Fire Risk Assessment in North London: Blocks, Converted Houses, HMOs and Mixed-Use Buildings

Which North London buildings need one?

The law looks at who is responsible for the shared and non-domestic parts, not at how big the building is.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the common parts of blocks of flats and to non-domestic premises. The Fire Safety Act 2021 made clear that, in a building with two or more sets of domestic premises, the structure, external walls and the entrance doors to individual flats are within the Order too. The inside of a single flat lived in by one household is not.

• Purpose-built and converted blocks of flats. The freeholder, right-to-manage company or managing agent is usually the responsible person for the common parts.
• Houses split into flats. A converted house has shared stairs and often one hallway as the only escape. The assessment is short, but the findings matter.
• HMOs. Shared houses and bedsit buildings. The landlord has duties for the shared areas and the council licence adds conditions.
• Shops, takeaways and offices with flats above. The commercial tenant and the flat owners share one escape route, and each has a duty. We assess the shared route and the commercial unit together.
• Industrial and trade units. Warehouses and workshops in the industrial estates of the east of the area need an assessment that covers storage, plant and escape from mezzanines.

What London Fire Brigade looks for

The Brigade is the enforcing authority for the Order across London.

London Fire Brigade audits non-domestic premises and the common parts of residential blocks. It serves enforcement notices and lists recent ones on its website. The failings that appear in notices it has served include no review of the assessment, escape routes blocked by storage, poor fire door maintenance and no emergency plan.

That list is a good guide to what an assessor should check first. If the Brigade writes to you, it will ask to see your assessment. A dated, signed report with an action plan and evidence of progress is what turns a difficult conversation into an ordinary one. If you already hold a poor report, see what to do after a failed fire risk assessment.

Council licensing and what it expects

HMO licensing runs on top of the Fire Safety Order, not instead of it.

Barnet's borough-wide additional HMO scheme runs from 27 October 2022 to 27 October 2027 and picks up smaller HMOs and some converted buildings that mandatory licensing does not reach. Enfield's renewed borough-wide scheme started on 1 September 2025. Haringey's borough-wide scheme was approved by its Cabinet on 12 March 2024 for 2024 to 2029.

A licence is granted on conditions, and fire precautions are among the things a council looks at. Landlords are usually asked for a current assessment. We do not set the council's conditions. We write an assessment that is specific about escape routes, detection, doors and emergency lighting, so that you have something solid to put in front of the licensing officer. Our HMO landlord guide and fire doors for HMOs cover the detail.

How our assessment works

Led by Sebastian Grabowski, who holds the Level 4 Diploma in Fire Risk Assessment. Done to a PAS 79-1 style.

1. 1Pre-visit. You send the address, the number of floors, how many flats or units, who is responsible, and any previous report. We price from that and confirm one fixed figure.
2. 2Walk the building. Every shared stair, corridor, lobby, riser door, plant room, bin store and roof access. In a block, we check the flat entrance doors from the corridor side and sample the inside only where residents allow.
3. 3Record against the hazards. Ignition sources, fuel, people at risk, escape routes, detection, emergency lighting, signage, compartmentation and management.
4. 4Written report. Photos of each finding, a risk rating, and an action list in priority order with who and when. We do not pad it.
5. 5Walk-through of the findings. We talk the report through with you or the managing agent and say which items are quick wins.

Where parts of the building cannot be seen, we say so in the report and recommend a compartmentation survey or fire stopping check. We do not guess at what is behind a ceiling.

What moves the price

From about £550 + VAT for a small commercial premises. A block costs more.

• Number of floors, stairs and risers
• Number of flats or lettable units where we sample inside
• Whether sleeping accommodation is present
• Access: lifts, keys, a caretaker, tenants who must be warned
• Whether a previous assessment exists to review against

We confirm a fixed price including travel before we visit. London parking and congestion are inside that figure, not added afterwards.

Fire risk assessment and fire door inspection are separate

They sit side by side.

An assessment records the state of the doors it can see. It is not a door-by-door inspection with gap measurements and a photo for each leaf. If your building is over 11 metres, you also have specific duties for fire door checks, which we cover on the North London fire door inspections page. For alarms, see fire alarms in North London. How often to repeat the assessment is explained in how often to review a fire risk assessment. The national service page is fire risk assessments and the area hub is North London.

Sources

• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Fire Safety Act 2021 (legislation.gov.uk)
• London Fire Brigade: fire safety in the workplace
• Barnet Council: HMO and property licensing
• Enfield Council: new additional HMO licensing scheme
• Haringey Council: additional licensing for HMOs 2024 to 2029

Updated October 2026 by Sebastian Grabowski, DC Fire & Security, 2 Winsdon Court, Luton LU1 5LZ.