· Property Assessments for Landlords Services Ltd (PALS)
It is one of the most common misunderstandings we come across, and it usually surfaces at the worst possible moment — when a fire officer visits, or an insurer asks a question at renewal.
A shop, cafe or office leases its premises. Something goes wrong. Everyone assumes the landlord was taking care of fire safety, because the landlord owns the building. In most cases, that is not what the law says.
The law follows control, not ownership
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places its duties on the “responsible person”. In a workplace, article 3 defines that as “the employer, if the workplace is to any extent under his control”.
Read that again, because the important words are *under his control*. Not who owns it. Not whose name is on the deeds. Whoever runs the business in that space, and controls what happens in it, carries the duty — including the duty to make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.
For premises that are not a workplace, the Order points at the person in control of the premises in connection with carrying on a trade or business, and failing that, the owner.
So who does what in a leased building?
In the ordinary case of a business leasing a unit:
- You, the business, are responsible for the part you occupy — your layout, your escape routes, your alarms, your equipment, your staff.
- The landlord or freeholder is responsible for the shared parts of the building — the communal hallway, the shared staircase, the structure.
That split catches people out in both directions. Business owners assume the landlord's assessment covers them; it usually covers only the common parts. And landlords sometimes assume their tenant has it all in hand, when the communal areas remain squarely theirs.
It is not always only one person
The Order anticipates that control is often shared. Article 5(3) extends the duties to “every person… who has, to any extent, control of those premises so far as the requirements relate to matters within his control”.
And article 5(4) goes further. If you have an obligation under a contract or tenancy relating to the maintenance or repair of the premises, or to their safety, you are treated as having control to the extent that your obligation extends.
In plain terms: dig out the lease. If it makes you responsible for repairing and maintaining the unit, that is likely to bring fire safety obligations with it, whatever anybody assumed. Two or three parties can each carry duties for the same building at the same time, each for their own patch.
Blocks of flats and shared residential buildings
For a building containing flats, the Fire Safety Order applies to the structure, the external walls and the common parts, including flat entrance doors. That duty typically sits with the freeholder, the managing agent or the residents' management company — the people who control those shared areas.
It does not reach inside an individual flat let to a single household. Conditions inside a dwelling are dealt with instead under the Housing Act 2004 and the HHSRS, which is enforced by the council rather than the fire service. We have written about how those two regimes fit together.
Holiday lets: it is you
If you let a cottage, flat or annexe to paying guests, you are running a business from those premises and the Fire Safety Order applies. There is no landlord upstream to hand it to. If a letting agency manages the property for you, that does not move the duty off you either — although their contract may give them obligations of their own under article 5(4).
Why it matters more than a paperwork question
The duty is personal, and it comes with real consequences. Where a failure places people at risk of death or serious injury in the event of fire, the penalties run to an unlimited fine and, on indictment, up to two years' imprisonment. In Cornwall, enforcement sits with Cornwall Fire, Rescue and Community Safety Service.
Since October 2023, the requirement to record the assessment applies to all premises covered by the Order, and all of the findings must be recorded — the old threshold based on employee numbers is gone. “We assumed the landlord had one” is not a record.
What to do if you are not sure
- Read the lease — specifically the repair, maintenance and insurance clauses. They are usually the clearest indication of who controls what.
- Ask your landlord for their assessment and check what it actually covers. If it stops at the communal hallway, the rest is yours.
- Look at what you control day to day — if you decide where the furniture goes, whether a fire door gets propped open, and who works there, you are exercising control.
- If two parties both have duties, talk to each other. The Order expects co-operation between them, and a gap between two assessments is exactly where problems live.
About Property Assessments for Landlords Services Ltd (PALS)
We carry out accredited fire risk assessments for small businesses, holiday lets, HMOs and blocks of flats across Cornwall, including Truro, Newquay, St Austell, Bodmin and Liskeard.
Both our assessors are Third-Party Accredited Intermediate Fire Risk Assessors on the National Fire Risk Assessors Register (NFRAR), with over 20 years' combined experience as former Local Authority Housing Enforcement Officers. If you are unsure whether the duty sits with you, get in touch — we would rather tell you for free than have you find out from an enforcement officer.