Do I Need a Fire Risk Assessment for My Holiday Let?

Yes. Full stop. If you charge guests to stay in your property — whether through Airbnb, Sykes Cottages, a direct booking website, or any other channel — you are legally required to carry out a fire risk assessment. This isn't a recommendation, a best-practice guideline, or something that only applies to big hotels. It's a legal duty, it applies to every paying guest property in the UK regardless of size, and it applies to you.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — the RRO 2005, the main piece of fire safety legislation covering businesses and commercial premises — is clear on this.

Why Does This Law Apply to a Holiday Cottage?

I'll cut through the jargon: the RRO 2005 excludes "domestic premises" — meaning properties someone lives in as their private home. When you let your property to paying guests, those guests are not living there as their private dwelling. They have a home elsewhere. And you're not occupying it as your home at that time either. So the domestic exemption doesn't apply. The full force of the law kicks in.

If you also own an HMO, the same legislation applies — see our complete HMO fire risk assessment guide.

The government's own guidance — "Making your small paying guest accommodation safe from fire" (updated January 2025) — confirms this unambiguously. The law "applies to you if you are charging someone to stay in your property as a guest and it is not being occupied as a private dwelling, even if it is just for one night."

Even a single-night Airbnb booking triggers the legal duty. There's no minimum stay, no minimum number of guests, no minimum size threshold. And the 90-night rule is a planning exemption, not a fire safety one — it has absolutely no bearing on this obligation.

Who Is the "Responsible Person"?

Under the RRO 2005, the "responsible person" is whoever has control of the premises in connection with carrying on a business — which for most holiday lets means the owner. If a letting agent or management company manages the property on your behalf, you may share responsibility with them. But here's the thing: you cannot simply hand this off and assume it's covered. The owner cannot delegate and walk away.

The responsible person must carry out — or arrange for a competent person to carry out — a "suitable and sufficient" fire risk assessment. And from April 2026, when England's new short-term let (STL) registration scheme launches, you'll need to be able to demonstrate you've done this.

What Must the Assessment Cover?

A proper holiday let fire risk assessment isn't just a tick-box exercise. It needs to genuinely address:

• Ignition sources and fuel loads — electrical installation, gas appliances, wood burners, open fires, BBQs, cooking facilities, and how guests actually use these (because you won't always be there to supervise).
• Means of escape — all routes must be clear, all final exit doors must open from inside without a key, and the assessment must account for the fact that guests are strangers to the building who may be asleep when a fire starts.
• Fire detection and warning — smoke alarms on every storey and in every guest bedroom, all interlinked so that one alarm going off wakes everyone. Heat alarms in the kitchen. CO alarms wherever there's a combustion appliance.
• Guest safety information — fire action notices in every bedroom and at each exit, plus a guest information pack with escape routes, assembly point, and the full property address and postcode so guests can direct emergency services accurately.
• Maintenance and records — alarms tested at every changeover, a fire safety log kept, and the assessment itself reviewed at least annually.

What's the Penalty for Not Having One?

Non-compliance with the RRO 2005 is a criminal offence. The responsible person faces an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison for serious breaches. The fire and rescue service can inspect your property, issue enforcement notices, and — if they think it's unsafe — issue a prohibition notice that stops you letting it out entirely.

Watch out: from April 2026, England's STL registration scheme is expected to require hosts to self-certify compliance with fire safety law as a condition of registration. No written fire risk assessment means you won't be able to register — and operating without registration will be a further offence on top of the RRO breach.

Who Can Carry Out the Assessment?

The law requires a "competent person" — someone with sufficient training, experience, and knowledge to identify the risks involved. For smaller properties, you don't legally need to pay for a professional fire risk assessor. But the assessment must be genuinely suitable and sufficient. An inadequate tick-box exercise is no better than having nothing.

Honestly, the smartest way to do this is to use FRASafe's holiday let assessment. It's specifically built for short-term let hosts, walks you through every area required by the government's own guidance, and generates a written PDF report you can produce to a fire inspector, your insurer, or the STL registration scheme. It costs £45 and takes around 30–45 minutes. That's the price of a night's electricity bill — for something the law requires you to have.

The Bottom Line

Every UK holiday let requires a fire risk assessment under the RRO 2005. The law applies from the very first night you charge a guest — regardless of platform, property size, or length of stay. The assessment must be written, suitable and sufficient, and reviewed at least annually. From April 2026, having one is also expected as a condition of the England STL registration scheme. If you haven't done this yet, now is the time.