HMO fire safety sits awkwardly across two entirely separate legal regimes, enforced by two different authorities, using two different sets of guidance. That is the root of most of the confusion and most of the failed licence applications.
This guide untangles it.
The two regimes
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the common parts of an HMO and is enforced by the fire and rescue authority. It requires a fire risk assessment.
The Housing Act 2004 applies to the whole property including the individual lettings, is enforced by the local housing authority and operates through the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and, where applicable, licensing.
Both bite. A property can satisfy the fire authority and still fail a licensing inspection and the reverse.
The two authorities are required to liaise under the Housing Act 2004 and a long-standing protocol so a serious defect found by one tends to reach the other.
Does the Fire Safety Order apply to my property?
| Property | Fire Safety Order? |
|---|---|
| House let to a single household on a single tenancy | No. It is a single private dwelling. Housing legislation still applies. |
| House shared by two or more households, with shared facilities and shared circulation | Yes, to the common parts |
| Bedsit HMO with locks on individual rooms | Yes, to the common parts |
| Purpose-built block of self-contained flats | Yes, to structure, external walls, common parts and all flat entrance doors |
| House converted into self-contained flats | Yes, as above |
| Building with a shop below and flats above | Yes, to the whole thing, with commercial and residential parts assessed under different standards |
Note the Fire Safety Act 2021 point. Since 16 May 2022, in any building containing two or more sets of domestic premises, the Order expressly covers the structure, the external walls including balconies and anything attached to them, any common parts and all doors between the domestic premises and the common parts.
Which standard applies?
BS 9792:2025, the code of practice for fire risk assessment in housing, which came into effect on 31 August 2025 and superseded the withdrawn PAS 79-2:2020. It covers purpose-built blocks of flats, converted flats, sheltered and extra care housing, supported housing and houses in multiple occupation.
Where a building is mixed use, the commercial parts are assessed to PAS 79-1:2020.
For the technical benchmarks against which HMO precautions are judged, the reference document most housing authorities and fire authorities still use is the LACORS guidance, Housing: fire safety, published in 2008. It is dated and it must be read alongside current British Standards rather than instead of them but it remains the practical yardstick for what a given type of HMO is expected to have.
What HMOs actually need
Precautions are proportionate to risk, which means the property type, its height, the number of storeys, the number of occupants and whether it is a shared house or a bedsit arrangement. The following is what assessors most commonly specify.
Fire detection and alarm
This is where the majority of licence failures occur, usually because the wrong grade or category has been installed.
Under BS 5839-6, the grade describes the type of system and the category describes the extent of coverage:
- Grade D: mains-powered interlinked detectors with integral standby supply. Grade D1 has a tamper-proof sealed battery, D2 has a user-replaceable battery.
- Grade A: a full fire alarm system with a control and indicating panel, sounders and detectors, designed to BS 5839-1 principles.
- Category LD3: detection in circulation spaces forming escape routes only.
- Category LD2: LD3 plus detection in defined rooms presenting a higher fire risk, typically kitchens and living rooms.
- Category LD1: detection throughout, in all circulation spaces and all rooms and areas.
Broadly and subject to the assessment:
| Property | Commonly specified |
|---|---|
| Single-family let | Grade D LD3 as a minimum |
| Shared house, two storeys, up to about four occupants | Grade D LD2 |
| Shared house, three storeys | Grade D LD2, sometimes Grade A |
| Bedsit HMO, up to two storeys | Grade A LD2, with heat detection in bedsits |
| Bedsit HMO, three storeys or more | Grade A LD2 or LD1 |
| Larger or higher-risk HMOs | Grade A, category determined by assessment |
BS 9792:2025 is direct on one point that catches people out: domestic smoke alarms are suitable for small HMOs but for large HMOs, fire detection and alarm equipment of the type specified in the BS EN 54 series is necessary. In other words, a large HMO cannot be protected by a chain of interlinked domestic smoke alarms bought from a builders' merchant.
The standard also notes that most premises requiring automatic detection in the common parts, such as an HMO, need manual call points too, though these are unnecessary where detection is Grade D and may be undesirable in some premises because of malicious operation.
