Wood Burners and Open Fires in Holiday Lets: The Fire Safety Rules

A chimney fire rips through the roof space of your cottage in January. When you claim, the insurer asks one question: when was the flue last swept, and by whom? You cannot produce a certificate, so the claim is refused and you are left with the repair bill, weeks of cancelled bookings and no cover. That is the sharp end of getting solid fuel wrong. A wood burner in a holiday let is a genuine draw for guests, but it is also usually the single highest fire risk in the building, and the rules around a log burner are stricter than most hosts realise.

There are two separate hazards to manage, not one. The first is fire, from the appliance, the flue and the hot ash it produces. The second is carbon monoxide, an odourless gas that a badly maintained or badly used stove can pour into a room where your guests are sleeping. Get either wrong and you are exposed to prosecution, an invalidated insurance policy and, in the worst case, a death on your property. This is one area where cutting corners is never worth it.

Wood burner holiday let rules: two duties you cannot skip

A pure holiday let is a commercial premises, so it falls under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the RRO 2005). That makes you the responsible person, and it requires a written fire risk assessment that identifies the solid fuel appliance as a hazard and records the controls you have put in place. If your property is also let residentially at other times, the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2022 apply on top.

Either way, the practical duties are the same: a working carbon monoxide alarm, a properly swept chimney, a safe hearth and guard, clear guest instructions and safe ash disposal. Below is what each of those actually means, and where hosts most often fall down.

Log burner safety in a let starts with a working CO alarm

Take a firm line on this one: a wood burner without a working carbon monoxide alarm is not acceptable, full stop. It is both a legal breach and a genuine risk to life, and no booking income justifies it. If you have a solid fuel appliance and no CO alarm, take the stove out of use until the alarm is fitted.

In England, the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2022 require a carbon monoxide alarm in any room containing a fixed combustion appliance, and a wood burner or multifuel stove clearly counts. The alarm should meet BS EN 50291, be positioned in line with the manufacturer's instructions (usually high on a wall, roughly one to three metres from the appliance) and be tested regularly. A sealed ten year battery unit takes the guesswork out of it. The rules differ by nation: Wales requires a CO alarm in any room with a gas, oil or solid fuel appliance under the Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022, and Scotland requires one in any room with a carbon fuelled appliance or flue. Check the rule for the nation your property sits in.

The full detail on alarm types, placement and testing is set out in our guide to holiday let smoke and carbon monoxide alarm requirements, which is worth reading alongside this piece before your next changeover.

Sweep the chimney, and keep the certificate

A blocked or sooty flue is how chimney fires start, and it is also how carbon monoxide backs up into the room. HETAS recommends sweeping at least twice a year when you burn wood, and at least once a year for smokeless fuels. In a let that sees heavy, back to back use through the colder months, twice a year is the sensible minimum, timed so one sweep lands just before your main booking season.

Use a sweep registered with a recognised body such as HETAS, the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps or the National Association of Chimney Sweeps, and get a dated certificate every time. That certificate is not just good practice. Most insurers make an annual professional sweep a condition of cover, and if a fire happens and you cannot produce proof of regular sweeping, your claim can be rejected outright. File every certificate with your fire safety records so you can lay hands on it fast.

The hearth, the guard and the surround

The appliance needs to sit on a non-combustible hearth of the correct size, in concrete, stone or tile, extending far enough in front to catch falling embers. For an open fire that means a generous hearth to the front and sides; for a closed stove, follow the appliance and building regulations clearances. Keep the required distance between the stove and any combustible material, including skirting, furniture, curtains and log stores. Guests will push a sofa closer than you would, so build in margin.

Fit a fixed fire guard or spark guard, particularly on an open fire, and make sure it cannot be casually lifted away and left off. Store fuel a safe distance from the appliance, never stacked against a hot stove to dry. These are exactly the sort of physical controls a fire risk assessor will look for, and they belong in your written assessment.

Tell guests how to use it, and how to put it out

Your guests are not solid fuel experts, and you cannot supervise them. Clear written instructions are your main line of defence, so leave them in the welcome folder and on a laminated card by the stove. Cover how to light it, what to burn (dry seasoned wood or approved smokeless fuel only, never rubbish, treated timber, petrol or firelighters by the fistful), not to overload the firebox, keeping the guard in place, keeping air vents clear and never blocking or removing the CO alarm.

Spell out what to do if the CO alarm sounds: get everyone out, open windows, do not use the stove again and call for help. Pair this with a proper fire action notice by the exit, covered in our guidance on fire action notices for holiday lets, so the escape route is obvious even to a guest who arrived after dark.

Safe ash disposal is where most stove fires begin

Ash that looks stone cold can hold live embers for a day or more, and a guest who tips it into a wheelie bin or a cardboard box is how a holiday cottage burns down after checkout. Provide a metal ash bucket or bin with a lid, kept outside on a hard, non-combustible surface well away from the building, fences and fuel stores. Tell guests to use metal tools, to assume the ash is hot for at least 24 hours, to wet embers until fully cold before final disposal, and never to vacuum ash or bag it while warm. Write it down: this cannot be left to common sense.

Insurance and your fire risk assessment

Holiday let and unoccupied property policies routinely attach conditions to a solid fuel appliance: an annual sweep certificate, a working CO alarm, a fitted guard and evidence of servicing. Miss any of them and the insurer can decline a claim even if that specific failing did not cause the fire. Read your policy wording and hold the paperwork that proves you met every condition.

All of this belongs in your written fire risk assessment, which the RRO 2005 requires you to have and to review. The assessment should name the appliance, record the sweeping schedule, the CO alarm, the hearth and guard, the fuel storage and the guest instructions, and note the ash disposal arrangements. Fold it into your wider fire safety routine using our self-catering fire safety checklist so nothing slips between changeovers.

Next steps

If your let has a wood burner or open fire, work through the list this week: confirm the CO alarm works and meets BS EN 50291, book the sweep and file the certificate, check the hearth and guard, refresh the guest instructions and set up a metal ash bin outside. Then get it all on paper. FRASafe's holiday let fire risk assessment walks you through every area required by HMSO guidance, completed online in 30 to 45 minutes for £45, and it prompts you on exactly the solid fuel controls a fire officer or insurer will expect to see recorded.