Key takeaways
- The Fire Safety Order requires a fire risk assessment for the shared parts of an HMO in Wales
- Mandatory HMO licensing in Wales still uses the three-storey test; England dropped it in 2018
- The LACORS guide sets the benchmark councils use for alarms, doors and escape routes
- Rent Smart Wales registration and Renting Homes (Wales) fitness rules apply on top
- BS 9792 is the recognised method for assessing fire risk in HMOs and other housing
The short answer
If you own or manage an HMO in Wales, you almost certainly need a fire risk assessment. It does not matter whether the house is licensed. The duty comes from fire safety law, not housing law, and it applies to any HMO with shared areas such as a hallway, stairs, kitchen or lounge.
What changes from one HMO to the next is how detailed the assessment needs to be and what fire safety measures it is likely to recommend. A two-storey shared house let to four friends is very different from a five-storey building of bedsits.
The Fire Safety Order: the legal duty
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies in both Wales and England. It does not cover the inside of a private home, but it does cover the parts of a residential building that are used in common. In an HMO that usually means the escape routes, communal kitchens and living rooms, and any shared plant or store rooms.
The Responsible Person for those areas is normally the landlord, or the managing agent where they have control of the building. They must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, put in place the measures it identifies, and keep those measures maintained. That includes fire doors, the alarm system, emergency lighting where fitted, and keeping escape routes clear.
In Wales, the assessment must be written down if you employ five or more people, hold a licence under an enactment, or have an alterations notice. An HMO licence is a licence, so a licensed HMO should have a written assessment. In practice every HMO should have one in writing: it is the only way to show a council officer, the fire and rescue service or an insurer what you have done.
HMO licensing: Wales and England compared
The Housing Act 2004 sets the definition of an HMO and the licensing framework in both nations, but the details now differ.
In England
Since October 2018, mandatory licensing applies to HMOs occupied by five or more people forming two or more households, whatever the number of storeys. Councils can also run additional and selective licensing schemes.
In Wales
Mandatory licensing still applies to HMOs of three or more storeys occupied by five or more people forming two or more households. Many Welsh councils also run additional licensing schemes that bring smaller HMOs into licensing, so a two-storey HMO may still need a licence.
Additional licensing areas and conditions vary from council to council and change over time, so always check with the local authority where the property is before assuming a house is outside licensing.
Licence conditions commonly include fire safety requirements, such as keeping smoke alarms in working order and providing evidence of alarm servicing and emergency lighting tests. A council may ask to see your fire risk assessment when you apply or renew.
LACORS: what the council will expect
The LACORS "Housing – Fire Safety" guide, published in 2008, is still the reference guidance for fire safety in HMOs and other shared housing in both Wales and England. Councils use it when licensing and inspecting, and a good HMO fire risk assessment will use it too.
The guide is risk-based. It sets out worked examples for different types and sizes of HMO and suggests the level of protection for each, including:
- The type of fire alarm and detection system, graded under BS 5839-6
- Fire-resisting, self-closing doors to rooms that open onto the escape route
- Fire-resisting construction around the stairs and hallway
- Emergency lighting where the escape route is long or complex
- Fire blankets in shared kitchens and, where appropriate, other equipment
It is guidance, not law, so an assessor can recommend a different solution if it gives an equivalent level of safety. The council, though, will start from what LACORS says.
Rent Smart Wales and the Renting Homes (Wales) Act
Two further layers apply only in Wales.
Rent Smart Wales. Under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, private landlords must register, and landlords who manage their own lettings, and agents who manage for them, must be licensed. This applies to HMOs as well as single lets.
Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. Since 1 December 2022, landlords must keep dwellings fit for human habitation. The fitness regulations require mains-powered smoke alarms, interlinked, on every storey; a carbon monoxide alarm in rooms with a gas, oil or solid-fuel appliance; and an electrical safety test at least every five years. These apply inside the home, including to the private rooms and shared areas of an HMO let on occupation contracts.
Housing law also gives councils powers under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, in which fire is one of the hazards assessed. And the HMO management regulations require the manager to keep means of escape clear and in good repair and fire safety measures maintained.
How the assessment is carried out
For housing, including HMOs, the recognised method is BS 9792:2025, which replaced PAS 79-2. An assessment to BS 9792 will look at:
- The layout, number of storeys and escape route from every bedroom
- The alarm and detection system and whether it suits the HMO
- Fire doors, their closers and their condition
- Separation between rooms, the escape route and any commercial use below
- Ignition sources such as cooking, heating, electrics and smoking
- The tenants, including anyone who would need help to escape
- Testing records and how the house is managed day to day
The result should be a written report with a clear, prioritised action plan and a recommended review date. HMOs are sleeping accommodation, often with a high turnover of tenants, so reviewing the assessment at least once a year is common practice, and sooner if the house changes.
Converted blocks of flats
Some buildings converted into self-contained flats are treated as HMOs under section 257 of the Housing Act 2004, where the conversion did not meet the relevant building regulations and enough of the flats are let on short tenancies. These buildings also need a fire risk assessment of the common parts, and the Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that the flat entrance doors, structure and external walls are part of that assessment.
How it differs in England
The core duty is the same: the Fire Safety Order applies to the common parts of HMOs in both nations, and LACORS and BS 9792 are used in both. The main differences are:
- England's mandatory licensing has no storey test, so more HMOs need a licence by default.
- In England, every Responsible Person must record the full fire risk assessment in writing, following amendments made by the Building Safety Act 2022.
- England uses the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 for rented homes, rather than the Welsh fitness rules.
- There is no Rent Smart Wales equivalent for private landlords in England.
If you have HMOs on both sides of the border, keep separate checklists. The same house can meet the Welsh rules and still fall short in England, or the other way round.