Our method
How we check council HMO fire safety rules
Every council in England and Wales can set its own fire safety rules for HMOs. This page explains where our copy of those rules comes from, how we keep it right, and what it does and doesn't mean for your fire risk assessment.
Written by Bradley, Founder of FRASafe.
Where the rules come from
We read what each council publishes about fire safety in HMOs: its fire safety standard, its licence conditions and its guidance for landlords. Where a council publishes nothing of its own, LACORS applies. LACORS is the national guide on fire safety in existing housing, and it is what councils fall back on.
- 318
- councils in England (296) and Wales (22)
- 135
- publish their own standard
- 80
- use a shared regional standard
- 103
- have no standard of their own, so LACORS applies
Every council has its own page in our HMO fire safety standards guide.
Every rule is quoted from its source
For each requirement (the fire alarm, fire doors, the escape route, emergency lighting and so on) we save the council's own words, with the document's title, date and a link. Long passages are shortened with “...”. A script checks every quote against our saved copy of the document and flags any that no longer match. Where a document says nothing about an item, we record that, and LACORS fills the gap.
That is why our council and city pages show the wording next to each requirement. You can always check it against the council's own document.
Never less than LACORS
Some councils' standards ask for less than LACORS on a particular item. Where that happens we use the LACORS minimum instead, and the page says so. Your house is never held to a lower standard than the national guide.
Checked every month
On the first of each month an automated check compares every council document we rely on with the version we saved. When something has changed, we read the new version, update the rules if they need it, and record the date. That is the “last checked” date you see on each page.
Each update is saved as a new version of the rules. A finished report keeps the version it was written under, so it never changes after you download it.
How the rules reach your assessment
When you start an HMO assessment, we find your council from the property's postcode. We are rolling out assessments that check your answers against that council's rules, with each item in your action plan naming the rule it comes from. Every assessment follows BS 9792:2025 and LACORS.
12 councils say a qualified fire risk assessor must carry out the assessment. If your property is in one of them, we tell you before you start and point you to a professional instead.
What we don't claim
- No council has approved or endorsed FRASafe. Your council has the final say on what it accepts.
- The council pages summarise published rules. They are not legal advice, and your house may need more or less than a typical example.
- If your council rejects your report because of its format or the standard it is written to, we refund you in full. Terms apply.
Spotted a mistake?
Councils change their rules, and we sometimes get things wrong. Tell us what you found and where, and we will check it against the council's document and correct the page.
Start your HMO fire risk assessment
£45 for your PDF report. No subscription.