Separately, the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, as amended in 2022, require at least one smoke alarm on every storey of a rented dwelling used as living accommodation and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation containing a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker. These are minimums, not a substitute for a properly specified system.
Fire doors
Almost every letting room door and every door onto the protected escape route will need to be a fire door, normally FD30S, meaning 30 minutes' integrity with smoke seals, fitted with intumescent strips and cold smoke seals, correctly hung on the right number of compliant hinges and fitted with a self-closing device.
Common failures we find repeatedly:
- Gaps exceeding 4 mm between leaf and frame. The FRA National Practice Guide identifies 4 mm as the maximum gap.
- Missing, painted over or damaged intumescent strips and smoke seals
- Self-closers removed, disconnected or so weak the door does not latch
- Doors held open on wedges or hooks
- Ordinary hinges or only two hinges where three are required
- Letterplates, cat flaps and glazing panels cut into fire doors without evidence
- Excessive undercut, particularly where carpets have been removed
- Non-fire-rated doors painted to look like fire doors
BS 8214:2026, published on 20 March 2026 and in force from 31 March, is now the code of practice and it treats a fire door as a coordinated system rather than a product. It also covers steel, aluminium and composite doors for the first time.
Escape routes and locks
The protected route from the top storey to the final exit must be enclosed in fire-resisting construction and kept clear.
Escape without a key. Final exit doors and any door on the escape route must be openable from the inside without a key, without special knowledge and without a separate tool. In practice this means a thumb-turn on the inside of a nightlatch or deadlock or a panic device where appropriate. Double-cylinder deadlocks requiring a key on the inside are one of the most serious and most common defects in the private rented sector and one that will stop a licence.
Other frequent findings:
- Bicycles, prams, bins, furniture or storage in the hallway
- Meter cupboards on the escape route without fire-resisting enclosure
- Inner rooms, where the only way out is through another room
- Bedrooms accessed through a kitchen
- Escape windows in loft conversions that do not meet the required opening dimensions
- Habitable rooms created in cellars without adequate escape
Emergency escape lighting
Generally required in HMOs of three or more storeys, in properties with complex or lengthy escape routes, in internal corridors and stairs with no borrowed light and in basements. BS 9792:2025 notes that in smaller housing premises taking the form of a traditional dwelling with a single route for access and egress, such as small HMOs and smaller specialised housing schemes, fire exit signs are usually unnecessary. Emergency lighting is judged separately on whether the route can be used safely in darkness.
Firefighting equipment
BS 9792:2025 is clear that residents are not expected to tackle fires and that portable extinguishers are not normally provided in the common parts of housing premises, other than where trained staff are present. A fire blanket in a shared kitchen is common and sensible, a full extinguisher suite in a four-bed shared house is usually neither required nor helpful and can encourage occupants to fight a fire rather than escape.
Compartmentation
Fire-resisting separation between lettings and between lettings and the escape route. Typically 30 minutes. Points routinely missed include ceilings above cupboards, floor voids, the space above suspended ceilings, service penetrations, loft hatches and party wall breaches into neighbouring properties, particularly in Victorian terraces where roof voids run continuously.
Furniture, electrics and gas
- Furniture and furnishings supplied by the landlord must meet the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988
- An EICR at least every five years under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, with any C1 or C2 items remedied within 28 days
- Annual gas safety check under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
- PAT testing of landlord-supplied appliances, which is not itself a statutory requirement but is the normal way of evidencing that appliances are safe
HMO licensing
Three licensing regimes exist under the Housing Act 2004. Which apply to you depends on the property and on Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.
Mandatory licensing applies across England to any HMO occupied by five or more persons forming two or more households who share a toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities. Since 1 October 2018 there is no storey threshold. A five-person shared house on a single floor needs a licence.
Additional licensing is a discretionary scheme a council may designate to catch smaller HMOs, typically three or four occupants in two or more households.
Selective licensing is a discretionary scheme applying to all privately rented properties in a designated area, including single-family lets, usually introduced to address low housing demand or antisocial behaviour.
Additional and selective schemes are designated locally, run for fixed periods and change. Check the current position with Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council before assuming your property is unlicensed. Designations lapse and are renewed and the boundaries move.
