Fire Safety Regulations 2023

The new Fire Safety (England) Regulations came into force on 23 January 2023

The new regulations apply to existing multi-occupied buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises, with various duties applying to buildings of differing heights. So for student accommodation we are mainly looking at properties converted into flats or purpose built accommodation.

The duty in each instance will fall on the Responsible Person - This is usually a building owner (freeholder), but in residential buildings it may include any other person in control of the common parts (block manager). Essentially the responsible person is the person who is responsible for the safety of themselves and others who use a regulated building.

If you look at the image then you will see that The Fire Safety Regulations creates the following new duties for the Responsible Person:

As far as Star Students are concerned, points 1, 2 & 3 apply to a number of properties under our management, at this time we do not oversee any property that requires provisions 4-9. 

Provisions 1 – 3 in a bit more detail:

1. All private rented property requires a fire risk assessment, updated as and when changes are made that impact upon the fire safety
2. The relevant fire safety instructions to be provided to residents (these should be on a notice board in the communal area), including instructions on how to report a fire, and what a resident must do once a fire has occurred, based on the evacuation strategy for the building.
3. Provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety.