Fire Safety Certificate: What the Law Actually Requires

If you have been asked for a fire safety certificate, or a council or insurer has asked to see one, there is something you need to know before you pay anyone for it. The fire certificate was abolished twenty years ago. It has not existed in England and Wales since 1 October 2006.

The law asks for a recorded fire risk assessment. This page explains what changed in 2006, what changed again in October 2023, and what people usually mean when they still say certificate.

Fire certificates were abolished in 2006

Fire certificates were issued under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. A fire officer inspected your premises, and if they were satisfied, they issued a certificate that listed the fire precautions you had to keep in place. Certain buildings, such as hotels, factories and larger offices, were legally required to hold one.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 replaced that system. It came into force on 1 October 2006, and on that date every fire certificate issued under the 1971 Act ceased to have effect. No new ones have been issued since. If a company offers to sell you a fire certificate, they are not selling you a legal document, because there is no longer any such thing.

Since 2006 the duty has sat with the responsible person. The fire service inspects to check that person has done the assessment.

What replaced it

The 2005 Order created the role of the responsible person. According to GOV.UK, that means the employer, the owner, the landlord, the occupier, or anyone else with control of the premises, such as a facilities manager, building manager or managing agent.

If that is you, your duties are:

• Carry out a fire risk assessment of the premises, and review it regularly.
• Tell staff or their representatives about the risks you have identified.
• Put fire safety measures in place and keep them maintained.
• Plan for an emergency, which means escape routes, an evacuation plan and how people who need help will get out.
• Provide information, instruction and training to staff.

The fire risk assessment is the document that does the job the old certificate used to do. It is the thing an inspector, an insurer or a council will ask to see. It is not issued by anyone official. You are responsible for having it, and for it being suitable.

The written record became compulsory in October 2023

For years, the written record was only compulsory in certain cases. The best known was where the responsible person employed five or more people. Below that threshold, the assessment still had to be done, but it did not have to be written down. A great deal of advice online still says exactly that.

It is out of date. Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 amended the Fire Safety Order, and from 1 October 2023 the position is different.

• The five employee threshold is gone. Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service puts it plainly: written assessments previously only applied in certain circumstances, for example where the responsible person employed five or more persons, and that is no longer the case.
• Every responsible person must now record the assessment in full, whatever the size of the business and however few people are employed.
• Fire safety arrangements must be recorded too, not just the assessment itself. That means how fire safety is planned, organised, controlled, monitored and reviewed.
• In residential buildings with more than one set of premises, residents must be given information about the fire risks in their building and the fire safety measures that protect them.

So if you run a small shop, a single office, a cafe or a two person business and someone told you a written assessment was optional, that advice was correct once and is wrong now. GOV.UK now states the requirement without any threshold at all: you must keep a written record of your fire risk assessment.

Residential evacuation plans from 6 April 2026

From 6 April 2026 the responsible person for certain residential buildings in England has extra duties under the Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025. They sit alongside the fire risk assessment. The fire risk assessment is still required.

The duties apply to:

• High-rise residential buildings with two or more domestic premises, where the top storey is 18 metres or more above ground, or the building has seven storeys or more.
• Residential buildings over 11 metres that use a simultaneous evacuation strategy.

They apply in England only. The official guidance is on GOV.UK.

The responsible person must:

• Make reasonable endeavours to identify residents who would have difficulty evacuating without help, including at move-in and at least every 12 months.
• Offer those residents a person-centred fire risk assessment and carry it out if they agree.
• Agree a written emergency evacuation statement with the resident.
• Put in place reasonable and proportionate measures. The resident can decline a measure that they would have to pay for.
• Prepare a building-wide emergency evacuation plan and review it at least every 12 months, and when something changes.

A resident does not have to take part. The responsible person is not required to put paid staff on the building to evacuate people, and must not fit an in-flat measure that breaks compartmentation.

If the resident consents, the fire and rescue service is told the flat number, the floor, the degree of assistance needed, and whether a statement exists. Where the fire service wants a hard copy, that information and the building evacuation plan go in the secure information box.

What people usually mean by a fire safety certificate

The word certificate is still used every day, and the person using it usually has something specific in mind. In practice it is almost always one of the following.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

None of these is a statutory fire certificate. Each one is a record produced by whoever did the work. That is not a criticism of them. An alarm commissioning certificate is a useful document to have. It just does not replace the assessment, and the assessment does not replace it.

Why companies still advertise a fire safety certificate

Search for the term and you will find companies selling a fire safety certificate for a fixed price, often around sixty to seventy pounds for a small London flat. Some of those companies are perfectly reputable. The product they are selling is a fire risk assessment with a certificate style cover sheet on the front.

The reason they use the word is simple. It is the word landlords and managing agents already use. The risk for you is that a fixed price built around a familiar word can mean a very short visit and a template report.

Before you pay, check three things.

