Housing Fire Safety Policy Legislation and legal requirements

Published: 1 August 2024

Contents

3. Legislation 

3.1. The principal legislation applicable to this policy is as follows: 

  • The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO).
  • The Fire Safety Act 2021, which amends the FSO.
  • The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.
  • The Building Safety Act 2022.
  • The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022. 

3.2. The policy also operates within the context of additional legislation, industry guidance and government policy direction. 

3.3. We must ensure we comply with the Regulator of Social Housing’s Regulatory Framework and Consumer Standards for social housing in England, nothing that the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 has changed the way in which social housing is regulated. 

3.4. Failure to discharge our responsibilities and obligations properly could lead to sanctions, including prosecution. 

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the FSO) 

4.1. The Responsible Person (which is Woking BC, as duty holder) must: 

  • Carry out a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) for the purpose of identifying the general fire precautions and other measures needed to comply with the FSO. Although under the FSO this requirement only applies to common parts of premises, in practice the Responsible Person will need to consider the entire premises, including units of residential accommodation.
  • Consider who may be especially at risk.
  • Implement all necessary general fire precautions and any other necessary measures identified by an FRA to remove or reduce any risks.
  • Implement a suitable system of maintenance and appoint competent persons to carry out any procedures that have been adopted.
  • Periodically review FRAs in a timescale appropriate to the premises and/or occupation fire risk level. 

4.2. Fire Safety Act 2021 

4.3. The Fire Safety Act amends the FSO by clarifying that in buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises, the FSO applies to: 

  • The structure and shared external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies, and windows.
  • All doors between the domestic premises and the common parts, for example, entrance doors to individual flats which open on to common parts.

4.4. The Responsible Person must ensure that FRAs comply with the criteria outlined above by appointing a competent person to review them. See Section 11 for competency requirements. 

4.5. Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 

4.6. The Regulations came into force in January 2023 and the Responsible Person is required to:

  • For all buildings - provide tenants with fire safety instructions and information on fire doors.
  • For buildings over 11 metres - undertake quarterly checks of communal fire doors and annual checks of flat entrance doors.