How Much Does an HMO Fire Risk Assessment Cost in 2026?

Miss the fire risk assessment your HMO licence depends on and a council environmental health officer can serve a prohibition notice that empties your property of tenants, or refer you for prosecution where fines under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the RRO 2005) are unlimited. That is the backdrop to the question every landlord asks: how much does an HMO fire risk assessment cost, and is the quote in front of you fair? The honest answer on fire risk assessment cost in the UK is that it depends on your building, and the gap between the cheapest and the dearest quote for the same property is far wider than most landlords expect.

Below are realistic 2026 price ranges for an assessor-led HMO fire risk assessment, exactly what pushes the number up or down, and the cheaper guided route that a competent, hands-on landlord can use for a straightforward property. Get the pricing wrong in either direction and you either overpay by hundreds of pounds or buy a thin report that your council rejects.

What an HMO fire risk assessment costs in the UK in 2026

For a small, straightforward HMO, think three to six bedrooms over two storeys, an assessor-led fire risk assessment typically lands somewhere around a couple of hundred pounds, broadly in the £200 to £450 region plus VAT. That covers a competent assessor visiting, inspecting the common parts and letting rooms, and producing a written report with an action plan.

Scale the building up and the price climbs quickly. A larger HMO, five or six storeys, a converted block, or shared houses with more sleeping accommodation, commonly runs from several hundred pounds into the £500 to £800 bracket, and complex or high-risk premises can pass £1,000. As a rough anchor, general commercial fire risk assessment cost in the UK spans roughly £150 for a tiny single-storey unit up to £1,500 or more for tall, complex buildings. HMOs sit at the pricier end of that spread for their size, because sleeping accommodation is treated as higher risk.

Two things to hold in mind. Most quotes exclude VAT, so add 20 per cent if the firm is VAT registered. And these are England and Wales figures under the RRO 2005. Scotland runs a separate regime under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, and licensing rules differ across the nations, so a local quote is worth more than a headline national average.

What actually drives the price

Assessors do not pluck a number from the air. They are pricing time on site, time writing up, and the professional risk they carry by putting their name to your report. A handful of factors move the figure.

Size and number of storeys

This is the single biggest lever. Every extra floor means another protected escape route to evaluate, more fire doors to check, and more compartmentation to trace. A two-storey six-bed and a five-storey six-bed are not the same job, even with identical tenant numbers, because vertical escape is where HMO fires turn fatal.

Sleeping risk

People asleep cannot smell smoke or react fast, so the detection and escape standards are higher and the assessment is more searching. A competent assessor will be checking your alarm grade against BS 5839-6, testing fire door integrity, and confirming escape routes stay usable, all of which take longer than a walk round a daytime office. That extra scrutiny is priced in, and it is the main reason HMO assessments cost more per square metre than commercial ones.

Travel and location

Assessors charge for the time it takes to reach you. A property an hour off their patch carries a travel loading, and London and the South East typically run 20 to 40 per cent above national rates. If you hold several HMOs in one area, ask about a portfolio rate, because batching visits strips out repeat travel time.

Assessor competence and report quality

The RRO 2005 requires the fire risk assessment to be carried out by a competent person, someone with the training, knowledge and experience to do it properly. Assessors on a recognised register, such as a Tier 3 NFRAR listing or a BAFE SP205 accreditation, usually charge a premium of £50 to £150 over an unregistered sole trader. That premium buys a defensible report your council is more likely to accept first time. A cheap quote that produces two pages of ticks and no prioritised action plan is not a bargain, it is a document that fails at renewal.

Why the same HMO gets quotes from £200 to £800

Ring three assessors about one six-bed HMO and you can genuinely get quotes that differ by several hundred pounds. That spread is not random. At the bottom sit sole traders working fast with a template. In the middle sit registered assessors giving you a proper written assessment with photographs and a costed action plan. At the top sit consultancy firms charging £80 to £120 an hour with fuller documentation.

The lesson is not to grab the cheapest. It is to compare like for like. Ask each assessor what their registration is, whether the fee includes a written report and action plan, whether photographs are included, and what a re-inspection after you carry out the works would cost. Two quotes that look £300 apart often converge once you count what each one actually delivers.

The cheaper route: a guided DIY assessment with a tool

Here is what the assessment firms rarely mention. The law does not say you must hire a third party. The RRO 2005 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment by a competent person, and for a small, simple HMO that person can be you, provided you genuinely understand the fire risks and the property is not complex. We cover the competence test in detail in our guide to how to do your own HMO fire risk assessment, and it is worth reading before you decide.

A guided online tool sits between paying £400 for an assessor and staring at a blank template you do not know how to fill in. It walks you through the same areas a professional checks, escape routes, alarm grade, fire doors, emergency lighting, and produces the written record your council expects, at a fraction of assessor prices. Our walkthrough of completing an HMO FRA online shows exactly what that process looks like from start to finish.

For a two or three storey shared house with a handful of tenants, this route is legitimate and can save you the best part of a few hundred pounds a year, given the assessment must be reviewed at least annually and after any significant change. The saving compounds across a small portfolio.

When you should still pay for an assessor

Cheaper is not always right. Pay a registered professional if any of these apply to your property.

• The building is tall or complex: four or more storeys, a converted block, or a mixed-use property with commercial units below.
• Your council specifically asks for an assessment by an accredited or third-party assessor as a licence condition. Some do, so check your own authority's wording.
• You are not confident you could spot an inadequate escape route, a failed fire door, or a wrong alarm grade if you were looking straight at one.
• There are vulnerable occupants or unusual risks that need a trained judgement.

The competent person test is not a formality. If you genuinely cannot identify the hazards, doing it yourself is a false economy, because an assessment that misses a real risk offers you no protection when an officer inspects or, far worse, when there is a fire and your insurer examines whether you met your duty.

Making the cost worth it

Whichever route you take, the money only counts if the output is a written assessment with a dated, prioritised action plan that you then act on. An assessment that flags a broken fire door and sits in a drawer is worthless, and in an investigation it reads as proof you knew and did nothing. The value is not the document, it is the remedial work it drives.

Budget, then, for two things: the assessment itself, and the fixes it identifies. On a well-kept HMO the fixes may be minor. On a neglected one the action plan can run to more than the assessment, which is precisely why paying for the assessment and ignoring it is the most expensive option of all.

Next steps

Get three like-for-like quotes for your HMO, check each assessor's registration, and confirm the fee includes a written report and action plan before you commit. If your property is small and straightforward and you are confident you meet the competent person test, the guided route will cost you far less. FRASafe guides you through a BS 9792:2025-aligned fire risk assessment, free to complete, with a council-ready PDF for £45. Either way, do not let the assessment lapse: it must be reviewed at least annually and after any change to the building or its occupancy, and a current one is the difference between a routine inspection and a prohibition notice.