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Fire Doors: Working With You to Achieve Compliance
- Matthew Mackintosh
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 17 hours ago
Fire Door Repairs - When is too late?
Fire door repairs are an essential part of a building's fire fighting strategy. Our full Fire Doors Guide for Block Management and buildings managed by AM Surveying & Block Management can be found here: AM's Fire Doors Guide.
Our Fire Doors Guide explains how defects to fire doors are identified and the various laws at play governing fire door inspection.
In this article:
Our Communications AI Jake Explains How We Achieve Fire Door Compliance at Your Building
How to Achieve Fire Door Compliance
Remember, most fire doors in a block of flats are the front doors to each flat - areas of the building which are NOT communal areas. The specific demarkation of what is communal area vs what is not communal area is set out in lease terms of the flats for any given residential leasehold building. In relation to fire doors, in the vast majority of cases this will be:
Front doors to flats = NOT communal areas.
Lobby doors such as those dividing hallways and to service cupboards = ARE communal area.
Regardless of being communal or not, ALL fire doors are subject to regular inspection as mandated by law, as explained in our Fire Doors Guide and via said fire door inspection any defects to fire doors are identified.
It thus follows: what is to be done about fire door defects and how are they funded?
Communal Doors:
Repairs to communal areas are funded jointly by all leaseholders via service charges and so where communal lobby doors and service cupboard doors are found not to be compliant, these are repaired using service charges.
Private Fire Doors (i.e. front doors to flats):
It is not possible (i.e. compliant with lease terms or legislation) to use service charges for non-communal areas. Front doors to flats are part of the private demise belonging to each individual leaseholder of each respective flat and so it is the responsibilty of each leaseholder to use their own private resource to fund repairs.
This combination of communal and private fire doors - private fire doors of which each being owned by various individuals - presents a unique challenge arrising through a complex landscape of how repairs are funded and how repairs are to be enforced, if needed.
First, the simple case, communal doors: conducting repairs to communal doors presents a more simple proposition. A plan to deliver repairs is scheduled into the building's service charge budgeting as soon as possible and repairs are delivered and this falls within the Block Management remit from start to end.
Secondly, a more complex scenario: private leaseholder fire doors. It is not within the Block Manager's remit to use service charges to conduct repairs however it DOES remain within the Block Manager's remit to monitor and enforce such repairs (and that of the Block Manager's Resident Management Company/Freeholder client).
Achieving compliance across all fire doors, communal and private, invovles engaging and working with leaseholders concerning their respective private front door.
Leaseholder Private Fire Doors
Since January 2023 it became legal requirement to inspect all fire doors to residential apartment blocks, this is detailed further in AM's Fire Doors Guide.
Many fire doors are found not to comply with safety standards and so inspection alone does not keep a building safe.
Inspection MUST be followed up by action - REPAIRS to fire doors.
Commencing from the beginning of 2025, AM Surveying & Block Management has offered leaseholders personalised Fire Door Repair Quotations using its accredited tradespersons, offering leaseholders a convenient solution to easily book fire door repairs to their property.
Leaseholders within blocks managed by AM Surveying & Block Management have 2 options in relation to achieving fire door compliance:
1) Use AM's Fire Doors Department: quotations are sent routinely after each fire door inspection. Repairs result in AM's safety database automatically being updated with leaseholders being given a Fire Door Certificate of Compliance.
2) Use a third party fire door installer: where using a third party fire door installer, such must be accredited in fire door installation. Evidence of repairs must be given to AM Surveying & Block Management to confirm a compliant repair has been conducted and so accurate records are kept.
Inspection of all fire doors remains a legal requirement even after a door has recieved compliance repairs - however when a door is compliant it will subsequently PASS future fire door inspections.
When a Fire Door Is Not Compliant: How Long is Too Long?
The law of the land for fire safety, the local fire authority, does not discriminate when it comes to responsibilty to meet fire safety standards.
Regardless of whether a fire door is a communal door or is a private door - should a fire occur and, in the worst case, result in loss of life - authorities will thoroughly investigate a bulding's fire safety standards.
An authority's investigation shall extend to the role of the building's management, the Residents Company, the Freeholder and any Leaseholder whom owned any given fire doors.
Accordingly - serious consideration must be given to the role and importantance of the Block Manager and Resident Company/Freeholder's obligations to ensure leaseholders conduct fire door repairs.
It may seem all well that fire door inspections are being conducted however, how long should non-compliant fire doors be left unrepaired? Each passing inspection, each passing year without repair - only serves to commound risk of accountability passing away from a leaseholder for not conducting repair and to the Block Manager/Residents Company/Freeholder for not enforcing a repair.
Repairs to all fire doors, communal or private - should be conducted as soon as possible!
Enforcement: When is the Right Time?
Although a Residents Company/Freeholder can't use service charges to conduct repairs to private fire doors - it CAN take proportionate steps to enforce leaseholders to conduct essential repairs to private property and a local fire authority will expect to see evidence of this where, for example, investigating a fire incident.
It is a typical leasehold covenant that properties must achieve compliance with fire safety laws.
Accordingly, where a property does not have a compliant fire door this is a breach of the lease terms meaning the relevant remedial steps are for a "Notice of Repair" or "Breach of Lease Notice" being served on a leaseholder.
A Notice of Repair or Breach of Lease Notice typically carries a penalty cost for service of the document and acts as mechanism to give formal notice of any given repair together with timescale for repairs to be conducted.
If engagement with leaseholders does not result in repairs to the respective private fire doors - service of Notice of Repair/Breach of Lease is a vital tool in achieving repairs AND for a Residents Company/Freeholder ensuring it can demonstrate it is doing all it can to manage fire safety.
Serious consideration by the Directors of a Resident Company/Freeholder should be given to the importance and abilty to demonstrate enforcement of fire door repairs to leaseholders in respect of private fire doors and clients of AM Surveying & Block Management are invited to work closely in this regard with their Property Manager.
Book Your Fire Door Repair
If your property is managed by AM Surveying & Block Management and you have concerns relating to your fire door, contact our team for support.
