Fire Safety Act 2021

Reviewed by Bradley Askew, Solicitor (non-practising), England & Wales. Reviewed 20 July 2026.

In short: the Fire Safety Act 2021 amended the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 so that, in any building containing two or more flats with shared common parts, the fire risk assessment must expressly cover the building's structure, its external walls (including cladding), and the doors between flats and the common parts. It received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021, and its main operative provisions (sections 1 and 3) commenced on 16 May 2022. The duty falls on the building's "responsible person" — normally the freeholder or managing agent, not an individual buy-to-let owner — but the knock-on effects (service charges, EWS1 mortgage requirements) reach most landlords who own a flat in a shared block.

Key takeaways

• The Fire Safety Act 2021 is short (four sections) but it settled a real gap in the law: it put beyond doubt that a building's structure, external walls, anything fixed to them (cladding, insulation, balconies), and individual flat entrance doors fall within the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
• It applies only where a building contains two or more sets of domestic premises with a shared common area — a single let house or single let flat is outside its scope.
• The "responsible person" carrying the legal duty is normally the freeholder, a right-to-manage or resident management company, or a managing agent acting for them — not the individual leaseholder.
• The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (a separate but related instrument) add specific duties: fire door checks, resident information, and external-wall information sharing with the fire and rescue service for high-rise buildings.
• Breach of the Fire Safety Order is enforced through statutory notices and criminal prosecution — not a civil penalty scheme. Serious breaches carry unlimited fines and up to two years' imprisonment.
• EWS1 is an industry valuation framework, not a legal requirement, but it materially affects whether a flat in a cladded block can be mortgaged.

What the Act changed

Before the Fire Safety Act 2021, there was genuine uncertainty in the property and fire safety sectors about whether the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 covered a residential block's external walls (including cladding) and individual flat entrance doors, as opposed to just the internal common parts (corridors, stairwells, lobbies). The Grenfell Tower fire of June 2017 made that uncertainty urgent: combustible cladding on the external walls was a major factor in how the fire spread.

Section 1 of the Act amends article 6 of the Fire Safety Order to put the point beyond doubt. Where a building contains two or more sets of domestic premises with a shared common area (internal or external), the responsible person's fire risk assessment duty now expressly extends to:

• The structure of the building — a visual inspection of the construction and layout, on the assumption the building was built to resist early structural collapse in a fire.
• The external walls — including cladding, insulation behind cladding, windows, and any other materials forming part of, or fixed to, the external walls.
• Anything attached to the external walls — including balconies.
• The doors between individual flats and the common parts — flat entrance doors and any other relevant doors.

Section 1 and Section 3 of the Act commenced on 16 May 2022. Section 3 gives responsible persons an evidential route: where they have followed the Home Office's Article 50 prioritisation guidance and used the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool, they can point to that as evidence of compliance with the newly-clarified duties.

Individual flats themselves ("domestic premises" in the Order's own terms) remain outside the Fire Safety Order — the Order governs the building's structure, external walls, and common parts, not the inside of a private dwelling.

Who is the "responsible person"

The Fire Safety Order defines the responsible person as whoever has control of the relevant premises. In a multi-occupied residential building, this is typically:

• The freeholder, where they retain control of the common parts and building structure.
• A right-to-manage company or resident management company, where one has taken over management.
• A managing agent, acting on behalf of the freeholder or management company — though the underlying owner remains legally responsible for the agent's failures.
• A housing association or local authority, for social housing blocks.

The duty is personal to the responsible person and cannot be handed off entirely. This matters for buy-to-let landlords who own a single flat within a larger block: they are not the responsible person for the building's structure, external walls, or common parts. The freeholder or management company is. What an individual flat owner does have, since the 2021 amendments, is a duty relating to their own flat entrance door.

What the fire risk assessment must now cover

The Fire Safety Order requires the responsible person to carry out and keep under review a written fire risk assessment. As amended by the 2021 Act, that assessment must now expressly consider the structure, external walls, and flat entrance doors described above, in addition to the pre-existing requirements to identify fire hazards, identify people at risk, evaluate and reduce those risks, and record findings.

