Clarifying Requirements for Fire Doors at Entrances to Flats

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 place duties on residents and responsible persons concerning fire doors in all residential buildings with communal areas. For buildings which are more than 11 metres in height and which have two or more sets of domestic premises, the responsible person must check fire doors at the entrances of individual domestic premises in the building at least every 12 months and any fire doors in communal areas of the building at least every 3 months.

Following concerns that overinterpretation of the regulations has led to leaseholders being advised to replace older flat entrance doors with ones manufactured and certified to current standards, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has issued revised guidance on the regulations.

The updated guidance clearly states:

“For avoidance of doubt, the purpose of these Regulations is not to ensure that existing flat entrance doors satisfy the current standards for flat entrance doors in new blocks of flats…

 …the requirement is that the fire performance of the door is adequate to address the risk to residents from fire.

 In short, it is expected that, in the majority of circumstances, a door that satisfied the standards for a fire-resisting flat entrance door at the time the block was built, or the door was manufactured, will continue to provide adequate protection for means of escape in common parts of the block, provided the door is undamaged and that gaps between the door and the frame are not too large (see 6.7). The absence of intumescent strips and smoke seals, and the absence of any form of certification for the door, does not imply that the door is unfit for purpose.”

The guide goes on to explain what you need to do when carrying out routine checks of fire doors and the things to look out for that may suggest a door is no longer fit for purpose or requires remedial action.

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