Who is Responsible for Fire Safety in a Commercial Lease in the UK?

Whether you are a commercial tenant or a commercial landlord, you may be responsible for the fire safety of the commercial property in your commercial lease. Fire safety responsibility can depend on the lease detail. Thus, your commercial lease should detail fire safety responsibilities for the commercial premises, such as concerning fire safety equipment. Most leases will state that the tenant must comply with fire safety set out in fire regulations. Therefore, you must know your fire safety responsibilities when part of a commercial lease. Not following your legal obligations in relation to fire safety for your commercial buildings can put you in breach of the commercial lease or result in a fine or prison.  

This article will help you understand who may be responsible for fire safety in a commercial lease, whether you are a commercial tenant or the landlord of the commercial property.

Responsible Person

Anyone with control of the commercial premises has responsibility for fire safety. Fire safety responsibility is to the person in control, and hence the ‘responsible person’.  A responsible person can include, for example, a:

• landlord;
• property owner;
• occupier; or
• employer.

Responsibilities for safety in a commercial lease can overlap. This can mean joint responsibility, meaning you have to meet obligations by working together. It can also be the case where your lease has split repair responsibility.

A responsible person has the following obligations.

1. Carry Out a Fire Risk Assessment

A fire safety assessment must be ‘suitable and sufficient’, meaning you must decide what to cover as the landlord or tenant.

You should also ensure fire safety measures are in place and stay in place. Additionally, you should draft an emergency plan and review it regularly.

2. Ensure Emergency Exits and Fire Routes are Clear

The obligation to keep the fire emergency route and exits clear at all times may require extra responsibility if these involve third-party land. If this is the case, you must ensure that you document the route. Otherwise, the third party may place you in breach of your fire safety responsibilities by blocking it or altering the route. 

Commercial Tenant as Responsible

As the responsibility for fire safety lies with the person in control of the premises, it will usually lie with the tenant in a commercial lease. This is because a commercial tenant often uses the commercial space as a workplace and is an employer with staff on your commercial premises. 

Additionally, if you are a commercial tenant and the retail space you rent is the whole building, you are likely to be the responsible person. Therefore, you are responsible for fire safety in the commercial lease. A commercial lease may detail that the tenant is also responsible for the fire safety equipment in the building. 

Commercial Landlord as Responsible  

As the responsibility for fire safety lies with the person in control of the premises in a commercial lease, if you are a commercial landlord, there are situations when you are likely responsible for fire safety. Here we detail some of these.

Where you lease out commercial space with common or shared areas, you are the responsible person as the landlord or the freeholder. Alternatively, the managing agent may be the responsible person. This lies directly in the common areas and standard building systems such as the fire alarm.

Also, if, as a commercial landlord, you send your commercial lease or forfeit it, you ultimately take back control, meaning you are responsible for fire safety. The commercial landlord may also be responsible for providing fire safety equipment, such as a fire bucket and fire extinguishers.

Key Takeaways

You may be responsible for fire safety if you have a commercial lease. Fire safety responsibility in a commercial lease can lie with the landlord or the tenant and, at times, with both. The commercial lease should detail where responsibility lies, such as providing fire safety equipment. The law also sets out fire safety responsibility, which states that the person in control of the premises is responsible. This refers to the need to carry out a fire assessment, for example, and to provide fire escape exits and routes. Fire safety in a commercial lease is typically the tenant’s responsibility as they usually use commercial premises as a workplace and are an employer employing staff. However, the landlord will usually be responsible for shared areas and systems.

If you need help understanding fire safety in a commercial lease in the UK, our experienced leasing lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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