Holiday Let Fire Regulations (England, Wales, Scotland)

If you charge guests to stay in your holiday let, cottage or Airbnb, fire safety law applies to you. That's true in England, Wales and Scotland, whether you let through Airbnb, Sykes Cottages, Vrbo or your own website, and whether you have one guest a year or a full calendar. In practice the answer to "do I need a fire risk assessment for my holiday let?" is yes, and in England and Wales it must be written down in full.

Want it done rather than read about? FRASafe turns the assessment into plain-English questions and gives you a written PDF with an action plan for £45. See how it works for a holiday let or self-catering cottage or for an Airbnb or short-term let.

Holiday Let Fire Regulations at a Glance

• England: the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the RRO 2005, or Fire Safety Order). You must have a fire risk assessment, recorded in full in writing. A national short-term let register is expected in March 2027 but is not in force yet. Holiday let fire risk assessment in England.
• Wales: the same Fire Safety Order, and the same written assessment. You must also register each let with the Welsh Revenue Authority by 31 March 2027, and a licensing scheme is on its way. Holiday let fire risk assessment in Wales.
• Scotland: its own law, Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, plus a short-term let licence from your council with its own fire-related conditions. Holiday let fire safety in Scotland.

Do You Need a Fire Risk Assessment for Your Holiday Let?

Yes. Fire safety law excludes "domestic premises", meaning places someone lives in as their private home. When you let a property to paying guests, they aren't living there as their home (they have one elsewhere), and you aren't living there while they stay. So the domestic exclusion doesn't apply, and the law does.

The government's guide for England, "Making your small paying guest accommodation safe from fire" (January 2025), says the Fire Safety Order covers short-term lets that are not occupied as a private home, and that you must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and record it in writing. The Welsh Government's guide says the Order applies if anyone pays to stay, in a whole property or a room within it, other than to live there permanently, even if you let a room only once.

There's no minimum stay, no minimum number of guests and no minimum size. A spare room on Airbnb counts in England and Wales. And London's 90-night rule is a planning rule, not a fire safety exemption. It has no bearing on this duty. If you only let a second home occasionally, the same rules apply whenever paying guests are there.

England: the Fire Safety Order and the Coming Register

In England the responsible person must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the fire risks (article 9 of the RRO 2005), put the fire safety measures it shows you need in place, and keep it up to date. Since 1 October 2023, under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, every responsible person must record the assessment in full, including all the findings. The old exemption for businesses with fewer than five employees has gone, so being a small host doesn't get you out of writing it down.

The UK government is also bringing in a mandatory national registration scheme for short-term lets in England, expected to start in March 2027. It isn't in force yet, and its dates have moved before, so check GOV.UK before you plan around it. Your fire risk assessment duty doesn't wait for the register. It applies now. Read more on England's short-term let registration scheme.

Wales: the Same Law, Plus Registration and Licensing

Wales uses the same Fire Safety Order as England, and since 1 October 2023 every responsible person in Wales must record the fire risk assessment in full too, whatever the size of the business.

If you offer stays of 31 nights or less, you must register each property with the Welsh Revenue Authority by 31 March 2027. Registration is open now and free, and you must register even if your area doesn't charge the visitor levy. A licensing scheme has also been passed into law (the Development of Tourism and Regulation of Visitor Accommodation (Wales) Act 2026) but isn't running yet. The Welsh Government expects it from 2029, starting with self-catering. Once it starts, keeping a written fire risk assessment will be one of the standards for a licence.

Scotland: the Fire (Scotland) Act and Short-Term Let Licensing

Scotland has its own fire safety law. Short-term let premises used for sleeping accommodation are covered by the fire safety duties in Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, including the duty in section 54 to assess the fire risks, alongside the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. England and Wales's Fire Safety Order doesn't extend to Scotland. One catch: premises occupied as a private dwelling are outside the Act's duties, so if you let a room in the home you live in, the legal duty to assess may not apply to you.

On top of that, every short-term let in Scotland needs a licence from the council. New hosts have needed one since 1 October 2022, and operating without one is an offence. The mandatory licence conditions include three fire-related ones:

• Detection: satisfactory fire and carbon monoxide detection. That means interlinked ceiling smoke alarms in the living room and every hall and landing, a heat alarm in the kitchen, and a CO alarm where there's a fixed combustion appliance such as a gas boiler or wood burner.
• Furniture: records showing furnishings and mattresses comply with the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988.
• Guest information: fire, gas and electrical safety information for guests, including how to call the emergency services.

A fire risk assessment isn't one of the mandatory licence conditions, but your licence application asks you to confirm one is in place, some councils ask for a copy, and councils can add their own conditions. So check yours.

Who Is the "Responsible Person"?

The responsible person is whoever has control of the premises in connection with running the business. For most holiday lets that's the owner. If a letting agent or management company runs the property for you, you may share responsibility with them, but you can't hand it over and assume it's covered.

The responsible person must carry out (or arrange for a competent person to carry out) a "suitable and sufficient" fire risk assessment, act on what it finds, and keep it up to date.

Why Holiday Let Assessments Are Different from HMO Assessments

A holiday let assessment isn't the same as one for an HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) or a long-term rental, so a generic template probably won't do. The key difference is what fire safety professionals call transient occupancy. Your guests don't know the property. They don't know where the exits are, how the alarms sound, or which door leads to a cupboard and which leads outside. They may arrive late and be asleep within hours of walking in for the first time.

