Who Is the Responsible Person for Fire Safety? Article 3 of the Fire Safety Order Explained

What does Article 3 of the Fire Safety Order say?

'Responsible person' is the legal term at the heart of fire safety law in England and Wales, and it comes from Article 3 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The definition is a cascade of three tests. In a workplace, the responsible person is 'the employer, if the workplace is to any extent under his control'. In any other premises, it is 'the person who has control of the premises (as occupier or otherwise) in connection with the carrying on by him of a trade, business or other undertaking (for profit or not)'. And where nobody controls the premises in connection with a business, it is 'the owner'.

Three things follow. First, the role attaches automatically by operation of law — nobody needs to be appointed, and the duty cannot be contracted away. Second, the responsible person is often an organisation rather than a named individual: a company, local authority or housing association can all hold the role. Third, a single building can have several responsible persons at once, each holding the duties for the parts they control.

Who is the responsible person in a block of flats?

In a multi-occupied residential building, the premises the Order bites on are the common parts: corridors, stairways, lobbies, bin stores and plant rooms. The responsible person is normally whoever controls those common parts in connection with a business — typically the freeholder, a housing association, a resident management company (RMC) or a right-to-manage (RTM) company. Where nobody controls the common parts as part of a business undertaking, the duty defaults to the owner.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 settled what the Order covers in these buildings. Where a building contains two or more sets of domestic premises, the Order now expressly applies to 'the building's structure and external walls and any common parts' and to 'all doors between the domestic premises and common parts'. Flat entrance doors therefore fall within the responsible person's fire risk assessment even where leaseholders own the doors themselves — a point explored in our guide to flat entrance fire doors.

Appointing a managing agent does not transfer the role: the responsible person remains legally accountable. Agents are not off the hook either. Under Article 5(3) the Order's duties also bind 'every person, other than the responsible person... who has, to any extent, control of those premises so far as the requirements relate to matters within his control', and Article 5(4) treats a contractual or tenancy obligation for maintenance, repair or safety as control to the extent of that obligation. An agent contracted to maintain the common parts therefore owes fire safety duties in its own right, alongside the responsible person.

Who is the responsible person in a workplace or an HMO?

Workplaces

In any workplace the employer is the responsible person 'if the workplace is to any extent under his control' — which it almost always is. GOV.UK's fire safety guidance for businesses lists the candidates in practice: an employer, the owner, the landlord, an occupier, or 'anyone else with control of the premises, for example a facilities manager, building manager, managing agent or risk assessor'. In a multi-tenanted building, each employer holds the role for its own demise, and the landlord or building manager usually holds it for the shared areas.

Houses in multiple occupation

Letting an HMO is a business, so the landlord is normally the person in control of the premises 'in connection with the carrying on by him of a trade, business or other undertaking' — the responsible person for the shared parts of the house. The Order applies to the common areas of multi-occupied residential buildings; residents' own rooms are domestic premises and sit largely outside it, though housing legislation enforced by the local council also applies, including licensing for many HMOs. Our guide to HMO landlord fire door requirements covers how the regimes interact door by door.

Mixed-use buildings

Mixed-use buildings — shops or restaurants below flats, for example — routinely have several responsible persons at once. Article 22 requires them to cooperate and coordinate, and since 1 October 2023 to take reasonably practicable steps to identify one another, exchange names and UK contact addresses, and record which part of the premises each considers themselves responsible for. Agreeing in writing who checks, maintains and records each fire door stops doors falling between two duty holders.

What duties does the responsible person have?

The responsible person's core duties sit in Part 2 of the Fire Safety Order and are owed to 'relevant persons' — in essence, the people in and around the premises whom a fire could put at risk. The table covers the duties that matter most in practice.

Fire door duties in detail

Fire doors attract three overlapping duties. Article 17 requires them, like every fire safety measure, to be kept 'in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair'. Regulation 10 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 then fixes minimum check frequencies for English residential buildings over 11 metres: communal fire doors at least every three months, and flat entrance doors — on a best-endeavours basis — at least every twelve months. And in any building — at any height — with two or more sets of domestic premises and common parts through which residents would need to evacuate, residents must be given fire door safety information. Our Regulation 10 guide sets out what each check involves.

What did section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 change?

Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 amended the Fire Safety Order with effect from 1 October 2023. It did not change who the responsible person is, but it significantly expanded what they must record, share and communicate. The GOV.UK guidance on section 156 summarises the new duties:

• Record the fire risk assessment in full, 'including all the findings' — not just the significant ones, whatever the size or type of premises.
• Record the fire safety arrangements for the premises in all circumstances — the written picture of how fire safety is managed day to day.
• Record who was engaged to undertake or review any part of the fire risk assessment — the name of the individual and, where applicable, their organisation.
• Identify other responsible persons for the same premises, so far as reasonably practicable, exchange names and UK contact addresses, and keep a record of which part of the premises each is responsible for.
• Hand over on departure. An outgoing responsible person must pass the fire risk assessment records and other relevant fire safety information to their successor.
• Give residents fire safety information in buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises — identified risks, preventive and protective measures and the responsible person's contact details — 'in a format that is easily understood by the residents'.
• Cooperate with accountable persons in higher-risk buildings, so that fire safety information and building safety information join up.

Section 156 also removed the fine caps, previously set at level 3 on the standard scale, for certain lesser offences under the Order. The direction of travel is unmistakable: written, retrievable, complete fire safety records are now the baseline expectation for every responsible person.

Responsible person vs accountable person: what is the difference?

The Building Safety Act 2022 created a second, separate legal role for England's highest-risk residential buildings. Under section 72, an accountable person is a person who 'holds a legal estate in possession in any part of the common parts' of a higher-risk building, or who owes a relevant repairing obligation for them. A higher-risk building is one in England that 'is at least 18 metres in height or has at least 7 storeys' and 'contains at least 2 residential units'. Where several accountable persons exist, section 73 designates one — broadly, the holder of the structure and exterior — as the principal accountable person.

The GOV.UK guidance on accountable persons sets out the role: the principal accountable person must register the building with the Building Safety Regulator, submit structure and fire safety information, operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system, prepare a resident engagement strategy and make sure 'that the structural and fire safety risks are managed properly for the whole building'. As with the responsible person, the legal obligations cannot be delegated.

In an occupied residential tower, the same freeholder or housing association is often both responsible person and accountable person at once — but the roles remain legally distinct, each with its own duties and regulator, and the Fire Safety Order now requires the two to cooperate where they differ. Our guide to the Building Safety Act and fire doors covers how the higher-risk regime treats doors.

What are the penalties for failing to comply?

Failing in the responsible person's duties is a criminal matter. Under Article 32 of the Fire Safety Order, a responsible person — or anyone who owes duties through Article 5(3) — commits an offence by failing to comply where the failure places one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire. On summary conviction the penalty is a fine; on conviction on indictment it is a fine, imprisonment for up to two years, or both.

Enforcement usually starts smaller: fire and rescue authorities can issue enforcement notices requiring specific failings to be put right, and GOV.UK's guidance for businesses is blunt — 'you could be fined or go to prison if you do not follow fire safety regulations'. The practical defence is unglamorous: know which premises you control, keep the fire risk assessment current and recorded in full, and keep dated evidence that maintenance and fire door checks actually happen.