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FRASafe

England and Wales council guide

HMO fire safety standards by council

What your council expects for fire safety in an HMO, from its own published documents. Whether it wants your fire risk assessment, who can carry it out, and the alarms, fire doors and escape route it expects.

Last updated 17 October 2026.

318

councils checked across England (296) and Wales (22)

214

publish their own HMO fire safety standard

107

want your fire risk assessment with the licence application

12

say it must be done by a qualified fire risk assessor

How councils differ

Whether they want to see your fire risk assessment

Every HMO needs a written fire risk assessment by law. Councils differ on whether they ask for it with the licence.

With the licence application
107
As a licence condition, or when asked
50
Mentioned, but not asked for
91
Not stated
70

Who can carry it out

Most councils don't say. A few want a qualified assessor, which rules out doing it yourself.

No rule stated
272
A "competent person"
34
A qualified fire risk assessor
12

Which fire safety standard they use

Most councils base their rules on LACORS, the national guide. Some groups of councils share a regional standard.

Their own standard, built on LACORS
135
A standard shared with other councils
80
No standard of their own, so LACORS applies
103

Shared standards

Many councils publish the same document. These are the standards shared by three or more councils.

LACORS

238 councils

Hertfordshire

10 councils

Kent

8 councils

Homestamp

11 councils

Wales

8 councils

Sussex

6 councils

Suffolk

4 councils

Lancashire

4 councils

Publica councils

4 councils

Cambridgeshire

3 councils

South and East Lincolnshire

3 councils

Tyne and Wear

3 councils

Every council, by region

How we put this together

We read every England and Wales council's published HMO licensing documents: amenity standards, fire safety guides, licence conditions and application guidance. Every requirement on these pages comes with the council's own wording and a link to the document it came from.

Where a council's standard asks for less than LACORS, or says nothing, we show the LACORS minimum and mark it. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different HMO law, so they are not covered here.

Each month we re-check every council's documents for changes. If you spot something out of date, tell us.

Common questions

Does every council have the same HMO fire safety rules?
No. We checked all 318 councils in England and Wales. 214 publish their own fire safety standard, and they differ on alarms, fire doors, escape routes and who can write your fire risk assessment. Most still build on the national LACORS guide.
Do I need a fire risk assessment for an HMO licence?
Every HMO needs a written fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, licensed or not. 107 councils also want it sent with the licence application.
Can I do my own HMO fire risk assessment?
In most areas, yes, as long as it is done properly. 34 councils say it must be done by a "competent person", which a careful landlord can be. 12 councils say it must be a qualified fire risk assessor.
How up to date is this guide?
We re-check every council's published documents each month and update the council's page when its rules change. Each page shows when we last checked it.

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