If you let a property to paying guests, whether that is a one-bed flat in Winchester or a family cottage in the Hampshire countryside, an airbnb fire risk assessment is not optional.
You have to carry one out, and since October 2023 you have to write it down.
There is no size exemption, no “it is only the odd weekend” loophole, and no minimum number of bookings before the law applies.
If someone pays to sleep in your property and is not living there permanently, the rules apply to you.
The law behind the airbnb fire risk assessment
The legislation is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, usually shortened to the Fire Safety Order. It controls fire safety in every premises in England that takes paying guests.
The Home Office puts the test plainly: it applies to you “if you are charging someone to stay in your property as a guest and it is not being occupied as a private dwelling, even if it is just for one night.”
One night is enough. The guidance points to two things that make your property count as paying-guest accommodation rather than a private home: how long guests stay, and your relationship with them.
If visitors stay short term and are not friends or family you socialise with, the Order applies.
A typical short let ticks both boxes, which is why almost every holiday let owner is caught by it.
What changed in October 2023
A lot of hosts missed this. Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 took effect on 1 October 2023, amending the Fire Safety Order so that every Responsible Person now has to record their assessment in full, whatever the size of the business.
When the changes came in, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service noted they were likely to hit owners of holiday lets hardest because of the new responsibilities they carry under law.
Before that date, smaller operations could sometimes rely on an informal or unrecorded assessment.
That is no longer good enough. If you have not produced a written assessment since then, you are not compliant, however low-risk your property feels.
Who is responsible
The law calls this person the Responsible Person.
For most holiday lets that is you, the owner, though it can also be a letting agent or anyone with control of the premises.
Getting it wrong has real consequences: failure to comply can lead to enforcement action, prosecution, fines or even imprisonment.
Your local fire and rescue service enforces this, and brigades do inspect holiday accommodation, often before busy seasons.
What the assessment has to cover
A proper assessment is not a quick glance round.
It works through the fire hazards in your property, the people who could be at risk, and the measures that reduce that risk: working smoke and heat alarms, clear escape routes, sound doors, and safe electrics and heating. It then records all of this and sets a date to review it.
Can I do the assessment myself?
For small, simple properties the official guidance accepts that you can, and there is a free five-step checklist to follow.
The same guidance is just as clear about the flip side: if you are not confident, you should bring in a competent fire risk assessor, and asking for help does not shift the legal responsibility.
You can read more about doing your own assessment and what a suitable and sufficient assessment looks like before you decide.
Start by reading the Home Office guide, Making your small paying-guest-accommodation safe from fire, then either complete the checklist or commission an assessor. Either way it must be written, kept on record, and reviewed regularly.
Get the right advice for your property
Not sure your property is properly covered? For advice tailored to your property from a competent professional, speak to Jamie at ESI: Fire Safety on 01276 300 351.
