We are halfway through the year — a good moment for anyone managing a residential block to check they are on track with their fire door duties under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.
The 2022 Regulations put specific, recurring obligations on the responsible person in higher-rise residential buildings. They are easy to let slip in a busy year, so here is the plain-English reminder.
What the Regulations ask for
In buildings above 11 metres, the responsible person must:
- Check communal fire doors at least every three months — so if your last round was in spring, the next is due about now.
- Check flat entrance doors at least annually — a best-endeavours check that the door and its self-closer are working.
- Give residents fire-safety information, including why fire doors matter and why they must not be tampered with.
These duties are covered in full in our guide to the 2022 Regulations.
What “a check” really needs to show
A quarterly check is not just a glance. To be defensible, it should record each door’s condition against the things that actually fail — gaps, seals, hinges, the self-closer and the glazing — with dates and evidence. If you cannot produce that record, in practice the check has not happened as far as an enforcing authority is concerned.
Fallen behind? It is fixable
If your quarterly checks have slipped, the answer is not to panic — it is to get a documented programme in place. We run inspection and maintenance programmes for managing agents and blocks that produce exactly the evidence the Regulations expect, on a schedule you can rely on.
If you would like your remaining checks for the year mapped out, get in touch.