Anyone in Swansea who runs a workplace, takes paying guests, lets a house in multiple occupation or manages the shared parts of a block of flats is the responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and the Order requires that person to make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. In Wales every assessment and every review has had to be recorded in writing since 1 October 2023. Below you will find how Swansea Council’s HMO licensing sits beside that duty, what Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service can ask to see, what the assessment and its report should cover, and what assessors charge locally.
HMO licensing in Swansea’s four additional licensing wards
Swansea Council runs additional licensing in the Castle, Uplands, Waterfront and St Thomas wards, and its licensing page says every HMO in those wards has to be licensed whatever its size, including houses the mandatory scheme would leave out. So a three person share in Uplands needs a licence when the sharers are not one household. Across the rest of the city the mandatory scheme applies to an HMO of three or more storeys with five or more occupiers who do not form a single household, and the council counts habitable basements and attics as storeys. That storey test comes from the Welsh order of 2006. England dropped it on 1 October 2018 and now licenses at five or more people in two or more households on any number of floors, so an English guide can give a Swansea landlord the wrong answer. A designation for additional licensing can last no more than five years, so check the ward maps on the council’s licensing page for the scheme in force before you decide a house falls outside it.
The council inspects every HMO before it issues a licence, and the draft licence comes with a schedule of work that can include fire safety work and certificates for the fire alarms or extinguishers, so read our fire alarm maintenance guide before the visit. The council’s HMO policy has a separate appendix on means of escape in case of fire. The council says letting an HMO that should be licensed is a criminal offence that can bring a fine of up to £20,000, and that breaking a licence condition can bring a fine of up to £5,000. Its private sector housing team is on 01792 635600.
Every landlord who lets a home in Wales on a domestic tenancy has had to register with Rent Smart Wales since 23 November 2015. A new registration costs £60 online or £102 on a paper form, and it is separate from any HMO licence. Anyone who issues contracts or manages the property, such as collecting rent or arranging repairs, also needs a Rent Smart Wales licence, and a landlord who does neither must appoint a licensed agent.
How Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service enforces the Order in Swansea
The Fire Safety Order extends to England and Wales, came into effect in October 2006 and replaced more than 70 earlier pieces of fire safety law, which is also when the old fire certificates ended, as our fire safety certificate page explains. In Swansea it is enforced by Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service on behalf of the Mid and West Wales Fire Authority. The service covers six council areas, the City and County of Swansea among them, across almost 12,000 square kilometres, which is almost two thirds of Wales. The service’s headquarters is on Lime Grove Avenue in Carmarthen, and its telephone number is 0370 6060699.
Fire safety officers from the service may enter premises at any reasonable time, carry a bilingual warrant card that they show on request, and can ask you to produce any record the Order requires, the written fire risk assessment included. When a risk is not being managed, the service can serve an enforcement notice giving you no less than 28 days to put it right, and when the risk is serious enough it can serve a prohibition notice that stops or limits use of the building. For an HMO, the service lets Swansea Council’s housing team know first, where that is practicable, before a prohibition notice is served. You have 21 days to appeal against any notice to the magistrates’ court. Under gov.uk’s guidance a minor penalty can reach £5,000, while for a major offence the fine is unlimited and the prison term can be up to 2 years, and the fire authority prosecutes only when it judges that the evidence gives a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest. Officers can advise you on an assessment, but they cannot carry it out for you.
Student lets, flats and guest houses in Swansea
Swansea University has two campuses, Singleton Campus beside the beach and a short walk from Singleton Park, and the Bay Campus on the seafront next to Crymlyn Burrows. Rooms in halls that the university owns and manages sit outside council licensing, but a privately let student house is an HMO like any other, so in the Uplands ward it needs the additional licence and anywhere in the city it needs the mandatory one once it reaches three storeys and five sharers. The Fire Safety Order covers the common parts of an HMO, such as the hall, stairs and landings, and the licence inspection looks at the means of escape too, so tell the assessor how many storeys the house has, how many people share and which ward it is in.
