Guidance

Residents' guide to fire safety in blocks of flats

Published 14 September 2026

Applies to England

Who is this guide for and what does it do?

This guide is for residents (leaseholders, social tenants and private rental tenants) who live in blocks of flats in England.

It explains the legal fire safety responsibilities of landlords. It also  explains how you can check whether they are meeting those responsibilities and what action you can take if they are not.

Introduction

If you live in a block of flats, you should be safe from the risk of fire in your home. This is true whether you are a leaseholder, a social housing tenant, or a private tenant.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (referred to as the “Fire Safety Order”),  as amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021, places legal responsibility for the fire safety in a building on a “responsible person”.

In a block of flats, those responsibilities generally relate to the building’s structure (including balconies), external walls (including doors/windows in those walls) and communal areas (or “common parts”) and so the responsible person is the person or organisation with control of the premises.

The responsible person is usually the landlord, freeholder, managing agent or housing provider. It depends on who is responsible for the building’s shared or communal areas (referred to as ‘common parts’ in the legislation).

The responsible person must:

• assess fire risks in common parts of the building
• assess fire risks of external walls and flat entrance doors
• take steps to reduce or control risks
• share fire safety information with residents

This guide explains what the responsible person must do and how you can check whether they are doing it.

Further guidance for the responsible person

The guidance Fire safety: guidance for those with legal duties explains what responsible persons must do to comply with fire safety law.

The guidance may be particularly useful if you are a leaseholder who manages your building through enfranchisement, Right to Manage or commonhold.

It explains how to

• understand the legal duties of the responsible person under fire safety law
• carry out and review a fire risk assessment
• identify and maintain the fire safety measures needed for a building

What the responsible person must do

The responsible person has legal duties under the Fire Safety Order. These include:

• carrying out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment that includes the external walls
• arranging a fire risk appraisal of the external walls (FRAEW) where needed
• putting fire safety measures in place such as fire doors, fire alarms and emergency lighting
• sharing fire safety information with residents
• keeping records of assessments and actions taken

This is not a complete list of duties.

These responsibilities apply to all responsible persons, regardless of tenure type. However, how residents access information or raise concerns may differ depending on whether they are leaseholders, social tenants, or private renters.

What is a fire risk assessment (FRA)?

A fire risk assessment (FRA) is an assessment of fire risks in a building and the measures required to keep people safe. Under the Fire Safety Order, the responsible person must carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of fire risks in the building’s common parts.

A fire risk assessment must:

• identify fire hazards and people at risk
• assess fire risks and identify measures to reduce or control those risks
• be suitable and sufficient for the building
• be reviewed regularly, especially after changes to the building
• be recorded and kept up to date
• assess flat entrance doors (or a sample where all doors are the same)
• assess other fire doors in communal areas
• include the external walls, cladding and insulation, where relevant

What is an FRAEW?

A fire risk appraisal of external walls (FRAEW) assesses the risk of fire spreading through the building’s external wall system. This can include:

• cladding
• insulation
• cavity barriers
• fixings and attachments

The FRAEW is not intended to identify all fire safety risks in the building, only those in the external wall system. Wider fire safety risks should be identified in the FRA.

When is an FRAEW needed?

An FRA may recommend an FRAEW where: 

• combustible materials are known or suspected to be present in a building’s external walls
• there is a material risk of fire spreading through the external wall system

When an FRAEW may not be needed

An FRAEW may not be needed where the external walls are considered low risk.

Examples include:

• a single house
• blocks of flats that are two storeys or fewer
• blocks of flats where the fire risk assessment has determined that the external walls present a low risk of external fire spread

External walls may be considered as presenting a low risk of external fire spread if they:

• are made entirely of brick or solid masonry or formed of two layers of masonry
• comply with current building regulations, including the restrictions on use of combustible materials
• meet recognised fire testing standards

You can find more information about FRAEWs, including when they are needed and how they are carried out, in Understanding fire risk appraisals of external walls on residential blocks of flats.

An FRAEW forms part of the overall fire risk assessment where there are concerns about external wall fire risks.

The assessment may conclude that remedial work is not needed. Any decision should be based on evidence, clearly explained, and reviewed regularly as part of the fire risk assessment process.

Fire safety information residents should receive

The responsible person must provide residents with clear and relevant fire safety information that is easy to understand and accessible to all residents. This should include:

• the building’s evacuation strategy, such as stay put or simultaneous evacuation
• what to do if there is a fire
• contact details for the responsible person or managing agent
• how to report fire safety concerns
• any other actions residents must take in the event of a fire
• updates when fire safety arrangements change
• information about fire risks identified in assessments and the actions taken to manage them

The full requirements of what the responsible person must do can be found in Regulation 9 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022.

