Frequently asked questions

A fire risk assessment is a structured inspection of a property to identify fire hazards, evaluate who is at risk, and determine what measures are needed to reduce that risk. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO 2005), it must be recorded in writing and kept up to date. The LACORS Housing – Fire Safety Guide is the gold standard reference used by both councils and fire authorities to interpret what is required for different property types.

Any landlord or responsible person for an HMO, block of flats, holiday let, or Airbnb property must carry out a fire risk assessment under the RRO 2005. Single private dwellings occupied solely by the owner are exempt. When councils inspect rental properties, they assess fire safety using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Fire is one of the 29 hazards inspectors are trained to grade. A poor fire risk assessment, or no assessment at all, can trigger a Category 1 hazard notice.

Yes. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person for any qualifying premises to carry out and regularly review a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. For residential buildings with common areas, including HMOs and blocks of flats, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add further duties, including regular inspections of fire doors and providing fire safety information to residents. Failure to comply with the RRO 2005 can result in an unlimited fine or up to two years' imprisonment.

Most fire risk assessments take between 20 and 60 minutes, depending on the size and layout of the property. FRASafe is designed for HMOs up to two storeys in conventional construction with standard shared occupancy. Assessments for these properties can typically be completed in around 20–30 minutes. If your property is three storeys or above, has a complex layout, bedsit-style individual cooking facilities, or houses vulnerable occupants, we recommend contacting us to book a certified fire risk assessor instead. FRASafe auto-saves your progress so you can complete it in stages.

A fire risk assessment must be reviewed at least once a year. You should also review it sooner if there has been a significant change to the property, such as building works, a change in tenants, or a fire or near-miss incident. FRASafe sends annual review reminders so you never miss a deadline.

A fire risk assessment covers: identification of fire hazards (ignition sources, fuel, and oxygen supply); identification of people at risk; and evaluation of existing fire safety measures, including detection and alarm systems, escape routes, fire doors, emergency lighting, signage, and firefighting equipment. The LACORS Housing – Fire Safety Guide provides specific examples of what is required for different HMO types. Fire is also one of the 29 hazards that council inspectors assess under the HHSRS, so a thorough, well-documented fire risk assessment is your strongest defence during any council inspection.

Once you finish the assessment on FRASafe, you can download a professionally formatted PDF report for £45. The report includes your risk rating (low, medium, or high), a prioritised action plan, and the compliance documentation you need for HMO licensing. High-priority actions should be addressed immediately. The RRO 2005 requires the responsible person to act without delay. Keep the report on file and revisit it annually, or sooner if anything significant changes at the property.

A fire risk assessment must be carried out by a competent person: someone with sufficient training, experience, and knowledge to identify hazards and evaluate risk accurately for the specific property type. The LACORS Housing – Fire Safety Guide is the key reference that defines what competence looks like for different HMO configurations. For straightforward properties such as small shared houses or holiday lets, a knowledgeable landlord or managing agent can act as the competent person. For complex, high-rise, or high-occupancy buildings, particularly those subject to the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, a qualified fire risk assessor (such as a BAFE SP205-registered assessor or IFE member) is strongly recommended.

You can carry out your own fire risk assessment if you are a competent person with sufficient knowledge of fire hazards, current legislation, and the specific requirements for your property type. FRASafe guides you through a structured set of questions covering every area required by law, so you don't need to be a fire safety expert to produce a thorough, compliant assessment. Most landlords of small HMOs and holiday lets can self-assess using FRASafe. A professional fire risk assessor is recommended for larger or more complex buildings, high-rise premises, or any property subject to the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.

Under the RRO 2005, a competent person is someone with sufficient training and experience, or knowledge and other qualities, to carry out the fire risk assessment properly. There is no mandatory formal qualification required by law for most residential property types. However, the person must genuinely understand fire hazards, control measures, evacuation strategies, and current legislation including the RRO 2005, BS 9792:2025, and the LACORS Housing – Fire Safety Guide. For higher-risk premises or buildings subject to the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, professional qualifications such as BAFE SP205 certification or IFE membership are strongly advisable.

Yes. FRASafe is aligned with BS 9792:2025 (the current British Standard for fire risk assessments in housing), the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and the LACORS Housing – Fire Safety Guide, which is the document used by councils and fire authorities to determine what is required for different HMO types. The assessment also accounts for the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), ensuring your fire safety arrangements hold up to council inspection. The PDF report meets the written record requirement under the RRO 2005 and is accepted by local councils for HMO licensing.

