What Fire Protection Contractors in Kensington Need Landlords to Know About Fire Safety Law

If you let or manage property in Kensington, fire safety law is not something you deal with once and file away. Period conversions, mansion blocks, mixed-use buildings and newer high-rises all carry the same underlying duty: you must be able to show that the building will protect the people inside it. Fire protection contractors in Kensington see the same gaps come up again and again, usually because the rules have layered up over the years and it is easy to miss one. This guide explains what the law requires, where landlords most often slip, and how to build a record that stands up to an inspection.

You are probably the “responsible person”

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, usually called the Fire Safety Order, is the foundation of fire safety law in England and Wales. It places duties on the “responsible person”: whoever has control of the premises. In a let building that can be the owner, the landlord, the freeholder or the managing agent, and in multi-let commercial buildings the duties are often shared with tenants. Landlords normally hold responsibility for the common parts.

The responsible person must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, act on what it finds, and keep it under review. The Order applies to non-domestic premises and to the shared areas of blocks of flats and houses in multiple occupations. It does not reach inside a single private home.

The word that catches people out is “review”. A fire risk assessment is a continuing process, not a certificate. If you plan a material change to an occupied building, such as a refurbishment, a new use for a floor or a change to escape routes, the assessment should be revisited first. Our guide to fire risk assessments in London properties covers what a good one includes.

The four laws behind your duties

Most landlords know the Fire Safety Order. Fewer are clear on how the later laws sit on top of it.

Fire Safety Act 2021. This clarified that the Order covers a building’s structure, its external walls (including cladding and balconies) and the doors between flats and the common parts. Those elements now belong in your fire risk assessment. The relevant sections came into force in England on 12 May 2022.

Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. In force since 23 January 2023, these followed the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s Phase 1 recommendations. In multi-occupied residential buildings, responsible persons must give residents fire safety instructions and information about the importance of fire doors. In buildings over 11 metres, they must also check communal fire doors at least every three months and use best endeavours to check flat entrance doors at least every 12 months. Those checks must include confirming the self-closing devices work. High-rise residential buildings (18 metres or seven storeys and above) carry further duties, including secure-box floor plans for firefighters, monthly checks on firefighting lifts and equipment, and wayfinding signage.

Building Safety Act 2022. For occupied “higher-risk” buildings, meaning at least 18 metres or seven storeys with two or more residential units, the Act creates the roles of accountable person and principal accountable person. These duty holders must manage building safety risks and register the building with the Building Safety Regulator. Failing to register without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence.

If your building sits below those thresholds, the Fire Safety Order and the Fire Safety Act still apply in full.

Fire doors: where landlords most often get caught out

Fire doors are the most visible part of a building’s fire strategy and the part most often found wanting. A door that is wedged open, has a damaged seal or no working closer offers little protection, however good its rating on paper.

Common problems include self-closers removed or disconnected, gaps around the leaf that are too wide, missing or painted-over intumescent strips, and flat entrance doors replaced by occupiers with products that were never fire tested. Flat entrance doors are now squarely within the risk assessment, so the freeholder needs a plan for them. Many leases oblige leaseholders to comply with statutory requirements, which can include replacing a non-compliant door, but that is a matter for your lease and legal adviser.

Competence matters here. A door only performs as tested if it is fitted correctly, with gaps held to tight tolerances, the right hardware and the right seals. If you are arranging fire doors in London, ask the installer for third-party certification and for documentation you can file against the door, not just an invoice.

Passive fire protection: the part nobody sees

Behind the doors sits the fabric that stops fire and smoke spreading: fire-rated walls and floors, cavity barriers, and firestopping around pipes, cables and ducts. This is passive fire protection, and it does not switch on. It either works or it does not.

In London’s older buildings it is often the weak point. Each time a plumber, electrician or telecoms installer passes a service through a compartment wall or floor, a gap can be left behind. Over decades of alterations, those gaps accumulate and compartmentation quietly breaks down. A passive fire protection survey finds them, and cavity barriers are one of the fixes often needed in the hidden voids of walls, floors and roof spaces.

Because the remedial work is specialist, many landlords appoint accredited passive fire protection contractors after an assessment flags an issue, rather than leaving it to general builders. Works should be photographed before they are closed up, and the products used should come with certification.

What a defensible paper trail looks like

When a fire and rescue service officer, insurer or buyer’s surveyor asks for evidence, you need to produce it quickly. At a minimum, keep:

• The current fire risk assessment, with a dated action plan showing what was fixed and when
• Fire door check logs, with the date, the door identified and the defects found
• Certificates, product details and photographs for firestopping and cavity barrier work
• Proof that residents received fire safety and fire door information
• Floor plans and the information box contents, if your building is high-rise
• For higher-risk buildings, up-to-date building safety records held by the accountable person

What happens if you get it wrong

Fire and rescue services, including the London Fire Brigade in the capital, enforce the Fire Safety Order. Under Article 32, failing to comply with the main fire safety duties in a way that puts people at risk of death or serious injury is an offence. On conviction on indictment, the penalty can be an unlimited fine, up to two years in prison, or both.

Choosing fire protection contractors in Kensington

Fire protection in London is a crowded market, so it pays to ask pointed questions before you appoint anyone:

• Third-party accreditation. Look for independent certification relevant to the work, such as BM TRADA Q-Mark for fire door installation and maintenance, plus BAFE registration and ASFP membership. CA Fire Protection holds these, along with ISO certification. You can see the full list on our accreditations page.
• Evidence, not assurances. Ask what you will receive at the end: written reports, photographs, product certificates and sign-off documents.
• A joined-up service. Where one team handles the survey, remediation and sign-off, there are fewer gaps in responsibility and fewer handovers to manage.
• Scope that fits your building. A mixed-use block with shops at ground level and flats above needs different commercial fire protection services to a purely residential one.
• Clarity on cost. Prices vary with building condition, access and materials. Our breakdown of passive fire protection costs in London explains what drives a quote.

Tell any contractor early if your property is listed or in a conservation area, because alterations may need consent and that can affect how fire doors and other works are specified.

Talk to a Kensington fire protection specialist

If your assessment has flagged problems, or you are not sure your building would stand up to scrutiny, we can survey it, report in plain English and carry out the remedial work. CA Fire Protection covers Kensington and every London borough. Contact us to arrange a free, no-obligation survey.