How Often Should a Fire Risk Assessment Be Reviewed?

There is no fixed legal interval. The law does not say “every 12 months” or “every three years”. What it requires is that you review your fire risk assessment regularly, and specifically whenever something changes that could affect it or you have reason to think it is out of date. Annual review is strong best practice — but it is a recommendation, not the rule, and getting the distinction right matters.

This article sets out exactly what the law requires, what actually triggers a review, how often to review different types of building, what a review involves, and what happens if you let the assessment go out of date.

The short version

No statutory time limit. The Fire Safety Order does not set a fixed review frequency.
Review “regularly” so the assessment stays up to date.
Always review after a significant change — layout, use, occupancy, the building fabric, or the fire precautions themselves.
Always review if you suspect it is no longer valid — including after a fire or a near miss.
Annual review is best practice and what most enforcing officers, insurers and lenders expect to see.
Higher-risk premises — HMOs, care homes, buildings where people sleep — often warrant more frequent review.
It must be a genuine reassessment, recorded — not a new date written on an old document.

The three triggers for reviewing a fire risk assessment under Article 9(3) of the Fire Safety Order 2005. There is no fixed legal interval — any one of these requires a review.

What the law actually says

The duty sits in Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — the “Fire Safety Order”. Article 9(3) is the part that governs review, and it is worth reading in full because people so often assume it contains a number:

“Any such assessment must be reviewed by the responsible person regularly so as to keep it up to date and particularly if—(a) there is reason to suspect that it is no longer valid; or (b) there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates including when the premises, special, technical and organisational measures, or organisation of the work undergo significant changes, extensions, or conversions…”
— Article 9(3), Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

There is no interval in there. GOV.UK puts the same point plainly in its guidance for the responsible person: in law there are no specific time periods for how often a fire risk assessment must be reviewed — it must be reviewed “regularly” to keep it current. So the honest answer to “how often?” is: often enough that it always reflects your building as it stands today.

Does a fire risk assessment expire? How long is it valid?

A fire risk assessment does not carry an expiry date the way an MOT or an EPC does. It does not become invalid on a particular anniversary, and there is no certificate with a “valid until” line. What makes an assessment invalid is not the passage of time on its own but the premises drifting out of step with what the document describes.

In practice that means an assessment done last month for a building that has since been converted is already out of date, while an assessment done two years ago for a genuinely unchanged, low-risk building may still be sound — provided it has been reviewed and still reflects reality. The right question is therefore not “has it expired?” but “does it still describe my building accurately, and can I show I have kept it under review?”

Why there is no fixed number — and why that isn't a loophole

A single legal interval would be the wrong tool. A quiet, unchanged office and a building midway through a refurbishment do not carry the same risk, and a rule that treated them identically would be too slack for one and pointless for the other. So the law ties the review to change and doubt rather than to the calendar.

That is more demanding than a fixed interval, not less. It means you cannot discharge the duty simply by booking a review every year and forgetting about fire safety in between. If a significant change happens in month three, the duty to review lands in month three — the anniversary is irrelevant.

What counts as a “significant change”

This is the trigger that catches people out, because significant changes accumulate quietly. Any of the following should prompt a review before you wait for the annual one:

Layout changes — walls moved, rooms subdivided, a new mezzanine, a loft or cellar brought into use, an escape route altered or obstructed.
A change of use — a floor that was storage now has people working in it; a house let to one family now let by the room; part of a building sublet to a different trade.
A change in the people at risk — more occupants, people sleeping on the premises, or occupants who would need help to escape.
Changes to the fire precautions — a new or altered alarm system, doors replaced, emergency lighting added or removed, a sprinkler system installed.
New processes or materials — anything that changes the ignition sources or the fire load, such as new machinery, a commercial kitchen, or bulk storage.
Building work — extensions, conversions, and refurbishments, both while the work is under way and once it is finished.

The common thread is that the assessment describes your premises as they were on the day it was done. The moment the building stops matching that description, the assessment has started to go out of date, whatever its review date says.

