A fire risk assessment written for shared houses, by assessors who know exactly what licensing officers inspect — delivered as a prioritised action plan you can hand straight to the council and straight to a builder.
Why HMOs are different
A family home has one household cooking one meal; a five-bed HMO can have five households cooking five meals, often late, often tired, sometimes in bedrooms. Occupants may barely know each other, so nobody assumes responsibility for the hallway, and no one is certain who's in the building when an alarm sounds. Most converted HMOs also funnel everyone down a single staircase — which is both the escape route and, if it isn't protected, the chimney that carries smoke to every bedroom door.
That combination — more ignition sources, less mutual awareness, one way out — is why fire is the risk that HMO licensing takes most seriously, and why the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies in full to the shared parts of the building. The responsible person must hold a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, keep it under review, and be able to show the actions were done.
The benchmark councils use: most licensing teams judge HMO fire precautions against the LACORS housing fire safety guidance, which matches property types to appropriate detection grades, door standards and escape-route protection. We assess against the same document — so our recommendations and your officer's expectations line up.
The inspection lens
Not just "are there alarms" but whether the system's grade and category suit the size and risk of the house — interlinked detection in the right rooms, heat detection where kitchens demand it, and test records to prove it works. Certification links to our fire alarm certificate service.
Officers walk the staircase asking one question: if a fire starts in any room, can everyone else get past it? That means fire doors with working self-closers and intact seals, no propping wedges, nothing stored on the route, and the route reaching a final exit without passing through a risk room.
Larger HMOs, and any with long or windowless escape routes, are expected to keep the way out visible when the power fails. We check provision, siting and test records — and can certify the system through our emergency lighting service.
Precautions that aren't maintained fail inspections: officers ask for alarm test logs, door checks, servicing certificates and how new tenants are told what to do in a fire. This is where an FRA meets day-to-day HMO management — the routine generates the evidence.
What you receive
The deliverable is not a lecture on fire chemistry. You receive a written assessment identifying each significant finding, its risk level and the action required, ordered by priority — what must happen now, what should be programmed, and what is simply good practice. Findings are photographed, actions are specific enough to price, and the document is formatted so it can go into a licence application or renewal file as-is. If the assessment exposes layout problems — a bedroom off a kitchen, an unprotectable route — our HMO design service can resolve them on paper before you spend money on works.
For premises that aren't HMOs — offices, shops, blocks of flats — see the general fire risk assessment service. For a shared house, book the HMO-specific version: send the address, storeys and occupancy and we'll quote, usually the same working day.
Common questions
It depends on the size and layout of the property — the number of storeys, bedrooms and escape routes drives the time on site. Send the address, storeys and occupancy via the quote form and we'll reply with a fixed quote, usually the same working day.
Yes. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the shared parts of HMOs, and the responsible person must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. Licensing conditions almost always require one too, and officers ask to see it — along with evidence that its actions were completed.
The detection system's grade and category, the escape route and whether it's genuinely protected, fire doors and their closers and seals, emergency lighting where the size of the HMO calls for it, cooking arrangements, ignition sources, and the management evidence — test records, servicing certificates and how tenants are briefed.
The LACORS housing fire safety guidance is the reference document most councils use to judge what's adequate for a given size and type of shared housing — it links property risk profiles to appropriate detection grades, door standards and escape route protection. We assess against it because that's the benchmark your licensing officer is most likely using.
A generic FRA discharges the Fire Safety Order but isn't written with licensing in mind. An HMO-specific assessment applies the standards councils actually inspect against, addresses the risks particular to shared houses, and delivers its findings as a prioritised action plan formatted for a licence file. For offices, blocks and other premises, see our general fire risk assessment service.
Tell us the property type and postcode — we'll come back with a fixed quote and the earliest available date.