What licensing means for fire safety
A licence application will require evidence of fire precautions and licence conditions routinely require:
- A current fire risk assessment
- Alarm system installation and commissioning certificates and periodic test records
- Emergency lighting certification and test records
- Gas safety certificate and EICR
- Compliance with prescribed room sizes and amenity standards
- Sometimes a specified alarm grade and category, taken from the council's own HMO standards document
Councils publish their own HMO amenity and fire safety standards. These vary between authorities and are worth reading before works are specified because retrofitting to the wrong standard is expensive.
Operating a licensable HMO without a licence is a criminal offence carrying an unlimited fine or a financial penalty of up to £30,000 imposed by the council as an alternative to prosecution. It also exposes the landlord to a rent repayment order, under which a tribunal can order repayment of up to twelve months' rent to the tenants or to the council where universal credit was paid. Rent repayment orders are now common and tenants pursue them directly.
Unlicensed operation also blocks service of a section 21 notice so you cannot recover possession by that route until the position is regularised.
Which type of assessment does an HMO need?
For a shared house or bedsit HMO where the landlord controls and can access the whole property, the assessment normally covers the property as a whole rather than being labelled Type 1 to Type 4. Those types apply principally to buildings with common parts and separate dwellings, such as blocks of flats.
BS 9792:2025 makes the relevant point directly: fire detection within flats needs to be considered in a Type 3 or Type 4 assessment for purpose-built blocks and in all assessments for all other forms of housing, including most sheltered housing, extra care housing, supported housing, HMOs and houses converted to flats.
In other words, for an HMO the letting rooms are always in scope. There is no HMO equivalent of a common-parts-only assessment.
Common reasons landlords fail
- Key-operated locks on final exits. The single most frequent serious defect.
- Wrong alarm grade or category. Interlinked domestic alarms in a property that needs a Grade A system.
- No self-closers or self-closers removed by tenants and never replaced.
- The assessment covers the common parts only and the council asks about the letting rooms.
- No records. The alarm may be perfect but with no commissioning certificate and no test log there is nothing to demonstrate.
- Assessment never reviewed after a change of tenancy type, a loft conversion or an increase in occupancy.
- Cellar or loft rooms brought into use as bedrooms without adequate escape.
- Reliance on a previous owner's assessment carried out for a different occupancy.
What to have ready for your assessor
- Floor plans or the assessor will sketch them and charge for the time
- Previous fire risk assessment
- Alarm and emergency lighting certificates and test logs
- Gas safety certificate and EICR
- Licence and its conditions, if licensed
- Details of the tenancy arrangements: single tenancy or individual room lets, number of occupants, number of households
- Any correspondence from Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council or Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
- Access to every letting room, loft, cellar and cupboard
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a fire risk assessment for a two-bedroom flat I let out? If it is a self-contained flat let to a single household, the Fire Safety Order does not apply inside it so you do not need an assessment for the flat itself. The freeholder or management company needs one for the block. Your own obligations run under housing legislation.
Does a shared house with three tenants need a fire risk assessment? Yes. Two or more households sharing facilities makes it an HMO for fire safety purposes and the Fire Safety Order applies to the common parts regardless of whether the property is licensable.
Do I need a licence for a three-bedroom HMO? Not under mandatory licensing, which starts at five occupants in two or more households. You may need one under an additional licensing scheme. Check with Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council because designations change.
Can I do the HMO fire risk assessment myself? The law does not prohibit it. In practice, HMOs involve sleeping risk, judgement about alarm grade and category and compartmentation assessment. Most councils and insurers expect a professional assessment and a self-produced one is the first thing challenged when something goes wrong.
How often does an HMO fire risk assessment need reviewing? There is no fixed interval but annual review is the norm for HMOs given the level of occupant change. Any change in occupancy, layout or tenancy structure triggers a review immediately.
What happens if the council finds fire safety defects? Under the Housing Act 2004 the council can serve improvement notices, prohibition orders, hazard awareness notices or take emergency remedial action. It can also impose financial penalties. The fire authority can separately serve notices under the Fire Safety Order.
