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🏠 Sleeping Risk · Licensing Condition

Fire Risk Assessment for HMOs & Shared Houses

An HMO is a domestic building with a non-domestic risk profile: people asleep behind bedroom doors, cooking at all hours, and no shared responsibility for the escape route they all depend on. It is also the property type councils inspect most and the one where a weak assessment stalls a licence application fastest. We assess shared houses, bedsits, converted flats and licensed HMOs across the North West and beyond.

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Written for Licensing

Structured the way licensing teams read it — findings, risk rating, recommendation, timescale — so it can be submitted rather than rewritten.

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Escape Route Assessed Properly

The protected route from the furthest bedroom to the final exit, checked as a whole rather than door by door.

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Survey in Days, Report in 48 Hours

Licence deadlines are real. We survey within days of instruction and the written report follows within 48 hours of the visit.

Why HMOs Are Different

The Risk Is Asleep Behind a Door

In a workplace, people are awake, know the building and can be told to leave. In an HMO none of that holds. Occupants are asleep, may not know each other, and the fire they need to escape is often in the one room they all have to pass. That is why HMO assessments concentrate on the protected escape route and on early detection, rather than on extinguishers and signage.

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    The Fire Safety Order applies to the common parts. Shared hallways, stairs, landings, kitchens and any shared living space are non-domestic premises for these purposes, so a fire risk assessment is a legal requirement — not merely a licensing preference.
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    Licensing is a separate duty that lands on the same building. Mandatory HMO licensing applies where a property is let to five or more people forming two or more households, whatever the number of storeys — the old three-storey test was abolished in October 2018 and it is still quoted at us regularly. Many councils also operate additional or selective licensing on top of that.
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    Detection grade and coverage are where most HMOs fail. Interlinked detection on the escape route and in risk rooms, at the grade and category appropriate to the layout, is the single most common shortfall we record. Standalone battery alarms in a licensable HMO will not do.
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    Bedroom doors do a job that nothing else can. In a house with a single staircase, the fire door on each bedroom is what keeps the only escape route usable. Missing self-closers, gaps around the frame, and doors replaced with standard internal doors during a refurbishment are all routine findings.
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    Kitchens sit on the escape route far too often. The highest-risk room in the building frequently opens directly onto the only way out. Where the layout cannot be changed, the assessment has to specify what compensates for it.
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    Councils differ, and the differences matter. Licensing standards, room sizes, amenity requirements and the exact fire precautions expected vary between authorities. We reference the standards of the council that will actually read the report.

What we work through with you

The protected escape route from the furthest room to the final exit · Fire door specification, condition and closer function on every door onto that route · Detection grade, category and coverage · Emergency lighting where the route needs it · Kitchen position and separation · Means of escape from any inner room · Cellar, loft conversion and any later alterations · Furniture and furnishings · Electrical installation condition and PAT evidence · The management arrangements: who tests what, how often, and whether it is recorded.

On Site

What We Assess in an HMO

The visit follows the route a resident would have to take out of the building — then works back to what protects it.

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The Protected Escape Route

Assessed as a single system: every door onto it, the construction around it, and whether it stays usable with a fire in the worst room.

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Detection Grade & Coverage

Whether the system installed matches the layout and occupancy — interlinking, positioning, heat versus smoke, and whether it is actually being tested.

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Fire Doors on Bedrooms & Kitchen

Specification, gaps, intumescent strips and cold smoke seals, hinges, and whether the closer shuts the door onto the latch every time.

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Kitchen & Cooking Risk

Position relative to the escape route, separation, extraction and cleanliness, and provision for the fires that actually start there.

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Emergency Lighting & Signage

Where the route genuinely needs it — specified to the building rather than fitted everywhere as a reflex.

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Management & Records

Weekly alarm tests, door checks, drills where appropriate, and whether any of it is written down. Councils ask for this and most landlords cannot produce it.

In Practice

What We Most Often Find

These four account for the large majority of significant findings we record in shared housing.

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Bedroom Doors That Are Not Fire Doors

Replaced during a refurbishment with standard internal doors, or fire doors with the self-closer removed because tenants complained about the noise.

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Detection That Does Not Match the Building

Standalone battery alarms, or a system that was right for a two-storey house before the loft was converted.

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The Kitchen Opening Onto the Only Stair

Very common in converted terraces, and rarely compensated for in the way it needs to be.

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Escape Routes Used as Storage

Bikes, bin bags and furniture on the one route out. It is the easiest finding to close and among the most consistently ignored.

The Stakes

A weak assessment stalls the licence

Fire safety in HMOs is enforced twice over: by the fire and rescue authority under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and by the council through licensing and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. Non-compliance with the Order is a criminal offence carrying unlimited fines and, in serious cases, up to two years’ imprisonment. Councils can also refuse or revoke a licence, impose conditions, and serve improvement or prohibition notices under housing legislation — and a property that cannot be licensed cannot lawfully be let.

Tell Us About the Premises. Fixed Fee in 2 Hours.

Property type, rough size, number of storeys and what it is used for is enough for us to quote. Survey within days, and your written report within 48 hours of the visit.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does my HMO need a fire risk assessment?
Yes. The common parts of any HMO — the shared hallway, stairs, landings, kitchen and any shared living space — are non-domestic premises under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, so a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment is a legal requirement. Since section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 took effect on 1 October 2023 it must be recorded in writing in full, together with the identity of the person who carried it out, regardless of how small the property is.
Does my HMO need a licence?
Mandatory HMO licensing applies where a property is let to five or more people forming two or more households, whatever the number of storeys. The three-storey element of that test was removed in October 2018, and it is still one of the most common misunderstandings we encounter. Many councils operate additional licensing for smaller HMOs and selective licensing covering all private lets in designated areas, so the local scheme has to be checked as well — our free HMO licensing lookup covers the councils in our service area.
Will the council accept your report?
Our reports are written to the requirements of the Fire Safety Order with a prioritised action plan — the standard format licensing teams, insurers and mortgage lenders expect. We reference the standards of the council that will actually be reading it. What no assessor can promise is the outcome of a licence application, because that turns on the condition of the property and on matters beyond fire safety, such as room sizes and amenities.
What grade of fire alarm does an HMO need?
It depends on the size, layout and occupancy of the property rather than on a single rule. A small shared house and a three-storey bedsit HMO with locking bedroom doors sit at different points on that scale. What is consistent is that interlinked detection covering the escape route and the higher-risk rooms is expected in licensable HMOs, and that standalone battery alarms are not sufficient. The assessment specifies what your building needs and why.
Do bedroom doors have to be fire doors?
In most HMOs with a single escape route, yes — the door to each room opening onto that route is doing a protective job, and its condition is checked closely. Where original doors have been upgraded rather than replaced, the assessment looks at whether the upgrade actually achieves what was intended. Doors replaced with standard internal doors during a refurbishment are one of the most frequent significant findings we record.
How often does an HMO fire risk assessment need reviewing?
Whenever there is a significant change — a loft or cellar conversion, a change in the number of occupants, new locks on bedroom doors, a kitchen moved — and after any fire-related incident. There is no fixed statutory interval, but annual review is widely treated as good practice and most licensing authorities expect to see a current assessment when they inspect.
Do you cover HMOs outside Greater Manchester?
Yes. We work across roughly 150km of Manchester, which covers Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside, Yorkshire, parts of the Midlands and North Wales. We have area pages for a hundred towns across that footprint, each referencing the relevant council and its licensing position.
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