Anyone who runs a business, lets a shared house or looks after the common parts of a block of flats in York has a duty under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, and every responsible person has had to keep a written record of it since 1 October 2023. Below you will find how City of York Council’s licensing for shared houses relates to that duty, what North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service expects, what the assessment and report should cover in a city with major historic buildings, and what to ask assessors before you choose one.
York’s additional licence in eight wards
City of York Council designated eight wards for additional HMO licensing on 17 August 2022, after two rounds of 10 week consultation, and the scheme has applied since 1 April 2023. In Clifton, Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington, Guildhall, Heworth, Hull Road, Micklegate, and Osbaldwick and Derwent, a house or flat let to three or four people who form more than one household and share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet needs a licence. The council counts three unrelated friends as three households and a couple sharing with one other person as two, and it treats a student let as the students’ only or main residence. The scheme covers whole buildings, converted flats and purpose-built flats in blocks of up to 2 flats, and the council’s ward map can be searched by postcode to check an address. Mandatory licensing applies across the whole city once 5 or more people in 2 or more households share.
For applications made from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 the fee is paid in two stages: the first with a complete application and the second once the council decides to grant the licence. The bands in City of York Council’s additional licensing briefing are:
| Occupants | First stage | Second stage | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 6 | £914 | £610 | £1,524 |
| 7 to 9 | £1,067 | £712 | £1,779 |
| 10 to 14 | £1,166 | £778 | £1,944 |
| 15 or more | £1,312 | £874 | £2,186 |
A licence holder with a relevant HMO qualification gets £75 off the second stage, so in the smallest band a qualified licence holder pays £914 and then £535. The council will inspect every licensed property within the 5 years of the licence and looks for unlicensed HMOs, taking a graduated approach of advice, then a warning, then enforcement.
York also has an Article 4 Direction across its main urban area, so changing a family house (use class C3) into a small HMO (use class C4) needs planning permission, and the council says that in most cases planning permission is needed to use a property lawfully as an HMO. Neither the planning permission nor the licence is a fire risk assessment, and a let shared house has to meet the 2005 Order whether or not it holds them.
How North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service enforces the law in York
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service covers North Yorkshire and the City of York and enforces the Fire Safety Order for the fire authority, while City of York Council enforces the Housing Act. The service’s guidance for landlords says the Order brought in duties for the common areas of HMOs, flats, maisonettes and sheltered accommodation, and that in practice the responsible person will usually be the landlord. The Order also covers shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels and every other non-domestic premises in the city.
North Yorkshire’s inspectors may come in at any reasonable time and ask you to produce the records the Order requires, and the written assessment is one of them. The service’s FAQ is clear that you should not wait for a fire safety officer to call before putting things right, because compliance is the responsible person’s job. Where it finds a serious risk that is not being managed, the service may issue an enforcement notice, which has to give at least 28 days, and where the danger is great enough that people must be kept out or access limited, a prohibition notice applies immediately. For an HMO it notifies the council’s housing team first where that is practicable. An appeal against a notice goes to the magistrates’ court and must be made within 21 days. According to gov.uk, minor penalties can reach £5,000, and major penalties can mean an unlimited fine and up to 2 years in prison. Officers may offer advice if you doubt your assessment, but they cannot write it for you.
Student lets, historic buildings and other York premises
York’s two universities are the University of York and York St John University, and the council says HMOs are a significant and growing part of the city’s housing, serving students, young professionals and people on low incomes. The 2021 Census counted around 202,800 people in York, with one household in five (20.0%) renting privately, up from 17.9% in 2011. In a shared house the assessment covers the common parts, and the service points landlords to the LACORS national guidance on fire safety in existing housing. Landlords must also fit at least one smoke alarm on every storey of a rented home that is used as living accommodation.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has heritage guidance because of the major historic buildings in the city. It warns that historic buildings, and buildings altered over the years, often have large hidden voids where a fire can go unnoticed for a long time, and that a compartmentation survey can find them and lead to remedial work such as new compartment walls. It says automatic suppression, such as sprinklers or water mist, can compensate for limits in a historic building, and that a permit must be prepared before any hot work such as welding or soldering. If your premises are in an old or much altered building, say so when you ask for quotes, so the assessor can plan for voids and for any survey.
The government publishes a separate assessment guide for offices and shops, for factories and warehouses, for sleeping accommodation, for residential care and for schools and other educational premises, and another for purpose-built blocks of flats. In a block more than 11 metres tall, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add set checks: the responsible person must check communal fire doors every 3 months or more often and use best endeavours to check the front door of each flat at least once a year. Our fire door regulations page covers those checks in detail. If you rent from City of York Council or a housing association, the shared parts are your landlord’s responsibility, so take any concern about them there first.
What the licence checks and what the fire duty covers
The additional licence is run by City of York Council’s Healthy and Sustainable Homes Team at West Offices, on 01904 552300, and its conditions deal with housing standards such as minimum bedroom sizes. The fire risk assessment is a separate legal duty under the Fire Safety Order, and holding a licence does not produce one. A three person share in a ward outside the eight still needs an assessment of its common parts if it is let as an HMO. The service’s FAQ says you can pass the assessment to a competent person, but you stay responsible in law for meeting the Order.
