Manchester does not currently run additional HMO licensing. The council says so on its HMO licence page. Mandatory HMO licensing still applies citywide: five or more people, two or more households, sharing a kitchen, bathroom or laundry.
What Manchester does run is selective licensing, street by street. Ordinary rented houses in those designations need a licence, not only HMOs. Current schemes include parts of Rusholme, Clayton and Openshaw, Crumpsall, Miles Platting and Newton Heath, Cheetham, Moss Side, Longsight, Gorton and Abbey Hey, Levenshulme, and Harpurhey. It is named streets, not whole wards. The live list sits on Manchester City Council’s current selective licensing schemes. Check that list, and the fee on the application page,. Sitting outside a designation removes the selective licence. The fire safety duty stays.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service will ask for the written assessment
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is the enforcing authority for most premises in the city. They can inspect without notice, serve enforcement and prohibition notices, and prosecute. They do not write the fire risk assessment for you. Their job is to audit whether you have done yours. A prohibition notice can close a building the same day.
GMFRS also offers a free Home Fire Safety Assessment for householders whose health or home makes escape harder. That visit is not the written fire risk assessment a landlord or employer has to have. Do not mix the two up on the phone.
Mills, shared houses, and the selective-licence streets
Converted mills are a Manchester job. The original structure was not built as homes. Fire stopping between the new flats, the shared cores, and the old fabric is what those assessments usually find missing. Say it is a mill conversion when you ask for quotes. A terrace in Levenshulme and a mill in Ancoats are not the same assessment.
Shared houses that sit under mandatory HMO licensing have sleeping accommodation on more than one floor, and often one staircase. The report has to name that staircase and what happens if it is blocked. Selective-licence houses are often ordinary rented terraces. The licence is a housing licence. The fire risk assessment is still a Fire Safety Order duty. You still need both where both apply.
If you rent from a housing association or the council, start with them.
What a Manchester report should actually name
A report that could have been written for any city is not suitable and sufficient for a mill conversion or a house on a selective-licensing street. It should say whether the property sits inside a current designation, where the storey alarms are, and what the escape is if the front door is the only way out. For a mill it should name the original structure and the new compartmentation, not “common parts” as a heading with nothing under it.
Checking an assessor in Manchester
Nobody licenses fire risk assessors, so a Manchester landlord has to do the vetting personally. Qualifications, professional body membership, indemnity cover, and a sample report for a property like yours. The questions worth asking are set out on what a fire risk assessment costs.
What it costs in Manchester
Liverpool is the other large North West city with its own licensing map: fire risk assessments in Liverpool.
Selective licensing streets in Manchester
I thought additional HMO licensing was still running.
Manchester City Council’s HMO page says it is not. Mandatory licensing at five occupants still is. Selective licensing is the scheme that catches ordinary rented houses in named streets. Check both pages.
Does the selective licence replace the fire risk assessment?
No. The licence is a housing licence. The fire risk assessment is a Fire Safety Order duty. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service will still ask for the written assessment.
Getting a quote from an assessor covering Manchester
Describe the premises and we will pass it to assessors covering Manchester. Say whether it is a mill, an HMO, or a house on a selective-licensing street.
Blackpool is another North West town on this site: fire risk assessments in Blackpool.
Not in Manchester? See all the areas we cover.