Blocks of flats are covered for their shared parts, and the Fire Safety Act 2021 made clear that in any building with two or more homes the assessment also takes in the structure and external walls, including balconies, cladding, insulation and fixings, and every door between a flat and the common parts, such as the flat entrance doors. The flats themselves are excluded. The Welsh Government has published guidance on the 2021 Act for responsible persons in Wales, and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service has worked with owners and managing agents of high rise residential blocks in its area since Grenfell. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 apply in England only, so the fixed door checks described on our fire door regulations page do not apply to a Swansea block, although its doors, alarms and escape routes still have to meet the Order. Guest houses, bed and breakfasts, hotels and self-catering lets that take paying guests are covered as well, and gov.uk publishes a separate assessment guide for sleeping accommodation.
Tenants of Swansea Council or a housing association should take any worry about the shared stairs, landings, doors or alarms to that landlord first, because gov.uk names the landlord as the responsible person for common and shared areas.
Why a housing licence is not a fire risk assessment
Rent Smart Wales registration, a Rent Smart Wales licence and an HMO licence from Swansea Council all belong to housing law. The fire risk assessment belongs to a different law, the Fire Safety Order, and it is Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service that checks it. A landlord can hold every housing document and still have no assessment, and the fire duty applies to a business, a block with shared parts or a let HMO whether the housing paperwork is complete or not. The council’s licence inspection can ask for fire safety work, and arranging the assessment itself stays with you as the responsible person.
What the assessment covers and what a Swansea report should record
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service sets out a five step checklist. First you identify the hazards, which means sources of ignition such as heaters or naked flames, sources of fuel such as built-up waste or textiles, and sources of oxygen. Then you identify the people especially at risk, such as anyone working alone, children, older people and disabled people. The third step is to evaluate the risk and remove, reduce or protect against it, the fourth is to record what you found, make an emergency plan and give people instruction and training, and the fifth is to review it. Gov.uk lists what has to be considered along the way: fire detection and warning systems, the emergency routes and exits, firefighting equipment, how dangerous substances are removed or stored safely, an emergency evacuation plan, what vulnerable people will need, and the fire safety information and training that staff receive.
The written record must now hold the findings themselves, including the measures already taken or planned. Before the Building Safety Act 2022 changed article 9 of the Order, only the significant findings had to be written down, and only in some cases. The service says that changed in October 2023 and the findings must now be recorded in all cases, and its guidance lists what the record should typically include: the areas considered, with the structure and external walls where a building holds two or more homes, the hazards found, anyone especially at risk, the measures in place and the date of the assessment or review. For a Swansea HMO, expect the report to say which ward and licence scheme the house falls under, how many storeys it has and how each room escapes, and to check the escape routes against the means of escape appendix in the council’s HMO policy. For a block, it should cover the external walls and the flat entrance doors. The service publishes its own fire safety log book, with space to record every part of your fire safety routine, and says it should be kept up to date and ready for its officers to inspect.
Choosing a fire risk assessor for a Swansea property
The law asks for a suitable and sufficient assessment made by a competent person, and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service describes that as someone with enough training and experience or knowledge. It can be you: gov.uk says you can work through the standard guides yourself, and that you need a competent person to help if you do not have the time or expertise. Appointing someone does not pass the duty on, because you stay the responsible person. The service links to the National Fire Chiefs Council guide to choosing a competent fire risk assessor, and suggests local directories or your insurer when you need a specialist. Put these questions to anyone you are thinking of hiring:
- Training and membership: the fire risk assessment qualifications they hold, and any professional body they belong to, such as the IFE or IFSM.
- Swansea work: the licensed HMOs they have assessed in Castle, Uplands, Waterfront or St Thomas, and whether they know the Welsh three storey test.
- Cover: how much professional indemnity insurance they hold.
- An example: an anonymised report on a building like yours, to show the depth you will get.
