If you let flats, an HMO, or any building with shared halls and stairs, the law says the communal areas need a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. We explain your duty, then carry it out to the PAS 79 standard.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, someone must take charge of fire safety in the shared parts of a let building. For most rented flats and HMOs, that responsible person is the landlord or managing agent.
Blocks of flats, HMOs, and any rented building with shared halls, stairs, landings or entrances used by more than one household.
The inside of an individual tenant flat, and single self-contained houses, generally fall outside the Order — though good fire safety still matters.
A fire risk assessment of the communal areas is a systematic walk through the fire safety of the building. Select a line to see what we inspect, and why it matters for the people living there.
We work to PAS 79, the British Standards Institution publicly available specification for fire risk assessment. Every job runs the same disciplined route.
You do not just get a certificate on the wall. You get a working document that satisfies the duty to record your findings, and tells you exactly what to do next.
A clear, documented record — the thing the Fire Safety Order expects you to keep, and to produce on request.
Every assessment covers the same scope of work. The price you see is the price you pay — the only additions are parking and congestion charge, and only where they genuinely apply.
Flats, HMOs and converted houses in residential use.
Mixed-use and commercial buildings, priced by floor count.
The communal-areas duty spans a range of rented buildings. Whatever you let, the assessment is tailored to how people actually live in and escape from it.
A straightforward route from first enquiry to delivered report, so you always know what happens next.
The questions that come up most often, answered plainly.
If your property has communal areas shared by more than one household — a block of flats, an HMO, or a converted house with shared halls and stairs — then under the Fire Safety Order 2005 a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of those shared areas is a legal requirement. The interior of a single let house or an individual tenant flat generally falls outside the Order, though fire safety still matters. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
The communal areas — escape routes and stairways, fire doors and compartmentation, detection and alarm, emergency lighting and signage, and firefighting provision and housekeeping. We identify hazards, judge the risk, and record a prioritised action plan.
The Order says an assessment must be kept up to date and reviewed regularly. There is no single fixed legal interval, but common practice is to review it at least annually, and always after significant changes to the building, its use or occupancy, or after a fire or near-miss.
Whoever has control of the premises — for most rented buildings that is the landlord, freeholder or managing agent. In multi-occupied buildings there can be more than one. Even if you appoint an external assessor, you cannot transfer the legal responsibility.
For a standard communal-areas (Type 1) assessment, no — we focus on the shared parts and the flat entrance doors as seen from the common areas. More detailed assessment types that include sampling inside flats exist for higher-risk buildings.
Failing to have a suitable and sufficient assessment where one is required is an offence under the Fire Safety Order. Fire and rescue authorities can take enforcement action, and penalties can be serious — enforcement has become significantly tougher since the Building Safety Act 2022.
Fixed prices for the most common jobs are listed on the Services page, starting at £84.99 for a studio apartment. Anything unusual is priced individually, and we confirm the figure in writing before you commit.
Tell us about the building and we will come back with a clear, fixed price for a PAS 79 fire risk assessment of the communal areas — usually the same working day.
This form does not take payment or confirm a booking — it starts a conversation. Your details are not shared with third parties for marketing. Prices are confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Send a few details about the building and we will come back with a clear, fixed price for a PAS 79 assessment of the communal areas — usually the same working day.