The five steps and what a York report should record
Gov.uk sets the assessment out as five steps. You look for anything that could start a fire, work out who could be harmed, judge the risks and remove or reduce them, record what you found together with an emergency plan and training, and come back to review it regularly. Along the way it should look at how people escape and where the exits are, how a fire would be detected and people warned, what firefighting equipment is provided, any dangerous substances kept there, the evacuation plan, anyone who would need help to get out, and what staff and residents are told and taught about fire safety.
The written record must set out the findings, the measures already taken or still to be taken, and any group of people especially at risk. Review it regularly, and in particular whenever there is reason to suspect it no longer holds good or the premises or the way they are used have changed significantly. For a York share, expect the report to name the licensing band and ward, the position of each smoke alarm, and the way out if the single staircase is lost. For a historic or much altered building, it should say whether hidden voids and compartmentation were checked or need a separate survey.
Who carries the fire duty in York
Under the Order the duty falls on the responsible person. That is the employer where the premises are a workplace under the employer’s control; in other premises it is the person who controls them for a trade or business, and where the person in control is not running a business there, the owner. The service says the Order does not apply to private homes, including individual flats in a block or house, but it does apply to the common parts, where the landlord or the managing agent for the building should carry out the assessment and act on any significant findings. You can do it yourself with the government’s guides, or appoint a competent person such as a professional assessor if you do not have the time or expertise.
How to choose a fire risk assessor in York
No law requires a fire risk assessor to sign up to a national database, so anyone can offer assessments in York and it falls to you to test their competence. The second phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommended that the government set up mandatory accreditation for assessors, and Home Office research published in 2024 found no single professional body overseeing assessors and no defined qualifications that apply to them. Put these questions to every assessor on your shortlist:
- Qualifications: what fire risk assessment qualification they have, and whether they are on the register of a professional body or a third party certification scheme.
- Experience: how many listed, timber framed or heavily altered buildings they have assessed, if yours is one of these.
- Insurance: how much professional indemnity insurance they hold.
- A sample report: a past report for similar premises, with names removed, to show how much detail you will get.
- Timing: how long they will be on site, how soon the written report follows, and whether a return visit is included.
What a York assessment costs
The time an assessor needs depends on the building’s size, layout, use and age rather than its postcode, and an old or much altered building may need its hidden voids looked at, which should show in the quote. One national firm, UK Fire Risk Assessments, publishes a starting price of £245 plus VAT, and our fire risk assessment cost guide sets out typical ranges by type of premises. Send every assessor the same description of the property, including the number of storeys and occupants, and ask each for a fixed fee with VAT shown, so the quotes can be compared on equal terms.
Leeds is the nearest other city on this site: fire risk assessments in Leeds.
Fire risk assessment York: common questions
My house has three sharers. Do I need a licence?
Only if the house is in one of the eight designated wards and the three sharers form more than one household. That rule has applied since 1 April 2023. Elsewhere in York a licence starts at five occupants, and the council’s postcode map shows which side of the line an address falls.
Does the licence replace the fire risk assessment?
No, they are separate duties. City of York Council enforces the licence as a housing matter, and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service enforces the fire risk assessment duty under the Fire Safety Order and can ask to see the assessment whether or not the house is licensed.
I have planning permission under Article 4. Is that enough?
No. Article 4 controls planning use, the additional licence controls housing standards, and neither one is a fire risk assessment. A share can hold planning permission and a licence and still lack a suitable and sufficient assessment.
Does each flat in a block need a fire risk assessment?
The Order does not apply to the individual flats, which are private homes. It applies to the common parts, such as the stairs, corridors and entrance hall, and the landlord or managing agent is usually the responsible person for those.
What happens on the day?
Expect the assessor to go through every part of the premises, noting anything that could cause a fire and anyone who could be caught by one, and then to test the escape routes, exits, alarms, emergency lighting and firefighting equipment against what they have found. Make sure they can get into every room, roof space and plant area, because hidden voids can only be judged where the assessor can see into them.
What documents should I prepare?
Gather any earlier fire risk assessment, the fire alarm and emergency lighting test records, the gas and electrical safety certificates and a floor plan, along with any compartmentation survey for an old building.
How often should a York assessment be reviewed?
No fixed interval is written into the Order. It requires a review often enough to keep the assessment current, and in particular after a significant change, so set a review date with your assessor and keep to it.
What if the fire service has already served a notice?
Check the dates on it straight away. An enforcement notice allows at least 28 days to comply, and you have 21 days to appeal to the magistrates’ court. Attach the notice to your enquiry, so each assessor can price the work it names.
How do I get and compare quotes for a York property?
Use the form below. Tell us the postcode, the type of premises and what affects the job, such as whether it is a three or four person share, a larger HMO, a block or a historic building, how many floors it has and whether anyone sleeps there. We send it to fire risk assessors covering York, so you can compare what each one offers.
Not in York? See the full list of towns and counties on our fire risk assessment near me page.