Fire safety support guide

Landlord responsibilities

Fire safety measures in your home your landlord is responsible for:

• providing smoke alarms on each floor
• checking alarms work when your tenancy begins
• repairing or replacing faulty smoke alarms
• installing a carbon monoxide alarm if there is a gas appliance in habitable rooms (bedrooms/living rooms) or a solid-fuel burner
• installing self-closing fire doors on flat front doors and in communal areas (like corridors and staircases)

Landlords of specialised housing have special fire safety obligations. This includes landlords of sheltered or supported housing, or properties requiring a council license (like houses of multiple occupation).

Gas safety measures in your home your landlord is responsible for:

• providing a gas safety certificate to their tenants at the start of the tenancy and then within 28 days of annual checks
• having the gas supply and gas appliances checked every year by a gas safety engineer
• installing carbon monoxide detectors in any rooms where you can burn solid fuel (such as wood or coal-burning stoves)

If your landlord does not do this, you can report it to the Health and Safety Executive.

Resident responsibilities

Be careful not to create a fire hazard in your home. You can do this by:

• not storing flammable items on your balcony
• keeping fire escape routes clear
• making sure visitors know the evacuation plan for your building
• testing the smoke alarm in your home each month and replace the batteries if needed
• telling your landlord immediately if you cannot change the batteries in your smoke alarm
• reporting any concerns about safely exiting the property in an emergency, or using fire safety equipment, to your landlord
• being aware of potential fire safety risks inside your home, for example faulty electrical appliances
• taking care when using heaters, candles, gas, or open fires

Contact your landlord straight away to report fire safety concerns or potential fire safety risks:

• ask your landlord about its fire safety policy or procedures
• tell your landlord if you need support or are concerned about the fire safety of your building

Landlords must take fire safety issues seriously. When fixing these issues, landlords must find ways to reduce the safety risk to residents.

Your landlord should have a published policy that explains how they will respond. This could include:

• regular and timely property inspections to identify defects and follow up on repairs
• provide information and progress works quickly where needed
• provide regular updates that clearly set out what action will be taken, helping to manage expectations
• follow fire safety regulations and put in place policies on fire doors, EWS1 forms, and fire risk appraisals
• create Planned Emergency Evacuation Procedures (PEEPs) for residents with accessibility needs
• check that residents know the fire safety exits, and that emergency protocols are in place
• be transparent about the fire safety information and documents held about the building you live in

Reporting fire safety is a service request. This is different from making a complaint about your landlord.

People often call both ‘a complaint’, but they are different.

You can complain if you’re unhappy with how your landlord has handled your service request.

A complaint might be about:

• the level of investigation or action taken by the landlord
• the time it took the landlord to investigate or respond
• any action it should not have done, or you are unhappy with
• communication or consultation with you on building works, cladding, or fire safety actions

To do this, you must use your landlord's formal complaint procedure.

We are not responsible for inspecting buildings or enforcing fire safety regulations. However, you can bring a complaint to us for investigation if your landlord does not resolve your issues through their complaint procedure.

Tell us:

• what went wrong
• what your landlord should do to put things right

We need your landlord's stage 2 response before we can help. This is their final answer to your complaint.

You can refer your complaint to us within 12 months of your landlord's stage 2 response. We’re unlikely to investigate complaints referred after this deadline unless there are good reasons for the delay.

Help if your landlord does not reply to your complaint

We can help you get a response from your landlord if they do not follow their complaint procedure or our Complaint Handling Code.

Send us a copy of the complaint you raised to your landlord. This helps us understand if your landlord follows its complaint procedure.

The easiest way to do this is by using our helpful online form. The form will ask you about your complaint and you can upload supporting evidence.

Online complaint form