Fire Safety Act 2021 factsheet: Information for lenders
Updated 24 February 2023
© Crown copyright 2023
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-act-2021/fire-safety-act-2021-factsheet-information-for-lenders
Overview - The purpose of this fact sheet
This fact sheet is not guidance issued under article 50 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and should not be read as such. It is intended to provide information about the Fire Safety Act 2021 to lenders.
The Fire Safety Act
Before the act, there was ambiguity as to whether the external walls and flat entrance doors of a multi-occupied residential building should be included in the fire risk assessment for the building required under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the ‘Fire Safety Order’ (FSO)).
The Fire Safety Act clarifies that the FSO applies to the structure, external walls (including balconies, doors and windows) and flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises.
The act will require Responsible Persons of multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises to update their fire risk assessment to include an assessment of the building’s structure, external walls, and flat entrance doors. In some cases, a Responsible Person will be able to update the fire risk assessment themselves, however where the update requires an assessment of materials which make up a building’s external wall system the Responsible Person may need to contract a suitably competent fire risk assessor to undertake that assessment for them.
The Fire Safety Act – countries where it applies
The Fire Safety Act applies and extends to both England and Wales.
Fire is a devolved matter. Sections One and Three of the Fire Safety Act were commenced in Wales on 1 October 2021.
This fact sheet relates to England only.
Updating the fire risk assessment
It is important that fire risk assessments are updated as quickly as practicable to include an assessment of the building’s external walls.
A Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool has been produced to support Responsible Persons to prioritise their buildings for an updated fire risk assessment. More details on this can be found in a separate fact sheet on the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool.
Purpose of the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool
The prioritisation tool been developed to support a Responsible Person to prioritise updating their fire risk assessment and to demonstrate compliance with the FSO (as amended by the Fire Safety Act).
The prioritisation tool is not designed to assess fire safety risks for a building nor does it provide information on the combustibility of a building’s external wall system. It is not an appropriate tool to be used to base lending decisions on.
Fire risk assessments are not designed to inform lending decisions
Fire risk assessments are technical documents which cover a wide range of fire protection precautions which are set out in the FSO. They are designed to assess the fire risk in buildings in scope of the FSO and take into consideration more factors than a building’s external walls. Fire risk assessments cannot provide a binary output to inform lending decisions and therefore it would not normally be appropriate to use these as an indication of the level of risk from fire faced by a building to inform lending decisions.
Who will see the results of the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool?
The results of the prioritisation tool will only be available to the Responsible Person, there is no legal requirement for these to be shared.
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2021
The government intends to bring the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 into force on 23 January 2023. These regulations seek to implement the majority of the recommendations made by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry in their Phase 1 report. These regulations will be laid 18 May 2022. You can find further information on them in the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 fact sheets.
The Building Safety Bill which is currently being considered by Parliament will provide an even stronger more robust legislative framework which will improve building safety overall and strengthen the FSO. You can find further information in the Building Safety Bill fact sheets.