• Ask what you receive. You want the assessment itself, with findings and an action plan, not a one page certificate.
• Ask how long they will be on site. A small flat may take under an hour. A block of flats or a commercial unit will not.
• Ask what happens to the actions. A report that lists faults and stops there leaves the work with you, which is fine as long as you know that going in.

Our page on what a fire risk assessment should cost sets out the going rates by type of premises, and how long each type should take on site.

Landlords, HMOs and what councils ask for

Landlords hear the word certificate more than anyone, because several things that really are certificated do apply to rented property, such as the gas safety record and the electrical installation condition report. Fire is different. There is no fire certificate to obtain.

What a council will ask for, particularly on a licensed house in multiple occupation, is the fire risk assessment, plus evidence that the detection and alarm system works and is maintained. Licensing conditions vary by council and some write fire detection standards directly into the licence, so check your own council’s current conditions rather than assuming.

City pages cover the local licensing rules where we work, including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leicester, Nottingham, Bristol and Southampton.

If you still hold an old fire certificate

Some buildings still have the original certificate in a frame or a filing cabinet. It has no legal effect and has not had since October 2006. It is not evidence of compliance and an inspector will not accept it as such.

It is still worth keeping. An old certificate lists the fire precautions the building was originally required to have, which can be useful background for whoever assesses the premises now, especially in an older building where the original layout is not obvious.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

• England and Wales are covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
• Scotland is covered by the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Fire certificates were abolished there too.
• Northern Ireland is covered by the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and the Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010.

The duty holder is called the responsible person in England and Wales, and the duty holder in Scotland. The principle is the same everywhere in the UK. Assess, record, act, review. The residential evacuation plan duties from 6 April 2026 apply in England only.

What happens if you have nothing

Fire and rescue authorities enforce the Order and can turn up without an appointment. According to GOV.UK, minor breaches can bring a fine of up to £5,000, while serious breaches can bring an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison.

They can also serve notices:

• An alterations notice, where the premises are high risk, or would be if the use changed.
• An enforcement notice, where serious risks are found that you are not managing, setting out what to improve and by when.
• A prohibition notice, where the risk is severe enough to restrict or stop use of the premises. This takes effect immediately.

You can ask the fire and rescue authority for an informal review, and you can appeal formally to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of receiving a notice.

The other things that search throws up

Type “fire safety certificate” into Google and the first page is mostly a training course. That is why people land on the wrong document.

• The NEBOSH Certificate in Fire Safety is a vocational qualification. It is a course you sit. It is not a document for a building. NEBOSH’s own page describes it as a fire-safety qualification you can complete in a week.
• BAFE is a register of fire-safety firms. It is not a certificate the fire service issues for your premises. The register is on bafe.org.uk.
• EWS1 is a form lenders use for external walls. RICS says, in those words, that the EWS1 form is not a life safety certificate. The responsible person’s duty is still the fire risk assessment. That sits on RICS’ EWS FAQs.

Reviews, sleeping accommodation, and old certificates

Do I need a fire safety certificate for my business?

No, because they no longer exist. You need a fire risk assessment, and since October 2023 you must record it in writing whatever the size of your business.

Who issues a fire safety certificate?

Nobody. Fire and rescue services stopped issuing fire certificates when the Fire Safety Order came into force on 1 October 2006. Anything sold today under that name is a private document, not a statutory one.

Is my old fire certificate still valid?

No. It ceased to have effect in October 2006. Keep it as background information about the building, but it does not show compliance.

How much does a fire risk assessment cost?

It depends on the size and type of the premises. A small office or shop is usually a few hundred pounds, and larger or higher risk buildings cost more. The cost page breaks it down by premises type, with the time on site each should take.

Can I do the assessment myself?

The law allows it if you are competent to do it. For a simple, small, low risk premises many people do. For anything with sleeping accommodation, complicated escape routes, vulnerable occupants or more than one tenancy, get someone qualified.

Does a fire alarm certificate cover me instead?

No. It shows the alarm system was installed or serviced properly, which is one part of the picture. Servicing is a separate duty, covered on our page about fire alarm maintenance.

What about fire doors?

Fire doors have their own rules and, in some buildings, their own inspection intervals. See fire door regulations for what the law asks for and how often doors must be checked.

Do I need a residential PEEP for my block?

If the building is in England, is residential, and is either 18 metres / seven storeys or more, or over 11 metres with a simultaneous evacuation strategy, then from 6 April 2026 the responsible person has the duties set out above. Taking part is voluntary for residents. The fire risk assessment is still required.

What to do next

If you have been asked for a fire safety certificate, you need a recorded fire risk assessment. Since October 2023 that record is compulsory. How to check a fire risk assessor is competent.

Sources

• Fire safety in the workplace: who is responsible, GOV.UK
• Fire risk assessments, GOV.UK
• Enforcement, appeals and penalties, GOV.UK
• Article 9, Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, legislation.gov.uk
• Building Safety Act 2022 Section 156, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
• Residential PEEPs: guidance for responsible persons, GOV.UK
• Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025