Yes. If you rent out any property in the UK, you are legally required to carry out a fire risk assessment and keep a written record of it. This applies to HMOs, flats, holiday lets, and Airbnbs. The only exception is a single private home occupied solely by the owner. Even if you only let out a spare room, the law applies to you.

Not having one is a criminal offence. Landlords can face an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison. Councils can also issue improvement notices forcing you to fix fire safety issues, or prohibition orders that stop you letting the property altogether until they're resolved. It's one of the most serious compliance failures a landlord can make.

The landlord is. The law calls this person the 'responsible person,' and even if you use a letting agent to manage the property day-to-day, the legal duty stays with you as the owner. In an HMO, it's typically the licence holder. You can't sign that responsibility away.

Yes. Holiday lets and short-term rentals are treated the same as any other rental property under UK fire safety law. If guests sleep at your property, you need a written fire risk assessment. FRASafe covers both HMO and holiday let assessments, with questions built around the specific risks that come with short-term occupancy.

At a minimum, you need a written fire risk assessment, working smoke alarms on every storey, a carbon monoxide alarm wherever there's a fixed combustion appliance, clear escape routes, and fire doors where the layout requires them. You also need to review everything at least once a year. FRASafe walks you through all of this in one go and produces a PDF report you can show your council or letting agent as proof of compliance.

The landlord is responsible. More specifically, whoever holds the HMO licence. Under the RRO 2005, this person is called the 'responsible person' and it's their job to ensure a fire risk assessment is carried out, kept up to date, and that any fire safety issues are acted on. It doesn't matter how many tenants you have or how the property is managed. The buck stops with the licence holder.

Not legally. A letting agent can manage your property day-to-day, but the legal responsibility for fire safety stays with you as the landlord. You can ask an agent to arrange a fire risk assessment on your behalf, but if it's not done, or not done properly, you're the one who faces enforcement action. Make sure any agent you use understands this.

Yes, if you rent out rooms to other people. A live-in landlord who shares a property with tenants is still the responsible person under fire safety law. The fact that you also live there doesn't change your obligations. You still need a written fire risk assessment and must ensure the property meets fire safety standards.

It depends on how the building is managed. Generally, the freeholder or managing agent is responsible for fire safety in the common areas: hallways, stairwells, lobbies. Individual flat owners or tenants are responsible within their own units. If you own a flat and rent it out, you should carry out a fire risk assessment for your flat and coordinate with whoever manages the building's common areas.

Tenants have a duty not to do anything that puts others at risk, such as propping open fire doors or blocking escape routes. But the legal responsibility for carrying out and maintaining a fire risk assessment sits with the landlord. Tenants cannot be made responsible for the overall fire safety of the property.

It depends on how you do it. A professional fire risk assessor typically charges anywhere from £150 to £500+ depending on the size and complexity of the property. With FRASafe, the assessment itself is free to complete. You only pay £45 to download your PDF report. For most landlords with straightforward HMOs or holiday lets, that's all you need.

We want landlords to be able to work through the assessment and understand their fire safety position before committing to anything. The assessment is free so you can see exactly what's involved. You only pay when you're ready to download your completed report. The £45 PDF is the document you'll use for HMO licensing, council inspections, and your own records.

For straightforward properties (a two-storey shared house, a small HMO, a holiday let) a structured self-assessment using FRASafe is legally valid and council-accepted, at a fraction of the cost. A professional assessor is worth the investment if your property is large, has a complex layout, is three storeys or above, or houses vulnerable occupants. When in doubt, we'd always recommend erring on the side of caution.

No. The assessment is free to complete and the PDF report costs £45. That's it. There are no subscriptions, no renewal fees, and no charge to update your assessment. If you need to redo your annual review, you can complete a new assessment and download a fresh report for the same flat fee.

Yes, it's a legal requirement. Any HMO, whether licensed or not, must have a written fire risk assessment carried out by a competent person. Your local council will ask to see it as part of the HMO licensing process, and they can inspect at any time. FRASafe is built specifically for HMO landlords, with questions aligned to BS 9792:2025 and the LACORS Housing Fire Safety Guide, the two documents councils use to judge whether your property meets the required standard.

Yes. Holiday lets and short-term rentals are treated as non-domestic premises under UK fire safety law, which means the same obligations apply as for any other rental property. If guests sleep at your property, you need a written fire risk assessment. FRASafe includes a dedicated holiday let assessment built around the specific risks of short-term occupancy.

Yes. The freeholder or managing agent is responsible for fire safety in all common areas: stairwells, corridors, and lobbies. They must carry out a written fire risk assessment for those shared spaces. Individual flat owners who rent out their flat should also carry out an assessment for their unit. For larger or more complex blocks, we'd recommend using a professional fire risk assessor.

