Fire risk assessments for blocks of flats and communal areas in Hertfordshire

Who is responsible in a block of flats

Whoever controls the building's shared parts as part of managing it is the responsible person — usually the freeholder, a managing agent acting for them, or a resident-management or right-to-manage company. More than one of these can share the duty on the same block.

Where a lease splits management between a freeholder and an RMC or RTM company, it's worth being clear in writing about who holds this duty, since more than one party can be involved in a block's upkeep. The Building Safety Act 2022 also introduced a duty to identify other responsible persons in the building and share contact details with them, and to cooperate with accountable persons in higher-risk buildings. If you let out individual flats or houses rather than managing a shared block, our page for landlords and HMOs covers that situation instead.

The four types of fire risk assessment for flats

Blocks of flats are assessed on a scale from Type 1 to Type 4, from a baseline check of the shared parts through to destructive sampling inside individual flats. Most blocks only ever need a Type 1 assessment, with the higher types reserved for specific concerns.

• Type 1: common parts only, non-destructive. The baseline assessment needed to satisfy the Fire Safety Order.
• Type 2: common parts only, with some destructive inspection, such as opening up construction with a contractor. Usually a one-off, triggered by a specific concern.
• Type 3: common parts plus a sample of the flats, non-destructive. Goes beyond what the Order itself requires, and isn't normally possible for long-leasehold flats, since freeholders don't usually have a right of access.
• Type 4: Type 3 scope plus destructive sampling in common parts and flats. Used in limited cases, such as a new landlord taking over a block with an unclear history of works.

These types were defined in a guide originally commissioned by the Local Government Group (now the Local Government Association) and drafted by CS Todd & Associates in 2011. It's now hosted and reissued by the Home Office, which notes the 2011 content should no longer be treated as fully comprehensive while a revised version is prepared.

Extra duties by building height under the 2022 Regulations

For any building above 11 metres with two or more sets of domestic premises, the responsible person must use best endeavours to check flat entrance fire doors at least once a year, and check communal fire doors, including that self-closers work, at least every three months.

Separately, higher-rise residential buildings carry further duties under the regulations, such as secure information boxes, floor plans, and lift and firefighting equipment checks. The exact height that defines a "higher-risk" building for those further duties is set out in its own part of the regulations, which we haven't been able to confirm from the sources we reviewed — ask your assessor which duties apply to your specific building.

Enforcement in Hertfordshire

Purpose-built flats of four or more floors are the single most enforced premises type on Hertfordshire's part of the national Enforcement Register, and flats and sleeping accommodation together make up most of the recent activity since January 2024, as the table below shows.

All 7 notices against purpose-built flats of four or more floors were enforcement notices, rather than prohibition notices, which suggests these were cases where a serious risk needed fixing rather than a building being closed outright. See our fire risk assessment cost guide for how this might affect pricing on larger blocks.

Choosing an assessor for a block

Ask any assessor which FRA type they're quoting for, and whether they have experience with blocks of a similar size, height and age. Since 1 October 2023, the law also requires anyone appointed to help with the assessment to be competent.

Cost for blocks of flats

Cost rises with the building's size, height and the FRA type needed, since sampling inside individual flats takes more time to arrange than a common-parts-only check. See our fire risk assessment cost guide for the published Hertfordshire price range and wider UK context.