When to review a fire risk assessment: a decision flow for the responsible person. A change or a doubt triggers a review straight away — the annual point is only the backstop.

“Reason to suspect it is no longer valid”

The second trigger in Article 9(3) is broader and easy to overlook. You must review if you have reason to suspect the assessment no longer holds — even if nothing has physically changed. In practice that includes:

After a fire or a near miss, however minor. If something started, the assumptions in the assessment deserve rechecking.
After a false alarm pattern or a failed alarm test that reveals a system problem.
When the law or official guidance changes in a way that affects your building.
When an inspection, audit or insurer's survey raises a concern.

The law has moved considerably in recent years, which is itself a reason many older assessments are now out of date. The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified that assessments for buildings with two or more homes must cover the structure, the external walls and flat entrance doors — matters a pre-2022 assessment may never have considered.

How UK fire safety law changed: the Fire Safety Order 2005, the Fire Safety Act 2021, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (in force 1 October 2023). Each change can make an older assessment out of date.

So where does “every year” come from?

Annual review is widely quoted because it is sensible best practice, and because it is what enforcing officers, insurers and mortgage lenders generally expect to see. A yearly cycle is a practical way of making sure the “regularly” duty is actually met, and of catching the small changes that never felt significant enough to prompt a review on their own.

But treat it as a floor, not a ceiling, and never as a substitute for the change-driven triggers above. An annual review on a building that was converted six months ago and never reassessed is still a building with an out-of-date assessment for those six months.

How often to review for different types of building

There is still no fixed legal interval for any of these — the duty is the same across the board. But the risk profile changes what “regularly” sensibly means in practice, and the following reflects how we and most competent assessors approach it.

HMOs and shared houses. People sleep behind bedroom doors, occupancy turns over, and conversions leave escape routes that were never designed for shared use. Annual review is the practical minimum, and a review is due whenever the number of occupants or the layout changes. A current fire risk assessment is also part of what councils expect for HMO licensing.
Blocks of flats and multi-occupied residential buildings. These carry the most fast-moving obligations. Beyond reviewing the assessment, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add their own recurring duties — regular fire door checks and resident information — which sit alongside the review, not instead of it. Annual review is the baseline, more often where remedial work is under way.
Care homes and supported living. The highest-risk category, because occupants may be unable to evacuate without help. Review at least annually, and immediately on any change to the building, the staffing model or the dependency of residents.
Offices, shops and other workplaces. Occupants are usually awake, mobile and familiar with the building, so an annual review with change-driven reviews in between is generally proportionate — unless you refit, sublet or change how the space is used.
Industrial and warehouse premises. The fire load and ignition sources move with the processes and the stock. Review whenever a process, a storage arrangement or a racking layout changes, as well as on the annual cycle.

What actually happens during a review

A review is a reassessment, not an administrative refresh. Done properly it revisits the whole assessment against the building as it stands today. In practice a review covers:

A fresh walk of the premises — checking that the findings still hold and nothing has changed since the last visit.
The action plan — confirming that the previous recommendations have actually been carried out, and chasing any that have not.
The fire precautions — alarm, emergency lighting, fire doors, signage and extinguishers, and the records that they are being tested and maintained.
Any changes to layout, use, occupancy or processes since the assessment was written, and their effect on the escape strategy.
The written record — updating the assessment so it reflects today's building, and recording the review, the date and who carried it out.

Changing the date on last year's document is not a review, and it will not survive scrutiny if the premises no longer match what the document describes.

Recording the review — what the law now requires

Recording matters more than it used to. Since 1 October 2023, when section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force, the responsible person must record the fire risk assessment in full and record who carried it out — regardless of the size of the premises or the number of people employed. A review should be recorded in the same way, so you can show not just that an assessment exists, but that it has been kept current.

What if the assessment is out of date? Enforcement and consequences

Fire safety is enforced by the local fire and rescue authority, which can inspect your premises, serve an enforcement notice requiring improvements, or serve a prohibition notice restricting or stopping the use of a building where the risk is serious. An out-of-date assessment that no longer reflects the premises is a common trigger for that kind of action.

