You need a fire risk assessment for the communal areas of blocks of flats rather than the flats themselves. This is to ensure that a fire in one flat does not impact the safety of occupants in other flats and to ensure all other occupants can escape safely.
Having said that, the flat entrance doors to flats do form part of the assessment and we also need to determine what level of smoke detection you have in your flats. So, we don’t necessarily have to access all of the flats, other than check a sample of flat entrance doors and ask about the detection.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, it’s the communal areas which require a fire risk assessment. This is also a requirement under the new Building Safety Bill and up and coming Fire Safety Act 2021.
Only in extreme cases, where the compartmentation of the block of flats is in severe doubt, would we need to inspect and assess the flats as part of a more intrusive survey (types 2-4 fire risk assessments). This is rare though.
What needs assessing is the communal areas to ensure it is adequately protected and compartmentalised to protect the occupants means of escape route.
For all London Fire Risk Assessments, please visit:
https://www.whalefire.co.uk/london/fire-risk-assessments-london.aspx
For advice on a Fire risk assessment when buying a flat, see our article here:
https://www.whalefire.co.uk/newsdetail.aspx?id=315
All general enquires can be made here:
