Call of the month - new fire safety rules

This week we were able to help a member with a query relating to the latest fire safety regulations.

The member was a HMO landlord of a student property, let on a room by room basis and wanted to make sure that they were fully compliant, after hearing new regulations had been brought in.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23rd January and introduce new obligations for some landlords.

Regulations for properties under 11 metres in height, apply only to common parts of shared properties, where they:

• Are split into at least two premises,
• Have communal areas that residents must pass through to leave the building.

The rules also apply only in England at present, although the Welsh government could decide to introduce something similar in the future.

The landlord’s property – a room-only HMO – would meet these criteria and so the landlord must comply with new rules, meaning they must provide:

• fire safety instructions to the occupants
• information regarding the fire doors in the property.

Fire Safety Instructions

Fire safety instructions must include:

• The evacuation strategy for the building (e.g. stay put or simultaneous evacuation)
• Instructions on how to report a fire (e.g. use of 999 or 112, correct address to give to the fire and rescue service, etc.)
• Any other instructions that tell residents what they must do if there is a fire

Fire Door Instructions

Information on the fire doors must state:

• Fire doors should be shut when not in use
• Residents or their guests should not tamper with self-closing devices on fire doors
• Residents should report any fault with, or damage to, fire doors immediately to the responsible person – in this case the landlord

Practical help

The NRLA has produced guide on the new requirements, which can be accessed here, and includes a downloadable document that landlords can edit to display fire safety information to tenants in their property.

We advised the member to take a look at the template and to add to it and amend as necessary. This information then should be provided to individual tenants as soon as possible, and should be displayed in part of the building as per the regulations.