New fire safety regulations for holiday homes

The government has introduced new regulations for fire safety in holiday homes, they help to keep properties and guests safe whilst holiday letting, which is why it’s important to know and understand these changes.

Our Agency Letting Agreement has always required that property owners undertake a fire risk assessment (Section 6. The Property), so we may have been somewhat ahead of the curve, however from the 1st October 2023 this now also becomes a legal requirement - a full length, written assessment, covering all aspects of fire risk must be undertaken and renewed annually.

The government has issued new guidance that applies to ‘small paying-guest-accommodation’ which they define as: "A single premises of ground floor, or ground and first floor, providing sleeping accommodation for a maximum of 10 persons, with no more than four bedrooms on the first floor" but also includes "Individual flats. . ."

Please click here to see the guidance document

The document also includes a template fire risk assessment as well as examples to follow. You may instead wish to appoint a professional assessor to carry out the assessment for you and to help guide you through the new regulations. KBM Fire Saftey Services are a company who cover Cornwall.

For properties larger than the above, the guidance for 'sleeping accommodation' still applies instead and can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-sleeping-accommodation

Image credit: Fire extinguisher icons created by Rudiyana - Flaticon