If you let a cottage in Kent or a flat by the coast, the law needs to know who is in charge of fire safety. The responsible person fire safety duties fall on a specific individual, and the term comes straight from the Fire Safety Order. Working out whether that person is you, and what it means, is the starting point for everything else.
Who holds responsible person fire safety duties
The Home Office guidance defines the responsible person as the owner, letting agent, or other person who has control of the premises. For most holiday lets that is simply the owner. If you use a managing agent, responsibility can be shared, and the Order requires anyone with a duty to co-operate and co-ordinate with the others so that nothing falls through the gap.
Crucially, the role cannot be delegated away. You can pay a competent fire risk assessor to carry out the assessment, but you remain the responsible person and you must act on what they find.
What the role involves
As the person holding responsible person fire safety duties you must carry out and record a fire risk assessment, provide adequate fire safety measures, maintain them in working order, have fire procedures in place, give staff suitable instruction, keep everything under regular review, and keep records. If responsibility ever passes to someone else, you must hand over your assessment and the identity of whoever completed it.
Shared buildings and multiple duty holders
Things get more involved where your let is part of a larger building, such as a flat in a converted house. There may be more than one responsible person, for example you for the flat and a freeholder for the common parts. The Building Safety Act 2022 also requires that residents in buildings with two or more domestic premises are given fire safety information. Knowing exactly where your responsibility starts and ends is important.
Records matter more than they used to
Since the Building Safety Act took effect, the responsible person must record the assessment in full. The guidance also notes it should ideally include the name and organisation that carried it out. That paper trail protects you if Kent Fire and Rescue Service ever inspects, and it is the first thing an inspector will ask to see.
Getting it right
Being the responsible person is not about doing everything yourself. It is about making sure the right things get done and documented. The honest reality is that most owners lack the training to judge things like compartmentation or travel distances, which is why many bring in a professional to validate their position. You can read what a suitable and sufficient assessment needs to cover, and check your duties on the government’s guidance page.
Can responsibility be shared?
Yes. The Order recognises that more than one person can hold duties at the same premises, for example an owner and a managing agent. Where that happens, the guidance is clear that you must co-operate and co-ordinate with each other so nothing falls through the gap. Putting who does what in writing, from arranging the annual gas check to testing alarms on changeover, avoids the common situation where each party assumes the other has it covered. Whatever you agree, you cannot contract out of your own legal duty as a Responsible Person, and Kent Fire and Rescue Service will hold you to account regardless of any private arrangement.
Get the right advice for your property
Unsure exactly what your duties as responsible person cover? For advice tailored to your property from a competent professional, speak to Jamie at ESI: Fire Safety on 01276 300 351.