• Guests can't be expected to know where the exits are or how to open them without being told
• Guests may not recognise the sound of an alarm they've never heard before
• Guests may bring ignition risks you can't control: candles, portable heaters, BBQs on the terrace
• The property may sit empty between stays, so faults can go unnoticed until the next guests arrive

So a proper holiday let assessment focuses on telling guests what to do, on alarm coverage, and on whether the escape routes work for people who don't know the building. If you also own an HMO, see our HMO fire risk assessment guide.

What a Holiday Let Fire Risk Assessment Covers

1. The premises

Start with the basics: building age and construction, number of storeys, maximum number of guests, and whether any bedroom is an inner room (one you can only reach through another room). An inner-room bedroom is a known escape risk and needs extra protection, such as an escape window and early warning in the room you pass through. Upper-floor inner rooms are often not acceptable for sleeping at all. Properties with external cladding, EIFS or timber balconies may need a separate specialist external wall appraisal under PAS 9980. A holiday let fire risk assessment doesn't replace that.

2. Fire hazards

• Electrical installation: an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) at least every five years is the usual standard, with no overloaded sockets or trailing extension leads. In Scotland, electrical safety checks are a licence condition. If you have a hot tub or sauna, see hot tubs and saunas in holiday lets.
• Wood burners and open fires: often the biggest single risk in a holiday let. Fit a CO alarm in the same room, have the chimney swept at least once a year and keep the sweep's certificate. More in our guide to wood burners and open fires.
• BBQs and fire pits: kept well away from the building (3 metres is a common rule of thumb), with written instructions for guests and safe fuel storage.
• Candles and naked flames: a clear policy, told to guests. Many hosts ban candles in their booking terms.
• Furniture: upholstered furniture and mattresses must meet the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 and carry the right labels. Supplying non-compliant furniture is a criminal offence.

3. Fire detection and escape

• Smoke alarms on every storey and in every guest bedroom, interlinked so one alarm wakes everyone. Mains-powered interlinked alarms are the usual standard for small guest accommodation. (Scotland's licence standard is set out above.)
• A heat alarm in the kitchen
• A CO alarm in every room with a fuel-burning appliance (see our guide to smoke alarm and CO alarm requirements for holiday lets)
• Every alarm tested at each changeover
• Escape routes kept clear, and every final exit door openable from the inside without a key (more on holiday let fire escape requirements)
• Enough light to escape at night: emergency lighting or plug-in night lights on corridors and stairs, depending on the property

4. Managing fire safety

Your evacuation plan (for a holiday let, simply everyone out at once), a changeover checklist covering alarm tests and exit checks, a fire safety log, and a record of when you last reviewed the assessment.

5. Keeping guests safe

This part is unique to holiday lets, and it's where many hosts fall short. It covers what you give guests before and during their stay:

• Fire action notices in every bedroom and at each exit, with the full property address and postcode so guests can direct the fire service
• A guest information pack with alarm locations, escape routes, the assembly point and your emergency contact
• An escape route plan inside bedroom doors
• How to get out if you use a smart lock or key safe
• A clearly marked assembly point

The assessment then weighs how likely a fire is against how bad one would be, giving an overall risk rating, and lists what to fix and by when. For a quick version to work through, use our self-catering fire safety checklist.

How Often Should You Review It?

Review the assessment whenever there's reason to think it's out of date: building work, a new bedroom, new appliances, or a change in how the property is used. Otherwise, a yearly review is the expected habit. In Wales, a current written assessment will be a licence standard once licensing starts.

What Happens If You Don't Have One?

In England and Wales, failing to meet the fire risk assessment duty is a criminal offence where it puts people at risk of death or serious injury in a fire. On conviction in the Crown Court the penalty is an unlimited fine, up to two years in prison, or both. The fire and rescue service can inspect your property, serve an enforcement notice, and if it thinks the property is dangerous, serve a prohibition notice that stops you letting it.

In Scotland, failing to meet your fire safety duties can also be a criminal offence, and letting without a short-term let licence is an offence in its own right.

Who Can Carry Out the Assessment?

The law asks for a "competent person": someone with enough training, experience and knowledge to spot the risks. For a small, simple property you don't have to pay a professional assessor, but the assessment must be genuinely suitable and sufficient. A tick-box exercise is no better than nothing.

FRASafe is built for exactly this. It suits houses or cottages on up to two floors (ground and first) sleeping up to 10 people, and individual flats. It takes around 30 to 45 minutes, follows the government's guidance, and gives you a written PDF with a prioritised action plan to keep on file and show a fire officer or your insurer. Bigger or more complex places, such as large group lets, need a professional assessor, and we'll point you to one. In Scotland, our questionnaire follows the England and Wales structure, so check its findings against your council's licence conditions.

Get Your Holiday Let Fire Risk Assessment Done

Fire safety law applies to every holiday let from the first night a guest pays. In England and Wales the assessment must be written down in full; in Scotland your licence application will ask you to confirm you have one. Either way, review it at least once a year.

• Holiday let fire risk assessment: for cottages, self-catering and holiday homes
• Airbnb fire risk assessment: for Airbnb hosts and other short-term lets, including a room in your own home

Answer the questions at your own pace, see your action plan, then pay £45 for the PDF. No assessor visit to book.