Residents who need extra help to leave the building

Since April 2026, high rise residential buildings and buildings between 11 and 18 metres with a simultaneous evacuation strategy, must have a process for Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (RPEEPs) for those residents who need extra help to evacuate safely. Further guidance is available on Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans.

Resident fire safety checklist

Use this checklist to help you decide whether the responsible person is meeting their fire safety duties.

Fire risk assessment

• Has a fire risk assessment been completed for shared areas?
• Does the assessment include the building’s external walls?
• Has an FRAEW been completed where cladding or external wall fire safety risks are present?
• Is the assessment reviewed regularly and kept up to date?

Fire safety measures

• Are fire doors in good condition?
• Do fire doors close properly where they are designed to self-close?
• Are escape routes clear and well lit?
• Are fire alarm systems tested and maintained?
• Is emergency lighting tested regularly, where provided?

Fire safety information

• Have you received fire safety instructions?
• Do you know the building’s fire evacuation strategy?
• Do you know what to do if there is a fire?
• Do you know who to contact about fire safety concerns?

If you answer “no” to any of these questions, contact the responsible person or managing agent for your building.

Questions to ask the responsible person

You may want to ask:

• Can you share the latest fire risk assessment?
• Does the assessment cover the building’s external walls?
• Has an FRAEW been carried out, or is one needed?
• Can you share the FRAEW executive summary?
• What is the building’s fire safety and evacuation strategy?
• How often are fire safety systems inspected, tested and maintained?
• Who should I contact if I have a fire safety concern?
• What actions have been taken since the last fire risk assessment?
• Where are the fire doors and evacuation routes?

The responsible person must share information about the fire risks identified in the fire risk assessment.

Advice for different types of residents

Leaseholders

If you are not the responsible person, you can ask the freeholder or managing agent for fire safety information. You may have to contribute to fire safety work through service charges.

You can raise concerns with the freeholder or managing agent. If concerns are not resolved, you can contact:

• your local council
• your local fire and rescue service
• LEASE or another leaseholder advice organisation

Social housing tenants

You can raise concerns through your landlord’s complaints process or use tenant panels or complaints procedures if your building has them.

If concerns are not resolved, you can contact:

• the Housing Ombudsman
• your local fire and rescue service
• Citizens Advice or another tenant advice organisation

If you are a private tenant

The responsible person must make sure the building meets fire safety requirements.

You can ask your landlord for fire safety information and should report fire safety concerns to them. If concerns are not resolved, contact:

• your local council’s housing team
• your local fire and rescue service
• Citizens Advice or another tenant advice organisation

What to do if you are unable to contact your responsible person

If you do not hear from your responsible person you should get in touch with your local authority to discuss what you should do next.

If you want to find out if your building is eligible for funding or you have concerns about the external wall system on your building, you can tell Homes England by using the Homes England Tell Us… tool.

Enfranchisement, Right to Manage and commonhold

In some buildings, residents are responsible for managing fire safety instead of a landlord, freeholder or managing agent. This can happen where residents manage the building through:

• collective enfranchisement
• Right to Manage
• commonhold

Collective enfranchisement

Collective enfranchisement allows leaseholders to buy the freehold of their building together.

Where leaseholders own the freehold, they may become the responsible person for the communal parts of the building. This means they, or their managing agent, must:

• comply with fire safety law
• carry out fire risk assessments
• take fire safety precautions
• provide fire safety information to residents

Right to Manage

Right to Manage allows leaseholders to take over management of a building without buying the freehold. The Right to Manage company is usually responsible for:

• collecting and managing  service charges
• maintaining  communal areas (such as communal hallways and stairs)
• maintaining the structure of the building (such as the roof)
• dealing with complaints about the building from other leaseholders

The Right to Manage company is also usually the responsible person for shared areas under the Fire Safety Order. It must manage fire safety, carry out risk assessments and maintain fire safety measures.

Commonhold

Under commonhold, flat owners own their property outright and share ownership of common areas through a Commonhold Association.

The Commonhold Association manages the building and is responsible for meeting its legal duties for fire and building safety. In higher-risk buildings, the Commonhold Association may also act as the Principal Accountable Person under the Building Safety Act 2022.

Separate guidance on Fire safety: guidance for those with legal duties  provides information for the responsible person on the Fire Safety Order, fire risk assessments and fire safety law.