Fire Risk Assessment Near Me

The duty to have a fire risk assessment comes from national law, but a good deal of what surrounds it is decided close to home. Cardiff Council’s additional HMO licensing scheme in Cathays, which went live again on 1 February 2023 for 5 years, takes in every house in multiple occupation in the area unless the law exempts it, so a shared house in Cathays can need a licence that the same house in Llandaff would not. In Newcastle the selective licensing scheme for Byker Old Town and Greater High Cross is due to end in October 2026, and a new scheme covering Byker and High Cross starts on 1 October 2026. Inspection is local as well, because for most premises the enforcing authority is the fire and rescue authority for the area the building stands in.

So when you need a fire risk assessor near you, start with the town or county the building is in. Each area page below names the council licensing schemes that apply there and the fire and rescue service that enforces the law, and it sets out what an assessor working in that area should already know before they give you a price.

Pick your town or county from the list, or type its name in the box to jump straight to it. The guidance further down this page applies wherever the building is, including the places that do not have a page of their own yet.

Who needs a fire risk assessment in England and Wales

In England and Wales the law is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which came into force on 1 October 2006 and extends to England and Wales only. It covers business and other non-domestic premises, and gov.uk counts the common areas of residential buildings shared by more than one household among them. It also applies when you take paying guests, so a bed and breakfast, a guest house or a self-catering let is covered. A private home lived in as a single dwelling sits outside it.

The duty falls on whoever controls the premises, and the Order calls that person the responsible person. Gov.uk lists the employer, the owner, the landlord, an occupier, and anyone else with control of the building, such as a facilities manager, building manager or managing agent. For the shared parts of a block or a shared house, the responsible person is the landlord, freeholder or managing agent, and where one building has more than one responsible person they have to work together to meet the duty.

Blocks of flats were brought further in by the Fire Safety Act 2021. In any building with two or more sets of domestic premises, the assessment now takes in the structure, the external walls, the common parts and the doors between each flat and those common parts. That part of the law came into force in October 2021 in Wales and in May 2022 in England. The inside of each flat is still outside the Order.

How the duty works in Scotland

Scotland has its own law, Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005. Section 53 requires an employer to carry out an assessment of the workplace, and section 54 puts a similar duty on anyone who has control of relevant premises. Domestic premises are left out of relevant premises, while a house in multiple occupation that has to be licensed under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 is not treated as domestic, so a licensed HMO is covered. The same section counts a stair or passage shared by the occupants of more than one private dwelling as part of the domestic premises, so in Scotland the common stair of a block of flats falls outside Part 3, where in England and Wales the shared parts of a block are covered. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service calls the person who carries the duty the dutyholder, and its fire safety audits examine both the premises and the dutyholder’s fire safety documents.

What the written record must hold since October 2023

On 1 October 2023 the Building Safety Act 2022 changed article 9 of the Fire Safety Order in both England and Wales. Until then the record had to hold just the significant findings, and it was needed only in certain situations, for instance where a business had five or more employees or the premises were under a licence or an alterations notice. Now every assessment and every review has to be recorded in full, with all of its findings, the measures taken so far or planned, and any group the assessment singles out as especially at risk. The government’s guidance says you must also record your fire safety arrangements, and that you should record the name of any fire risk assessor who helped you, with the name of their organisation where they work for one.

Scotland has not made the same change. Regulations 8 and 9 of the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 still require the dutyholder to record the significant findings, with the measures taken or planned and anyone especially at risk, and only where there are 5 or more employees, where the premises need a licence or registration, or where an alterations notice requires it. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service says that record should be kept ready for inspection by the enforcing authority, which in most cases is the local fire and rescue service. A guide written for England or Wales can therefore give a Scottish business the wrong answer on paperwork, and a Scottish guide can mislead a business south of the border in the same way.

Council licensing schemes and the fire duty

Under the Housing Act 2004 a council in England or Wales can designate an area for additional licensing, which extends HMO licensing to the kinds of shared house the council names in the designation, or for selective licensing, which covers privately rented homes in the area. A designation can last no more than five years, so these schemes begin and end on fixed dates and the map for your street can change while you own the property. Newcastle shows how much this varies inside one city. The council has eight selective licensing areas, and every private rented home inside one of them needs a licence unless it is exempt. In Cardiff a full HMO licence, once granted, runs for 5 years. HMO licensing in Scotland comes from the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 instead.

A housing licence and a fire risk assessment come from two different laws. The council grants the licence under housing law. The assessment belongs to fire safety law, the Fire Safety Order in England and Wales or the Fire (Scotland) Act in Scotland, and that duty applies whether or not the house needs a licence. The government’s guidance on the 2023 changes also notes that councils can enforce in the shared parts of residential buildings under the Housing Act 2004. Tell the assessor which scheme your street falls under, and ask for the report to name it.

Who checks the assessment where you are

In England and Wales the enforcing authority for most premises is the fire and rescue authority for the area, and the government’s guidance on the 2023 changes says local fire and rescue authorities remain the main enforcing body. Their fire safety officers visit premises to check that the assessment and the fire precautions suit the building. When something needs attention they can begin with an informal notice suggesting what to do. An enforcement notice follows when they find a serious risk that is not being managed, and it says what has to improve and by when. An alterations notice can be served where the premises carry high risks, or would do after a change of use, and a prohibition notice takes effect at once and prohibits or restricts access to the premises when the risk is that great.

If you disagree with a notice, gov.uk says an informal review by the fire and rescue authority may be possible, and a formal appeal goes to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of the notice reaching you. Gov.uk puts minor penalties at up to £5,000, while a major offence can bring an unlimited fine and up to 2 years in prison.

In Scotland the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service carries out fire safety audits and gives priority to places where people sleep or receive care, or where the danger is high. Its guidance says an audit takes around 1.5 to 3 hours depending on the size and complexity of the premises, and that an appeal against a formal notice goes to the Sheriff Court within 21 days.

Gov.uk says a fire and rescue authority cannot carry out the assessment for you. It may be able to advise when you are unsure whether yours was done properly, and the Home Office guide for small premises says many services give advice and support to small businesses. South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, for example, offers free advice, templates and checklists alongside the government guides.

What a fire risk assessment covers

Gov.uk sets the assessment out in five steps: identify the fire hazards, identify the people at risk, evaluate the risks and remove or reduce them, record what you found and prepare an emergency plan and training, and then review and update the assessment regularly. Along the way it expects you to look at the escape routes and exits, the fire detection and warning system, the firefighting equipment, how any dangerous substances are removed or stored, the evacuation plan, the needs of vulnerable people such as older people, young children and disabled people, and the information and training given to staff and others on the premises.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service uses five steps too, with the people at risk first, and describes the hazards as sources of ignition, fuel and oxygen. For a paid assessment, Checkatrade says the service usually includes a full inspection, a review of the alarm system, the escape routes and the emergency lighting, checks on fire doors and compartmentation, and a written report with risk ratings and an action plan.

Gov.uk publishes separate assessment guides by type of premises, among them offices and shops, factories and warehouses, sleeping accommodation, residential care premises, educational premises and purpose-built blocks of flats. Tell the assessor which of these your building is before they quote, because a shop with nobody sleeping in it and a care home take very different amounts of time to assess.

What a fire risk assessment costs near you

Our fire risk assessment cost guide puts most assessments between £200 and £800, with a typical small business paying roughly £300 to £500. It gives £200 to £350 and 1.5 to 2.5 hours on site for a small office under 500 square metres, and £350 to £600 and 3 to 5 hours for an HMO or shared house. Checkatrade’s Newcastle upon Tyne page comes in lower, with an average of £252 and prices typically running from £199 to £328, and one firm that works across the UK advertises assessments from £245 plus VAT.

