Fire safety law puts the duty on a named role, and in a shared house that raises a fair question: who exactly is the HMO responsible person? Getting this clear matters, because the person who holds the duty is the one a council or fire service will pursue if something is wrong. If you let an HMO in Crawley or elsewhere in West Sussex, here is how it works.
What the law means by responsible person
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person for the common parts of an HMO is whoever has control of the premises. In practice that is usually the landlord, but it can be a managing agent or anyone else with control. The Order requires that person to carry out and act on the fire risk assessment. You can read the duty on the government’s responsibilities page.
The manager under the 2006 Regulations
There is a second role to be aware of. The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 place duties on the manager of the HMO, including fire safety duties such as keeping escape routes clear and equipment maintained. We cover these in our guide to the management regulations. The manager and the responsible person are often the same individual, but not always.
Can the duty be shared
It can, and in larger operations it often is. The Fire Safety Order recognises that more than one person can have duties at the same premises, and where that happens they must co-operate and co-ordinate with each other. If you use a managing agent, put in writing who arranges the gas safety check, who tests the alarms, and who keeps the records, so nothing is missed because each side assumed the other had it.
You cannot contract out of the duty
The point landlords most often miss is that handing tasks to an agent does not hand over the legal responsibility. Even where someone else carries out the assessment or the day to day management, you remain accountable as the person with control. An agent who agrees to manage fire safety shares the duty, they do not absorb yours.
What the responsible person actually has to do
In plain terms: make sure a recorded fire risk assessment exists and is acted on, keep the detection, firefighting equipment and escape routes in good order, give tenants fire safety information, and keep the whole thing under review. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service can advise, and your council enforces both the Fire Safety Order route and the Housing Act route.
Using an agent without losing control
Where a managing agent runs the HMO, the cleanest arrangement is a written split of duties: who arranges the management tasks, who books the gas and electrical checks, who tests the alarms, and who keeps the records. The Fire Safety Order expects people with shared duties to co-operate and co-ordinate, and a gap usually appears precisely where each side assumed the other was covering it.
What you cannot do is sign the duty away. If the agent fails, the enforcing authority can still pursue you as the person with control, so it pays to check that the agent is actually doing what was agreed rather than trusting it blindly. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service can advise, and a short written schedule of responsibilities is worth far more than a vague understanding.
Make sure the duty is covered
Unclear who holds the fire safety duty for your HMO? For advice tailored to your property from a competent professional, speak to Jamie at ESI: Fire Safety on 01276 300 351.