- Turnaround: the time on site, the date the report will reach you and whether a follow-up visit is in the price.
How long a Swansea assessment takes and how to prepare
Checkatrade’s Swansea page puts most residential assessments at 1 to 3 hours on site and larger commercial buildings at a full day or more, and says the written report usually follows within a few days. Our cost guide allows 3 to 5 hours for an HMO or shared house, and 2.5 to 4 hours for a pub, restaurant or hotel or for the common parts of a block of flats. The service’s own guidance expects the whole premises to be taken into account, including outdoor areas and rooms that are rarely used, so the assessor will tour the building looking for anything that could start or feed a fire, work out who would be at risk, and test the escape routes and fire precautions against what they find. Before the visit, arrange keys to every room, loft and plant area, warn tenants or guests, and put out the last assessment, the fire alarm test records, the log book and, for a licensed HMO, the council’s schedule of work.
What a fire risk assessment costs in Swansea
Checkatrade’s Swansea page lists 4 fire risk assessment businesses, gives £276 as the average price and says prices typically run from £222 to £348. Among its fixed prices for Swansea, a residential flat is £99, a residential house £129 and an HMO £229. Our fire risk assessment cost guide gives the wider national picture: £200 to £800 for most assessments, around £300 to £500 for a typical small business, and £350 to £600 for an HMO or shared house. So if one assessor offers a Brynmill share at Checkatrade’s £229 fixed price and another quotes £350, find out from both how many hours they will be on site, whether an action plan comes with the report and whether a revisit is included, and only then set the two prices side by side. Give each of them the same written description, covering the storeys, the number of people living there and whether anyone sleeps on the premises, and ask for a fixed fee.
If Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service has already served a notice on the building, the deadline in it decides how fast you need an assessor. Send a copy of the notice with your enquiry, say which date you are working to, and ask each assessor how soon they can visit and send the report.
Fire risk assessment Swansea: common questions
Do I legally need a fire risk assessment in Swansea?
Yes, if you are responsible for business premises, employ people, take paying guests, or control the shared parts of a block of flats or an HMO. The Order does not apply to a private home lived in as a single dwelling.
My house has three sharers. Do I need an HMO licence?
In the Castle, Uplands, Waterfront or St Thomas wards, yes, if the sharers are not one household, because every HMO there needs a licence whatever its size. Elsewhere in Swansea a licence is needed once the house has three or more storeys and five or more occupiers from more than one household.
Does Rent Smart Wales registration cover fire safety?
No. Rent Smart Wales registers landlords and licenses whoever lets or manages the property. The fire risk assessment is a separate duty, and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service can still ask to see it.
Do the English fire door rules apply to a Swansea block?
No. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 apply in England only. A Swansea block still needs an assessment that covers its flat entrance doors, structure and external walls under the Fire Safety Act 2021.
Is the assessment still needed if the house is licensed?
Yes. Swansea Council grants an HMO licence under housing law, while the assessment is a duty under the Fire Safety Order, so holding the licence does not replace it.
How often does the assessment need reviewing?
No fixed interval is set in the Order. You review it regularly so it stays current, and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service says to look at it again after a near miss or any significant change in risk, such as storing more materials that catch fire easily, starting a night shift or a change in who uses the building.
Do I need a fire risk assessment of my flat to sell it?
Not of the flat itself, because individual flats sit outside the Fire Safety Order. The block’s shared parts are covered, though, and their responsible person is the landlord, freeholder or managing agent, so if a buyer asks, request a copy of the block’s current assessment from whichever of them manages it.
How do I get quotes for a Swansea property?
Fill in the form below with the postcode and the type of premises, then add the details that set the price: the ward, how many storeys and occupiers there are, and whether it is a student share, a block of flats, a guest house or a workplace. We send it to fire risk assessors who cover Swansea, so you can compare what each one offers.
Outside Swansea? The site’s other Welsh city page covers fire risk assessment Cardiff, and every other town and county we cover is listed on our fire risk assessment near me page.