Who is Responsible for Fire Safety?

Summary

• Fire safety duties fall on the ‘responsible person’, meaning whoever controls the premises, and a lease cannot move the risk of prosecution to someone else.
• Tenants who occupy a whole building are usually responsible, while landlords who keep the common parts usually share the role, and both must cooperate.
• The lease decides who pays and who can enter and inspect, but breaches can lead to fire authority enforcement, unlimited fines for certain offences and, in serious cases, prison.
• This article explains fire safety responsibility in commercial leases for business owners in England and Wales, and was written by LegalVision’s business lawyers.
• LegalVision, a commercial law firm, specialises in advising clients on commercial leasing and fire safety compliance.

Tips for Businesses

Check who controls each part of the building and confirm in writing who the responsible person is. Complete and record a fire risk assessment, keep escape routes clear, and exchange contact details with any other responsible person. Make sure your lease allocates costs and inspection rights clearly.

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On this page

• Responsible Person
• Commercial Tenant as Responsible
• Commercial Landlord as Responsible  
• Regulatory Requirements
• Key Takeaways
• Frequently Asked Questions

Landlords and tenants often treat fire safety as a point to settle in the lease, alongside repairs and insurance. It does not work that way. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 attaches the duty to whoever has control of the premises, and a fire authority prosecutes that person regardless of what the lease says about who pays. A tenant who occupies the whole building is almost always a responsible person. A landlord who retains the common parts is almost always one too, at the same time. The lease still matters, because it decides who bears the cost and who has the right to enter and inspect. It simply does not decide who goes to court. This article explains who counts as a responsible person for fire safety in a commercial lease, what that person must do, and how landlord and tenant share the duty where both have control.

Responsible Person

Anyone with control of the commercial premises has responsibility for fire safety. Fire safety responsibility lies with 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. 

“Many landlords and tenants assume the lease settles fire safety, but the law looks at who controls the premises, not who agreed to pay. Where a landlord keeps the common parts and a tenant occupies a unit, both can be responsible at the same time. Each party should understand which parts of the building it controls before a fire authority asks.”

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 their 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 applies directly to 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.

Regulatory Requirements

In the UK, there are regulatory requirements for commercial premises with regard to fire safety. These are mostly covered by the Fire Safety Order – this mostly applies to commercial premises and sets out strict requirements with regard to identifying and reducing the risk of fire within those premises. 

This regulation makes the responsible person the dutyholder for fire safety equipment and measures. This includes, for example, carrying out fire risk assessments regularly and implementing its findings. 

There are additional requirements where commercial buildings also contain residential parts. The local fire authorities will also likely have inspection and enforcement powers with regard to fire safety at commercial premises.

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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, LegalVision provides ongoing legal support for all businesses through our fixed-fee legal membership. Our experienced leasing lawyers help businesses manage contracts, employment law, disputes, intellectual property, and more, with unlimited access to specialist lawyers for a fixed monthly fee. To learn more about LegalVision’s legal membership, call 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions