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Used by 238 councils

LACORS fire safety guide for HMOs

LACORS Housing: Fire Safety (2008) is the national guide most councils use to decide what fire safety an HMO needs. Where a council has no fire standard of its own, this is the one it applies. Many councils with their own standard still build on it.

Read the LACORS document →

What the LACORS standard expects in 3 typical HMOs

Your council may have changed some of the detail, so check your council's own page below.

2-storey shared house, 5 tenants

Fire alarm system
Grade D2, LD3
Fire doors on bedrooms
Not required
Fire door on the kitchen
Not required
Protected escape route
Not required
Heat detector in the kitchen
Required
Emergency lighting
Not required
Fire blanket in the kitchen
Required
Fire extinguishers
Recommended

3-storey shared house, 6 tenants

Fire alarm system
Grade D2, LD3
Fire doors on bedrooms
Required
Fire door on the kitchen
Required
Protected escape route
Required
Heat detector in the kitchen
Required
Emergency lighting
Not required
Fire blanket in the kitchen
Required
Fire extinguishers
Recommended

3-storey bedsits with cooking in rooms, 6 tenants

Fire alarm system
Grade A, LD2, plus a linked heat detector and a standalone smoke alarm in each letting
Fire doors on bedrooms
Required
Fire door on the kitchen
Required
Protected escape route
Required
Heat detector in the kitchen
Required
Emergency lighting
Not required
Fire blanket in the kitchen
Required
Fire extinguishers
Recommended
  • Grade D2 (mains alarms with a replaceable backup battery)
  • Grade A (a panel system with call points)
  • LD3 (escape route only)
  • LD2 (escape route plus rooms where fires are likely to start)

What the standard says

Fire alarms

LACORS national guide

“Shared house HMO of three or four storeys (shared cooking facilities) Grade D: LD3 coverage + additional detection to the kitchen, lounge and any cellar containing a risk (interlinked) Shared house HMO of five or six storeys (shared cooking facilities) Grade A: LD2 coverage ... Bedsit HMO of one or two storeys with individual cooking facilities within bedsits A mixed system: Grade D: LD2 coverage in the common areas and heat detectors in bedsits (interlinked) Grade D smoke alarm in each bedsit to protect the sleeping occupants (non-interlinked) Bedsit HMO of three to six storeys with individual cooking facilities within bedsits A mixed system: Grade A: LD2 coverage in the common areas ... Where cooking facilities are sited in shared kitchen, not within bedsits: interlinked smoke alarms with integral battery backup located in each bedsit”
LACORS Housing - Fire Safety: guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing, July 2008

Fire doors

LACORS national guide

“30-minute protected route note 8, is required, including 30-minute fire-resisting construction and FD30 doors to all risk rooms (without smoke seals ... 30-minute fire-resisting construction and FD30S doors to all risk rooms. Travel distance must not be excessive”
LACORS Housing - Fire Safety: guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing, July 2008

Escape route

LACORS national guide

“No requirement for full 30-minute protected route note 7, but the escape route should have sound, traditional construction and should not pass through risk rooms ... 30-minute protected route note 8, is required, including 30-minute fire-resisting construction”
LACORS Housing - Fire Safety: guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing, July 2008

Kitchen heat detector

LACORS national guide

“additional interlinked heat alarm with integral battery back-up located in the kitchen”
LACORS Housing - Fire Safety: guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing, July 2008

Emergency lighting

LACORS national guide

“Emergency escape lighting required only if the route is long or complex or where there is no effective borrowed light ... Shared house HMO of five or six storeys (shared cooking facilities) Conventional lighting and emergency escape lighting”
LACORS Housing - Fire Safety: guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing, July 2008

Fire extinguishers

LACORS national guide

“a simple multi-purpose extinguisher is recommended on each floor in the common parts of HMOs and buildings containing flats.”
LACORS Housing - Fire Safety: guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing, July 2008

Councils using the LACORS standard

Every council's HMO fire safety standard →

Common questions

What is LACORS?
LACORS was the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services. In July 2008 it published Housing: Fire Safety, guidance on fire safety in certain types of existing housing, including HMOs. LACORS later became part of the Local Government Association, but councils still call the guide "LACORS".
Is the LACORS guide still used in 2026?
Yes. Of the 318 councils in England and Wales we checked, 238 base their HMO fire safety rules directly on LACORS, and many of the rest built their own standards from it. It is guidance, not law, but councils use it to judge whether an HMO's fire safety is good enough.
What is the difference between LACORS and BS 9792:2025?
LACORS says which fire safety measures a house needs, such as the alarm system, fire doors and escape route. BS 9792:2025 is the British Standard for how to carry out a fire risk assessment of housing. Councils still judge the measures against LACORS or their own standard.
Does LACORS apply to my HMO if my council has its own standard?
Your council's own standard comes first. Where it asks for less than LACORS, or says nothing, LACORS is the sensible minimum, and it is what we use.

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