Houses in Multiple Occupation fire safety guidance

Housing Act 2004

The Housing Act 2004 brought in a new system of regulation for fire safety in existing residential premises by way of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), licensing provisions for HMOs and management regulations for HMOs. In practice the HHSRS is the principal tool used to assess and regulate fire safety standards, but HMO licensing conditions will reflect HHSRS requirements. The responsible person for the purposes of fire safety provision and maintenance at the residential accommodation is the person having control - usually the landlord, or alternatively the manager.

Part 1 of the Act introduced the HHSRS which is an approach to the evaluation of the potential risks to health and safety in dwellings. The HHSRS provides a means of assessing the risk of a fire starting and the threat from exposure to an uncontrolled fire and associated smoke in a dwelling. In addition the HHSRS also looks at the potential for harm from fire, such as typical injuries as a result of exposure to fire and smoke, along with the preventative measures and the ideal: this gives an indication of the measures and the standards required to avoid or minimise the fire hazard. It is these measures and standards that are reflected in this guidance.

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

Alongside the Housing Act 2004, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) introduced duties in relation to fire safety in the common areas of HMOs (the FSO does not apply to HMOs which are occupied as shared houses). In order to comply with the duties imposed by the FSO, the responsible person must carry out a fire risk assessment to identify what fire hazards exist at the premises and what measures have been taken (or will be taken) to minimise the risk. It is a requirement that any fire risk assessment is completed by a competent person when the responsible person does not have the requisite skills or experience. The fire risk assessment must be in writing where the premises are licensed or where 5 or more persons are employed, however, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and Cleveland Fire Brigade strongly recommends and advises that all properties are subject to a fire risk assessment which should be recorded or written down.

Guidance

Guidance for local authorities under the Housing Act 2004 is contained in the HHSRS Operating Guidance and HHSRS Enforcement Guidance. Guidance to the fire and rescue authorities under the FSO has been issued in the HM Government Fire Safety Risk Assessment Sleeping Accommodation Guide; Communities and Local Government (CLG) have published both.

Given that there were two sets of guidance published by the CLG it was widely recognised that a single set of national, risk-based guidance was needed to inform local housing authorities, fire rescue authorities and landlords in their application of fire safety solutions. As a result the LACORS "Housing - Fire Safety" document was produced in partnership with the Chief Fire Officers Association and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health to help bring some national consistency.