Checkatrade names property size, the type of building, how complex it is, how many people use it and the location as the things that set the price, and sleeping accommodation takes the longest of the premises types on our cost guide. As a worked example, if one assessor quotes £350 for a shared house and another quotes £600, both prices sit inside the HMO range, so before you compare them ask each assessor how many of the 3 to 5 hours they will spend at the property, whether the report includes an action plan and whether a return visit is in the price. Send every assessor the same written description of the building, giving the number of floors, how many people live or work in it and whether people stay there overnight, and ask each one for a fixed price.

Why near me is not the whole question

• Coverage areas overlap. An assessor’s advertised area can stretch across several counties, so the firm nearest to you on a map may do most of its work somewhere else. Ask which councils and which fire and rescue services they deal with regularly.
• Experience with your type of building counts most. An assessor from further away who has assessed many buildings like yours suits the job better than a nearby one who has assessed none, so ask about the building type before the postcode.
• Local knowledge still counts. Licensing schemes are set by your council, can cover some streets and not their neighbours, and end on fixed dates, so an assessor who works in your area regularly is more likely to know which scheme applies to your building.
• The enforcing authority is local too. Your fire and rescue service inspects and enforces, and many services publish guidance and give advice to small businesses, so read what yours expects before you book.

Five things to ask before you book

• Their qualifications, and who awarded them. Ask for a named awarding body you can look up, and whether they are members of a professional body such as the IFE or IFSM, which Checkatrade lists among the things to check.
• Third party certification and its registration number. Company schemes include BAFE SP205, run through SSAIB or NSI, and Warrington FRACS. Take the number and look it up on the certifying body’s own register before you rely on the logo.
• Their professional indemnity cover. Ask for the figure. If the assessment turns out to be wrong, that cover is what stands behind it.
• How many buildings like yours they have assessed. A block of flats, a shared house, a shop and a factory are four different jobs with four different failure points.
• A sample report with the client details removed. A real report names actual doors, actual rooms and actual dates. A weak one lists generic hazards that could belong to any building in the country.

No law makes a fire risk assessor join a national register, and the requirement for the person you appoint to be competent is still waiting to take effect. The Building Safety Act 2022 wrote that requirement into the Fire Safety Order, and the government says it will be brought into force at a later date. Until then it recommends that you make sure any assessor you appoint has enough training and experience or knowledge. A Home Office survey of fire risk assessors in England, published in September 2024, found that fewer than half (46%) were individually certificated or registered as competent, and 71% said their company held neither BAFE SP205 nor Warrington FRACS certification. The same survey calls third-party certification a good indicator of competence at the point of certification.

Appointing an assessor leaves the duty with you. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service says the dutyholder remains legally responsible even when outside help is used, and in England and Wales the responsible person still has to make sure the assessment is suitable and sufficient. The Home Office guide for small premises points readers to the Fire Sector Federation’s guide to choosing a competent fire risk assessor.

Reviews, fire doors and alarm checks between assessments

The Fire Safety Order sets no fixed interval for a review. It says the responsible person must review the assessment regularly to keep it up to date, and in particular when there is reason to think it is no longer valid or when there has been a significant change, such as an extension, a conversion or a change in how the work is organised. Checkatrade advises a review at least once a year and a fresh assessment after significant changes to the building or its use, but that yearly interval is its own advice and not a rule in the Order. Gov.uk also says you should hold at least one fire drill a year and record the results.

Two related jobs catch people out. In England, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, in force since January 2023, require the responsible person for a block whose top storey is more than 11 metres high to check the fire doors in the communal areas at least every 3 months, and to use best endeavours to check the flat entrance doors at least every 12 months, as our fire door regulations page explains. Those regulations apply in England only. For fire alarms, the government guides say the system should be tested every week using a different manual call point each time, and inspected and serviced every six months by a competent person, such as a contractor certificated for that work by an independent certification body. Our fire alarm maintenance page covers the routine in full.

If a council, insurer or landlord has asked you for a fire safety certificate, read our fire safety certificate page before you pay anyone. In England and Wales, certificates issued under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 stopped having any effect when the Fire Safety Order came in twenty years ago, and the written assessment took their place.