Yes. Bedsit properties, where tenants have their own rooms with individual facilities, are classified as HMOs and carry the same legal requirements. They can also carry higher fire risk than shared houses due to individual cooking facilities in bedrooms. FRASafe covers straightforward bedsit-style HMOs up to two storeys. For larger or more complex arrangements, a professional assessor is the safer choice.

Yes. Student lets are typically classified as HMOs, which means all the same fire safety laws apply. If three or more students share a property and form more than one household, it's an HMO regardless of whether it's formally licensed. FRASafe is well suited to student HMOs in conventional two-storey properties.

FRASafe is designed for HMOs and holiday lets in conventional construction up to two storeys. It's the right tool for the vast majority of private landlords. If your property is three storeys or above, has a complex layout, or is a large block of flats, we'd recommend booking a certified fire risk assessor instead. We'd rather point you in the right direction than have you use a tool that isn't right for your building.

FRASafe guides you through a structured set of questions covering every area required by law: escape routes, fire doors, detection and alarm systems, emergency lighting, fire safety signage, and more. You work through it at your own pace, room by room. At the end, your answers are used to generate a risk rating and a prioritised action plan, all compiled into a downloadable PDF report.

Yes. You'll need to physically walk through the property as you complete the assessment. Many of the questions require you to check specific things on the ground, such as whether fire doors close properly, whether escape routes are clear, and whether smoke alarms are present on every storey. It's not something you can fill in from memory.

Yes. FRASafe automatically saves your progress as you go, so you can stop mid-assessment and pick up exactly where you left off. This is useful for larger properties where you might want to work through different areas across more than one visit.

Yes. FRASafe is a progressive web app, which means it works without an internet connection. This is useful if you're assessing a property with poor signal. Your answers sync automatically when you reconnect.

Each question in FRASafe includes guidance to help you understand what you're looking for. If you're genuinely unsure about a specific fire safety feature, such as whether a door meets the required standard, it's always better to flag it as a concern in the assessment than to skip it. If you find yourself uncertain across multiple areas, it may be worth booking a professional assessor.

The report includes your overall risk rating, a record of every area assessed, a prioritised action plan highlighting anything that needs attention, and the compliance documentation you need for HMO licensing or council inspections. It's formatted to the standard expected by local authorities and is ready to share with your council, letting agent, or insurers.

Yes. FRASafe reports are accepted by local councils as part of the HMO licensing process. The report is aligned with BS 9792:2025 and the LACORS Housing Fire Safety Guide, which are the documents councils and fire authorities use to assess compliance. If your council has specific requirements, we'd recommend checking with them directly before submitting.

There's no fixed expiry date, but a fire risk assessment must be reviewed at least annually and updated whenever there's a significant change to the property. In practice, most councils and fire authorities expect to see a current assessment, one that reflects the property as it is today. FRASafe sends annual review reminders so you stay on top of it.

Yes, and in many cases it's good practice to do so. Tenants have a right to know about the fire safety arrangements in their home. Sharing the report, or at least the key findings and action plan, helps build trust and ensures everyone in the property understands what to do in an emergency.

If there's a significant change to the property (building works, a change in tenants, new appliances, or a fire or near-miss incident) you should review and update your assessment straight away. You can complete a new FRASafe assessment at any time and download an updated report for £45.

Both are legally valid if carried out by a competent person. The difference is who does it. A professional fire risk assessor brings specialist training, experience across many property types, and professional indemnity insurance. A DIY assessment using a structured tool like FRASafe is appropriate for most straightforward residential properties, such as HMOs up to two storeys, holiday lets, and standard shared houses, where the landlord has sufficient knowledge to assess the risks themselves.

If your property is three storeys or above, has a complex layout, houses vulnerable occupants, or has had fire safety enforcement action taken against it in the past, a professional assessor is the right choice. You should also use a professional if you're ever genuinely unsure about the level of risk. Getting it wrong is not worth the saving.

Look for assessors registered with BAFE under the SP205 scheme, or members of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) or the Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM). These accreditations are recognised by councils and fire authorities as evidence of competence. You can search the BAFE register at bafe.org.uk.

Yes, provided it's carried out by a competent person and recorded in writing. The law doesn't require a professional; it requires competence. FRASafe guides you through a structured assessment that covers everything the law requires, producing a written report that meets the standard expected by councils and fire authorities. If you're confident you understand the fire risks in your property, a self-assessment is a legally sound and cost-effective option.