Private and housing association homes fire safety

Responsibilities of landlords and managing agents

If you live in a privately rented or housing association property, your landlord or housing provider is responsible for fire safety in your building.

This includes things like providing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, providing fire doors, and ensuring communal areas are kept free of belongings.

The London Fire Brigade provide a full guide to the responsibilities of private sector landlords.

The London Fire Brigade can take action if there are fire safety concerns about communal areas such as shared corridors and stairwells.

Information for private renters

Residents in private blocks of flats should also adhere to the London Fire Brigade’s information for people who live in purpose-built flats and maisonettes and can book a free home fire safety visit.

If you have concerns about your safety or any fire risks in your home or building, the Council’s private sector housing service can investigate and take action where appropriate.

Improving fire safety standards

Since the fire at Grenfell Tower, we have also been working with private building owners and housing associations to ensure that building owners are keeping their buildings safe and meeting any new fire safety regulations. This includes ensuring building owners remove any unsafe cladding, like that used on Grenfell Tower.

While no Council-owned buildings use the Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding used at Grenfell Tower, we have investigated more than 50 privately owned and housing association buildings, and have identified six where cladding has needed to be removed.

In these cases we are working with building owners to ensure the cladding is removed, building defects are remedied and other vital safety works are carried out.

Because these construction projects can take time to organise, we ensure that interim measures are taken to guarantee the safety of residents until work is completed.