How long it takes and when the report arrives

Time on site depends on the building. Checkatrade says most residential assessments take 1 to 3 hours and larger commercial buildings a full day or more, and our cost guide allows 1.5 to 2.5 hours for a small office or shop and 3 to 5 hours for an HMO. Checkatrade adds that the written report usually follows within a few days. The report is what you are paying for and what a fire safety officer will ask to see, so agree the date it will reach you before you book.

Before the visit, arrange access to every room, the loft, the plant room and any outbuildings, and tell staff, tenants or guests that someone will be walking round. Put out the previous assessment, the records of fire alarm and emergency lighting checks, the results of your last fire drill and any notice from the fire and rescue service or the council. When the report arrives, check that it names the assessor and their organisation, lists every finding with the measure taken or planned for it, and names anyone it picks out as especially at risk, since in England and Wales the law and the government’s guidance expect the record to hold those details. Ask for a target date against each action as well, so you can show when each one was done.

Cannot find your area yet?

The guidance on this page applies in any town, and so do the five questions above. Two local bodies can answer the rest wherever the building is: the fire and rescue service for your area, and your council.

Your local fire and rescue service is the enforcing authority for most premises, and the government’s guide for offices and shops tells anyone in doubt about how the law applies to them to contact the fire safety office at their local service. Check your council’s licensing pages to see whether the property sits inside an additional or selective licensing scheme and when that scheme ends. With those two answers and a written description of the building, you can brief an assessor near you in the same way as for any town on the list.

Fire risk assessment near me: common questions

How much does a fire risk assessment cost?

Most assessments fall between £200 and £800 on our cost guide, with a typical small business paying roughly £300 to £500, and Checkatrade gives an average of £252 for Newcastle upon Tyne. The size and use of the building move the price more than the town does, so describe it in writing and ask for a fixed price.

Is a fire risk assessment a legal requirement?

Yes, if you are responsible for a workplace or other non-domestic premises. In England and Wales the duty comes from the Fire Safety Order, which also covers the shared parts of a block of flats or a shared house and any property that takes paying guests. In Scotland it comes from Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, which treats the common stair of a block of flats as domestic but covers a house in multiple occupation that needs a licence. A private home lived in as a single dwelling is outside both.

Can I do the fire risk assessment myself?

Yes. Gov.uk says you can carry it out yourself with the help of the standard guides, and the Home Office guide for small premises says a small building can often be assessed without specialist knowledge. If you do not have the time or the expertise, gov.uk says you need to appoint a competent person to help, and the duty stays with you either way.

Who can carry out a fire risk assessment in Scotland?

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service says you are free to arrange any assistance you consider appropriate, and that registration schemes operate for people and companies who carry out assessments. It also warns that competence can be hard to judge from advertising, and that the dutyholder stays legally responsible whoever does the work.

How often should the assessment be reviewed?

The law sets no fixed interval. The responsible person reviews it regularly, and again whenever it may no longer be valid or after a significant change to the building or the way it is used. Checkatrade suggests a review at least once a year.

Does selling a flat need a fire risk assessment?

In England and Wales the flat itself sits outside the Fire Safety Order, while the shared parts of the block are covered. Checkatrade notes that an assessment may not be required for the sale itself, but that problems found during conveyancing, especially in leasehold and multi-occupied buildings, can hold up the sale. Ask the freeholder or managing agent for the current assessment of the common parts early on.

I rent my home. Do I arrange the assessment?

Usually not. Gov.uk makes the landlord, freeholder or managing agent the responsible person for common and shared areas, and Checkatrade says tenants are not usually responsible for commissioning an assessment. Report a worry to your landlord or managing agent first, and to the council or the fire and rescue service if it is urgent.

Will the fire and rescue service carry out my assessment?

No. Gov.uk says its officers may be able to advise when you are unsure whether your assessment was done properly, and the Home Office says many services support small businesses, but making or commissioning the assessment stays your job.