Where a fire risk assessment has already been updated to properly consider the external wall construction, it does not need to be revisited again purely because of the Act — only at the ordinary review points required by article 9 of the Order (for example, after a significant change to the building). Where it has not been updated, the Home Office's guidance expects a visual inspection of the external walls in the first instance; a more detailed appraisal under PAS 9980 (the methodology for assessing external wall fire risk in existing multi-occupied residential buildings) is only needed where there is a known or suspected risk, such as combustible cladding or external wall insulation.

Cost is genuinely variable. A fire risk assessment for a straightforward block with masonry walls costs far less than a detailed PAS 9980 appraisal of a tall building with complex or unusual cladding. There is no fixed statutory fee, so get quotes from suitably qualified fire risk assessors for your specific building rather than relying on a generic figure.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 — the everyday duties

Separately from the Act, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on 23 January 2023 and add specific, practical duties for responsible persons of buildings containing two or more domestic premises with common parts:

• Resident information (all qualifying blocks). Residents must be told that fire doors should be kept shut when not in use, that self-closing devices must not be tampered with, and that faults or damage must be reported immediately — given to new residents as soon as reasonably practicable, and repeated to all residents at least every 12 months.
• Routine fire door checks (buildings with a top storey above 11 metres — typically more than four storeys). The responsible person must use best endeavours to check all flat entrance fire doors at least every 12 months, and check fire doors in communal areas at least every 3 months, recording the steps taken.
• External wall information sharing (high-rise buildings — 18 metres or 7 storeys and above). Responsible persons must give their local fire and rescue service information about the design and materials of the building's external walls, and notify them of material changes, since 23 January 2023.

Government guidance is explicit that these regulation 10 fire door checks are simple, visual checks — they do not require replacing an existing flat entrance door that already meets the standard it was built or manufactured to, and are not the same exercise as the fire risk assessment itself.

Enforcement and penalties

Breach of the Fire Safety Order (as amended) is enforced by the local fire and rescue authority, following a graduated approach:

1. Verbal advice for minor, low-risk issues.
2. Non-statutory notices (a "Letter of Fire Safety Matters" or similar) for more significant but non-urgent breaches — there is no offence for ignoring one, but it can be used as evidence later.
3. Statutory notices — an enforcement notice (requiring remedial action within at least 28 days), a prohibition notice (restricting or stopping use of the premises where there is serious risk), or an alterations notice (requiring notification before making changes to a high-risk premises). Failing to comply with a statutory notice is itself an offence, and there is a 21-day window to appeal to the magistrates' court.
4. Prosecution, where the breach placed people at risk of death or serious injury, or a statutory notice was ignored.

There is no separate civil penalty scheme under the Fire Safety Order itself — enforcement runs through notices and criminal prosecution, not a fixed administrative fine (this differs from, for example, the civil penalty regime under the Housing Act 2004 for certain housing and licensing offences). The maximum criminal penalties are:

• Serious breaches placing people at risk of death or serious injury, or failure to comply with a statutory notice: an unlimited fine in the magistrates' court, or an unlimited fine and/or up to two years' imprisonment in the Crown Court.
• Lesser administrative offences (such as knowingly falsifying fire safety records, giving false information to an inspector, or obstructing an inspector): a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale.

From 1 October 2023, the Building Safety Act 2022 (section 156) amended article 32 of the Fire Safety Order to remove some of the previously fixed monetary caps on certain lesser offences and to extend the most serious offence category to cover the wider range of duties (including new resident-engagement and information duties) introduced since 2021. Company officers, and in some cases sole traders or managers with personal responsibility for fire precautions, can be prosecuted individually as well as the company itself.

Because criminal fines here are genuinely unlimited and can attach to individuals, check current guidance on GOV.UK before assuming any specific figure — the position can and does change.

