or Simultaneous Evacuation?
Most purpose-built blocks of flats in England are designed around a stay put strategy. Each flat is built as a fire-resisting compartment, so a fire in one flat should not spread — meaning residents elsewhere are safer remaining in their homes while the fire service deals with it.
Stay put only works if compartmentation is intact. Where the assessment finds that compartmentation is compromised — defective flat entrance doors, breaches around service penetrations, or external wall concerns — the strategy may need to change to simultaneous evacuation, which usually requires a common alarm system and, in the interim, may require a waking watch.
This is one of the most consequential findings an assessment can produce, both for resident safety and for cost, which is why the compartmentation assessment matters so much.
What Gets Found Most Often
Recurring issues in blocks of flats include:
- Defective flat entrance doors — replaced by leaseholders with non-fire-rated doors, or original doors with failed seals and closers.
- Breached compartmentation — holes around pipes, cables and ducts in riser cupboards and between floors, often left by contractors.
- Items stored in common parts — pushchairs, bikes, mobility scooters, doormats and furniture in protected escape routes.
- Wedged-open fire doors in corridors and stairwells.
- Bin stores opening directly onto escape routes, or overfilled.
- Emergency lighting untested or with failed units.
- External wall concerns — cladding, insulation, and combustible items on balconies.
🚪 Flat Entrance Doors Deserve Special Attention
The flat entrance door is the barrier between a fire inside a flat and the escape route everyone else depends on. Leaseholders frequently replace them without realising the door is a fire-safety-critical component. Under the 2022 Regulations, buildings above 11 metres require regular checks of these doors — and residents must be told why they matter.
How Often to Review
The assessment must be kept up to date. For a block of flats, review it:
- At least annually as standard practice for most blocks.
- After any works to the structure, external walls, common parts or services.
- If compartmentation issues, door defects or external wall concerns come to light.
- After a fire, or a pattern of false alarms.
- When the evacuation strategy is under review.
📋 What We Provide
Communal-area fire risk assessments for blocks of flats across Greater Manchester and the North West. A certified assessor surveys the building and delivers an RRO 2005-compliant written report with a prioritised action plan within 48 hours. Fixed fee quoted within 2 hours of your enquiry.
If You Are a Director or Leaseholder
If you sit on the board of a residents’ management or RTM company, three practical questions are worth asking at your next meeting: when was the fire risk assessment last carried out, have the actions it identified been closed out, and who is formally recorded as the Responsible Person?
If any of those cannot be answered clearly, that is the place to start — an assessment that identified problems nobody then fixed offers no protection at all, legally or practically.