Who is the Responsible Person for fire safety in a block of flats?

Why the question matters

Every block of flats with common parts needs someone who is legally responsible for fire safety in those areas. That person must make sure there is a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, that the fire safety measures it identifies are in place, and that they are maintained.

In a simple building owned by one landlord, the answer is obvious. In a block with a freeholder, a management company, a managing agent and dozens of leaseholders, it is often not. When nobody is sure who is responsible, fire doors go unchecked, alarms go unserviced and fire risk assessments go out of date.

The legal definition, in plain terms

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies in both England and Wales. Article 3 defines the Responsible Person. For a block of flats, which is not usually a workplace in the ordinary sense, it is:

• the person who has control of the premises in connection with carrying on a trade, business or other undertaking, whether for profit or not; or
• where no such person has control, the owner.

In practice this means whoever runs the building. Collecting service charges, arranging repairs and managing the common parts are all signs of control. Where the common parts are also someone's workplace, such as a block with a concierge, the employer can be the Responsible Person for that workplace.

The Order does not cover the inside of individual flats. It covers the parts of the building used in common, and, since the Fire Safety Act 2021, the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors as well.

Who it usually is

The freeholder or landlord

Where the freeholder manages the building directly, or a landlord such as a housing association or council owns and runs the block, they are the Responsible Person. This is the most straightforward case.

A right to manage or resident management company

Where leaseholders have taken over management through a right to manage (RTM) company, or a resident management company runs the building under the leases, that company usually has control of the common parts and so is usually the Responsible Person. Its directors, often volunteer leaseholders, need to understand that this carries real legal duties.

The managing agent

A managing agent is normally appointed by the freeholder or management company. The Order also places duties on anyone who has, by contract or tenancy, an obligation for the maintenance or repair of the premises or for fire safety in them, to the extent of that obligation. So a managing agent whose contract covers fire safety will share the duties. It does not transfer the owner's responsibility: the freeholder or company that appointed the agent remains accountable and should check the work is being done.

Leaseholders

Leaseholders are not normally the Responsible Person for the common parts. They are, however, responsible for what happens inside their own flat, and the lease may make them responsible for maintaining their front door. That creates an overlap, covered below.

More than one Responsible Person

It is common for a building to have more than one Responsible Person. Examples include a mixed-use block with shops below flats, a building where the freeholder keeps the structure but a management company runs the common parts, or a block on an estate where the landlord controls shared access routes.

Article 22 of the Order requires Responsible Persons who share or have duties in the same premises to co-operate with each other, co-ordinate the measures they take, and keep each other informed of the risks. In practice that means sharing fire risk assessments, agreeing a single evacuation strategy, and making sure the alarm system and escape routes work for the whole building.

If you are not sure where your responsibility ends and someone else's begins, write it down and agree it. A clear split, recorded in the fire risk assessment, is far better than an assumption.

Leaseholders and flat entrance doors

The Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that, in buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises, the Fire Safety Order covers flat entrance doors onto the common parts. So the Responsible Person must include those doors in the fire risk assessment, even where the lease says the leaseholder owns them. In England this took effect on 16 May 2022.

The lease decides who pays for a door and who must carry out repairs. But if a door is defective, the Responsible Person still needs to make sure the problem is dealt with. That usually means writing to the leaseholder, explaining what is wrong and why it matters, and following up. Leaseholders who replace doors or fit new locks, letterboxes or spyholes should check with the Responsible Person first, as unapproved changes can reduce fire resistance.

In England, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add specific duties, including annual best-endeavours checks of flat entrance doors in buildings over 11 metres. These do not apply in Wales.

Accountable Persons: England and Wales

Amendments to the Fire Safety Order made by the Building Safety Act 2022 also strengthened duties in England to co-operate and share information, including with Accountable Persons, and to pass on fire safety information when a Responsible Person changes.

What to do if you are the Responsible Person

• Confirm in writing who is the Responsible Person and who else holds duties
• Make sure there is a current fire risk assessment to BS 9792, including flat entrance doors
• Check that the evacuation strategy is right for the building and residents know it
• Put testing, servicing and door checks on a schedule and keep records
• If you use a managing agent, check what their contract covers and ask for evidence

For small resident-run companies, getting these basics right is the most useful thing the directors can do.