Who Is Responsible for Fire Doors in a Block of Flats?

Who is responsible for each fire door in a block?

The responsible person checks every fire door in the common parts, flat entrance doors included, because the Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that flat entrance doors fall under the Fire Safety Order. Who pays for work on a door is a separate question, settled by the lease.

This split causes most of the arguments. A leaseholder can own their front door and still have it checked, recorded and, if needed, chased for repair by the responsible person. The government's fire door guidance treats flat entrance doors as part of the common parts for these duties.

What do the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require?

In blocks with a top storey above 11 metres, typically five storeys or more, communal fire doors must be checked at least every 3 months and flat entrance doors at least every 12 months on a best endeavours basis. The duty has applied since 23 January 2023.

The government guidance, revised on 8 August 2025, says these checks should be simple and visual. A trained caretaker or managing agent can do them; you should not need a specialist for the routine check. Any repair or replacement that a check turns up must be done by a competent contractor as soon as reasonably practicable.

Gaps are where most doors fall down. The guidance gives 4mm as the industry standard around the edges. In our own inspections, 42% of measured doors had a leaf-to-frame gap over 4mm (156 of 371). See our fire door inspection statistics and fire door gap tolerances.

• Has the door been swapped for one that is not a fire door?
• Is the letterbox closing firmly?
• Any damage to the door, frame or surrounding wall?
• Is any glazing intact?
• Are hinges and ironmongery secure?
• Are intumescent strips and smoke seals present and undamaged?
• Are gaps no more than about 4mm, except at the bottom?
• Does the closer shut the door fully, from wide open and from about 15 degrees?

What applies to blocks under 11 metres?

There is no fixed check frequency under 11 metres, but every block of flats with common parts must give residents fire door information. Residents must be told to keep fire doors shut, not to tamper with closers, and to report faults, with reminders at least every 12 months.

The fire risk assessment still has to cover the communal doors and the flat entrance doors, whatever the height of the block. Most managing agents treat a yearly professional inspection as a sensible default for smaller blocks. Our guide on how often fire doors need inspecting sets out the options.

Who owns and pays for the flat front door?

Usually the leaseholder, because most leases include the entrance door as part of the flat. LEASE, the government-funded leasehold advice service, says to check your lease: if you own the door you pay to repair or replace it, and if the freeholder maintains it the cost goes through the service charge.

Owning the door does not take it out of the responsible person's checks or the fire risk assessment. It mainly decides who pays. If a leaseholder wants to change their door, the government guidance says this should be done with the responsible person's knowledge and agreement, and LEASE notes the lease may need the landlord's written consent.

For block-wide programmes, if the cost to any one leaseholder will be more than £250, the landlord must consult under Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 before the work goes ahead.

Can a leaseholder be made to replace a flat entrance door?

Sometimes, if the door cannot perform as a fire door and the lease supports it, but most failing doors can be repaired. Across three of our repair programmes, 95% of failed doors were repaired rather than replaced (140 of 147).

Before accepting a replacement demand, ask for a repair assessment (our inspection statistics show how rarely replacement is needed). Seals, a closer, gap work or new hinges often bring a door back into line. Repairs are usually £150 to £900 + VAT a door, depending on the fault and how many doors are done on one visit. A basic certified FD30S doorset fitted starts from about £1,000 + VAT, rising to £3,000 or more for glazed or premium doorsets.

If the door really does need to go, our guide to flat entrance fire door replacement explains what a compliant replacement involves. For repair work, see fire door repairs.

What records should the responsible person keep?

Keep a record of every check, including the steps taken to check each flat entrance door and any refusals of access, over each 12-month period. Electronic records are fine, the government guidance says.

Records protect the responsible person as much as the residents. If a resident keeps refusing access, the guidance says legal action may need to be considered, and the record shows the effort made. You can see what a full door-by-door record looks like in our demo inspection report.

We inspect and repair fire doors across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, London, the Thames Valley and the East Midlands.

• A door schedule: location, rating and type of every fire door
• Date and findings of each check, door by door
• Each defect, the fix and the date it was done
• Letters, appointments and refusals for flat entrance doors
• Dates the fire door information was given to residents

Sources

• Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance (GOV.UK, revised 8 August 2025)
• The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
• Fire Safety Act 2021
• LEASE: who owns and is responsible for the fire door
• LEASE: Section 20 consultation on major works
• DC Fire & Security: fire door inspection statistics

Updated October 2026 by Sebastian Grabowski, DC Fire & Security. We inspect and repair fire doors across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, London, the Thames Valley and the East Midlands. Our own figures: fire door inspection statistics 2026.