The EWS1 framework

The External Wall System (EWS1) form is an industry valuation tool, developed by RICS with UK Finance and the Building Societies Association, following the post-Grenfell concerns about mortgage lending on flats in blocks with cladding. It is not itself a legal requirement — it does not appear in the Fire Safety Act 2021 or the Fire Safety Order — but many lenders will not mortgage a flat in a relevant block without one.

An EWS1 assessment currently produces one of these outcomes:

• Option A — the external wall materials are unlikely to support combustion; no further action needed for lending purposes.
• Option B1 — combustible materials are present, but the assessed fire risk is low enough that no remedial works are required.
• Option B2 — combustible materials are present and the fire risk is high enough that remedial works are required. A B2 rating typically blocks mortgage lending until the remediation is evidenced.

A change is coming. RICS published a second edition of its secured-lending valuation standard for these buildings on 12 May 2026, effective from 1 November 2026. The new standard is intended to reduce unnecessary EWS1 requests by setting more proportionate, height- and risk-based criteria for when a valuer should ask for one — buildings over 18 metres with cladding or balconies are most likely to still need one; lower buildings increasingly will not, in the absence of specific risk factors. RICS is clear that an EWS1 form is a valuation tool for lenders, not a life-safety certificate, and does not replace the fire risk assessment.

What this means in practice, by landlord type

Freeholders and management companies for multi-occupied blocks carry the direct legal duties: keeping the fire risk assessment current (including external walls), complying with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 fire door and information duties, and, for high-rise buildings, the additional duties under the Building Safety Act 2022's building safety regime.

Buy-to-let landlords who own a single flat within a larger block are not the responsible person for the building, but should expect service charges to reflect the freeholder's fire risk assessment and any remediation costs, and should keep their own flat entrance door in good repair and unmodified without the responsible person's agreement. Mortgageability and saleability can be affected by the building's EWS1 status if a future buyer needs a mortgage.

HMO landlords are already subject to specific fire safety standards through HMO management regulations and licence conditions; the Fire Safety Act 2021 reinforces rather than replaces those. See our HMO fire safety guide.

Landlords of a single let house or flat are outside the Fire Safety Order, because there are no shared common parts. Their statutory fire safety obligations instead come from the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm regulations and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, plus whatever the tenancy agreement itself requires.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming "my flat is fine" is enough. The responsible person's duty covers the whole building's structure and external walls — an individual leaseholder cannot discharge that duty by looking after only their own flat, and should not assume the freeholder has necessarily acted on it either. Ask to see the current fire risk assessment.
• Confusing the fire risk assessment with the regulation 10 door checks. They are different exercises with different scope, frequency, and purpose — doing one does not satisfy the other.
• Treating EWS1 as a safety certificate. It is a lending and valuation tool. A clean EWS1 rating does not replace, and should not be read as confirming, an up-to-date fire risk assessment.
• Altering a flat entrance door without agreement. Replacing a door, adding a letterbox, or removing intumescent strips without the responsible person's knowledge can undermine the fire risk assessment and breach the terms of the lease.

This is legal information, not legal advice

This guide explains the general law of England & Wales as at the review date above and does not take account of your specific circumstances. Reading it does not create a solicitor–client relationship. TenancyAgreementService.co.uk is not a law firm and is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Fire safety compliance for a specific building — particularly where cladding, remediation, or a serious breach is involved — is genuinely fact-specific; for advice on your situation, consult a regulated fire safety professional or a practising solicitor.

Authoritative sources

• Fire Safety Act 2021 — legislation.gov.uk.
• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — the principal Order, as amended, legislation.gov.uk.
• Fire Safety Act 2021 factsheet: commencement of sections 1 and 3 — GOV.UK.
• Fire Safety Order: enforcement and sanctions for non-compliance — GOV.UK.
• Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance — GOV.UK.
• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 32 (offences) — legislation.gov.uk.
• Building Safety Act 2022, section 156 — legislation.gov.uk.
• RICS: Cladding External Wall System (EWS) FAQs — rics.org.
• Our HMO fire safety guide.
• Our Building Safety Act 2022 guide.