Failure to comply with the Fire Safety Order is a criminal offence. Penalties on conviction can include unlimited fines and, in the most serious cases, imprisonment. Beyond enforcement, an assessment that has not been kept up to date can undermine an insurance claim after a fire and hold up a sale or remortgage. Keeping the assessment current is far cheaper than any of those outcomes.

Who is responsible for making sure it happens

The duty to review sits with the responsible person — the employer, the person in control of the premises, or the building owner, depending on the situation. It is not something that transfers to whoever carried out the last assessment. Booking a competent assessor to do the work is sensible; remembering that the work needs doing, and when, remains the responsible person's job.

What this means in practice

Stop thinking of the review as an annual box to tick and start thinking of it as a duty that is always live. Have a competent assessment done, act on its findings, and then review it whenever the building or its use changes, whenever you have reason to doubt it, and — as a backstop — at least once a year, more often for higher-risk premises. Keep the records, so you can show the assessment has been kept up to date rather than simply that one exists.

If you are not sure whether a change at your premises was “significant” enough to trigger a review, that uncertainty is usually itself the answer. We can tell you in a short conversation, and carry out the review if one is needed — with a fixed-fee quote within 2 hours, based on the size and type of the premises.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often does a fire risk assessment legally need to be reviewed?

There is no fixed legal interval. Article 9(3) of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to review the assessment regularly so it stays up to date, and particularly whenever there is a significant change to the premises or their use, or reason to suspect it is no longer valid. GOV.UK confirms that in law there are no specific time periods.

Does a fire risk assessment expire?

No. A fire risk assessment does not carry an expiry date the way an MOT or an EPC does, and it does not become invalid on a particular anniversary. What makes it invalid is the premises changing so that the assessment no longer describes them accurately. The question to ask is whether it still reflects your building and whether you can show it has been kept under review.

Is an annual fire risk assessment review a legal requirement?

No. Annual review is widely recommended best practice and is what enforcing officers, insurers and lenders generally expect to see, but it is not a statutory requirement. The legal duty is to review regularly and whenever a significant change or a reason to doubt the assessment arises, which can be more often than once a year.

How often should an HMO or block of flats fire risk assessment be reviewed?

The same legal duty applies, with no fixed interval, but these are higher-risk buildings where annual review is the practical minimum and a review is due on any significant change. Blocks of flats also carry separate recurring duties under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, such as fire door checks and resident information, which sit alongside the assessment review rather than replacing it.

What counts as a significant change that triggers a review?

Changes to the layout, a change of use, more people or people now sleeping on the premises, changes to the fire precautions such as the alarm or fire doors, new processes or materials that change the fire risk, and any building work including extensions, conversions and refurbishments. Once the premises no longer match what the assessment describes, it has started to go out of date.

Should I review the assessment after a small fire or a false alarm?

Yes. Article 9(3) requires a review whenever there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid, and a fire or near miss is a clear reason even if it seemed minor. A pattern of false alarms or a failed alarm test that reveals a system fault is also a sensible trigger for review.

Does the law require the review to be written down?

Since 1 October 2023, when section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force, the responsible person must record the fire risk assessment in full and record who carried it out, regardless of the size of the premises or number of employees. A review should be recorded the same way, so you can demonstrate the assessment has been kept up to date.

What happens if my fire risk assessment is out of date?

The fire and rescue authority can serve an enforcement notice requiring improvements, or a prohibition notice restricting or stopping use of the building where the risk is serious. Failure to comply with the Fire Safety Order is a criminal offence carrying unlimited fines and, in serious cases, imprisonment. An out-of-date assessment can also undermine an insurance claim and hold up a sale or remortgage.

Who is responsible for making sure the review happens?

The responsible person — usually the employer, the person in control of the premises, or the building owner. The duty does not pass to whoever carried out the previous assessment. You can appoint a competent assessor to do the work, but ensuring it is done, and done when a change or a doubt requires it, remains the responsible person's duty.