Do we need a professional fire risk assessment, or can the directors do it themselves?
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The law requires a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, not a professional one. For a small, simple block the Government’s own guide is written so that you can do it yourself. If you don’t feel able to interpret it for your building, or your building falls outside its scope, you should use a competent fire risk assessor.
What the law says
Article 9 of the Fire Safety Order requires the responsible person to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the fire risks. It doesn’t say a qualified person has to do it. The Home Office’s guide for small blocks of flats says: “If you choose to carry out the fire risk assessment”, you need to feel able to interpret and apply the guide to your building, and if you do not, you should engage a competent fire risk assessor.
When the small-block guide fits
The Government’s guide to making a small block of flats safe from fire (2024) is intended for small, general-needs blocks that:
- are purpose-built, or were converted to flats in line with the 1991 or later Building Regulations;
- were designed on a “stay put” basis, where people in other flats are normally safe to stay in their flat if there’s a fire elsewhere;
- have no more than three storeys (ground, first and second floor) and no more than six flats.
It includes a checklist for recording your findings and an action plan. You must keep a record of the completed assessment.
When to get a professional
- Your building is bigger or more complex than the scope above.
- It was converted before 1991, or you aren’t sure it was converted to those standards.
- You read the guide and don’t feel confident applying it.
If you appoint someone, record their name. If responsibility for the building passes to someone else you’ll have to give them that information. Choose someone competent. The Fire Sector Federation publishes a guide to choosing a competent fire risk assessor.
Whoever does it, the responsibility for it stays with you. Using a contractor doesn’t transfer that.
How Tiny Freeholder helps
Tiny Freeholder asks a few questions about your building, such as how many flats and storeys it has and when it was built or converted. It then tells you whether you can carry out the assessment yourself with Tiny Freeholder, which is based on the Home Office guide, or need a professional. If you can, you complete the checklist in the app. If not, you record the assessor and their report instead.