County Durham businesses, landlords of shared houses, anyone taking paying guests and whoever controls the common parts of a block of flats all carry the same duty under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005: a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. Since 1 October 2023, England has required every one of those assessments to be written down. Many landlords in the county need a selective licence from Durham County Council as well, so the sections below cover where that scheme runs, how County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service enforces the fire duty, what the assessment should record and what assessors charge.
Selective licensing in County Durham’s 103 designated areas
Durham County Council’s selective licensing scheme came into effect on 1 April 2022 and expires on 31 March 2027. It covers 103 designated areas that the council chose for low housing demand, anti-social behaviour or deprivation, and inside them a privately rented home needs a licence from the council. The designated areas do not cover the whole county. The council’s postcode list has no DH1 postcode and no settlement named Durham, so Durham City sits outside the scheme, while Peterlee, Shildon, Horden, Bishop Auckland, Murton, Stanley, Seaham and Easington Colliery have the most postcodes in it. Durham County Council’s selective licensing page has the property checker, the postcode list and a public register of licensed homes.
The licence fee is £585 per property, paid in two parts: £200 with the application and £385 when the draft licence is issued. A landlord who fails to get a licence or breaks its conditions can face prosecution and an unlimited fine, or a civil fine of up to £40,000, and the selective licensing team is on 03000 268 000. Because a designation lasts five years at most, look on the council page for whatever replaces the current scheme before you renew. Houses in multiple occupation with five or more people from two or more households need a mandatory HMO licence instead, wherever they are in the county.
Every selective or HMO licence must carry the mandatory conditions set by the Housing Act 2004, including a smoke alarm on each storey used as living accommodation, kept in working order, and a gas safety certificate produced to the council every year where gas is supplied. The application also asks for gas certificates, proof of electrical checks, tenancy agreements and energy performance certificates. None of those documents is a fire risk assessment, which is a separate duty under the Fire Safety Order that the county fire service enforces.
How County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service enforces the Order
County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service visits and inspects a wide range of non-domestic premises across the county, and where it finds problems it can serve three kinds of notice under the Fire Safety Order. An alterations notice covers alterations to the premises that would create a serious risk, an enforcement notice follows a failure to comply with the Order, and a prohibition notice stops or restricts use of all or part of the premises where the risk is serious enough. The service records its notices on the National Enforcement Register run by the National Fire Chiefs Council, where each one appears within 14 days after the 21 day appeal period ends.
Its officers have the power to enter at any reasonable time and to demand the records the Order requires, the written assessment among them. An enforcement notice cannot give less than 28 days to comply. Where practicable, the service lets Durham County Council’s housing officers know before any prohibition notice is served on an HMO, and it has no power to serve one on a house occupied as a single private dwelling. Notices can be appealed at the magistrates’ court within 21 days, and gov.uk sets the penalties at up to £5,000 for minor offences, while a major offence can mean imprisonment for up to 2 years and a fine with no upper limit. If you are unsure whether your assessment is good enough, the service may be able to advise, but it cannot do the assessment for you.
Durham City and the licensed towns and villages
Durham City sits outside the selective licensing areas, so a whole house let to one family there needs no selective licence, but a shared house of five or more people from two or more households still needs a mandatory HMO licence. The Durham City Conservation Area, designated in 1968, takes in the Durham Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site, which UNESCO listed in 1986, the Durham University Hill colleges to the south of the centre, the streets around the viaduct and North Road built in the city’s 1900s expansion, and Claypath and the area around St Giles, where the houses date from the 17th to the 20th century. If your premises are in an older building, tell the assessor its age and how it has been converted, so they can plan the visit.
Across the licensed towns and villages, a house let whole to one household is domestic premises and sits outside the Fire Safety Order, although the selective licence still requires a working smoke alarm on each storey. Let the same house room by room to people from more than one household and it becomes an HMO, and the Order then covers the common parts, such as the hall, stairs and landings. The Order also covers bed and breakfasts, guesthouses and self-catering lets that take paying guests. Tell the assessor how the property is let, how many people live there and which town it is in.
Tenancies from a council or a housing association are exempt from selective licensing. Tenants of a housing association who are worried about the stairs, doors or alarms in their building should go to their landlord first, since gov.uk makes the landlord responsible for fire safety in shared areas.
Why a selective licence does not replace the fire risk assessment
Durham County Council runs the selective licence under housing law and checks its conditions, while County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service enforces the Fire Safety Order and can ask for the written assessment. A house can hold a selective licence and still need an assessment, and an HMO in Durham City needs one although the city is outside the selective areas.
What the assessment covers and what a County Durham report should record
Gov.uk’s checklist has five parts: spot what could start or fuel a fire, work out who could be hurt, judge the risk and get rid of it or bring it down, write it all up with an emergency plan and staff training, and keep coming back to it. An assessor working through that list in a Durham property will look at the alarm and detection system, the ways out and the exits, the extinguishers and other firefighting kit, any dangerous substances and how they are kept, the plan for evacuating the building, any occupant who could not get out unaided, and what occupants or staff have been told.
By law the written record has to give the findings and the measures in place or planned. For blocks of flats, County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service points out that the Fire Safety Act 2021, made law after the Grenfell Tower fire, applies to every multi-occupied residential building whatever its height, and that the responsible person must now reduce, not only assess, the risk from the structure, the external walls, including cladding, balconies and windows, and the flat entrance doors that open onto common parts. A block over 11 metres also comes under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, with communal fire doors checked at least every 3 months and flat entrance doors, on a best endeavours basis, at least once a year. Our fire door regulations guide goes through both checks. For a rented house, the report should say whether the address falls inside a selective licensing area, where the smoke alarm on each storey is, and how every occupant would escape if the stairs could not be used.
Choosing a fire risk assessor for a Durham property
You are allowed to do the assessment yourself using the government’s standard guides, and gov.uk says to bring in a competent person, such as a professional risk assessor, when you lack the time or the expertise. Hiring someone does not move the legal duty, which stays with the responsible person. These are the questions to settle before you book anyone:
- Credentials: the fire risk assessment qualifications held, and membership of a professional body such as the IFE or IFSM.
- County Durham homes: experience with HMOs and selectively licensed houses in the county, and with older city buildings if yours is one.
- Insurance: the amount of professional indemnity cover in place.
- Past work: an anonymised report from a similar property, to show how thorough theirs will be.
- Visit and report: the hours on site, when the report will be delivered and whether a return visit costs extra.
How long a County Durham assessment takes and what to prepare
According to Checkatrade’s Durham page, a residential assessment usually means 1 to 3 hours at the property and a larger commercial building a full day or longer, and our cost guide budgets 3 to 5 hours for an HMO or shared house. Expect the assessor to go round the building looking for ignition sources and anything that could catch fire, to note who would be at risk, and to test the escape routes and fire precautions against both. Tell tenants the date in advance, make sure every room can be opened, and gather the earlier assessment if there is one, the alarm test records, the gas and electrical certificates and your selective or HMO licence papers.
What a fire risk assessment costs in Durham
Checkatrade lists an average of £252 for Durham, with most prices between £199 and £328. Its fixed price offers there are £229 for an HMO assessment, £129 for a residential house and £99 for a residential flat. For a wider view, our fire risk assessment cost guide gives £200 to £800 as the usual national range, about £300 to £500 for most small businesses and £350 to £600 for an HMO or shared house. Say a Gilesgate shared house gets one quote at Checkatrade’s £229 fixed price and another at £350: before choosing, find out how long each assessor will be there, whether you get a written action plan and whether a follow-up visit is covered. Give all of them the same facts about the property, meaning its floors, how many people live there and whether it is slept in, and ask for the price to be fixed.
When County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service has served a notice, the date it sets is the date you are working to. Put a copy with your enquiry and ask each assessor to confirm they can visit and report before then.
Fire risk assessment Durham: common questions
Is my street in the selective licensing scheme?
Use the property checker on the council’s selective licensing page. The scheme covers 103 areas until 31 March 2027, and Durham City postcodes are not among them, so check again before a licence comes up for renewal.
Who needs a fire risk assessment in County Durham?
Anyone who employs people, runs business premises, takes paying guests, lets an HMO or is in charge of the shared parts of a block of flats. Someone’s own home, lived in as a private dwelling, falls outside the Order.
Does a selective licence cover fire safety?
Only through its conditions, such as a working smoke alarm on each storey. The fire risk assessment is a separate duty under the Fire Safety Order, and County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service can ask for it with or without a licence.
I let my house to one family. Does it need a fire risk assessment?
Not under the Fire Safety Order, if the family occupies it as a private dwelling with no parts shared with another home. Let it room by room to more than one household and it becomes an HMO, and the Order then applies to its common parts.
How often does the assessment need reviewing?
There is no set period in the Order. It asks for the assessment to be kept up to date through regular reviews, with a fresh look whenever something significant changes, such as the layout, the use of the building or who lives or works there.
Does my own flat need a fire risk assessment?
No, your own flat is a private dwelling and outside the Order. The shared hallways, stairs and other common areas of the block are covered, and gov.uk places the duty for them on the landlord, freeholder or managing agent, so that is who to ask for the block’s latest assessment.
How do I get quotes for a County Durham property?
Fill in the form below with the postcode, the town and the type of premises, and tell us how the property is let, how many storeys and occupiers it has and whether it holds a selective or HMO licence. We send it on to fire risk assessors who cover Durham City and the rest of the county, so you can compare their offers.
County Durham’s nearest city page on this site is fire risk assessment Newcastle, and every other area we cover is linked from our fire risk assessment near me page.