Residential & HMO Focus — “Landlords Must Reassess 2025 Liability:

Residential & HMO Focus — “Landlords Must Reassess 2025 Liability: New Standard Strengthens Fire Risk Assessment Expectations”

Published: 2 August 2025

Renting a room in a house in multiple occupation (HMO) introduces specific fire risks — shared cooking, multiple occupants and communal escape routes make robust assessments essential. In August 2025 industry standards were refreshed to give clearer structure and new pro-forma documentation for fire risk assessments in housing. That change strengthens expectations on landlords and managing agents to document risks, record control measures, and plan evacuation support for those with mobility or other needs. Practically, this means landlords should commission or revise fire risk assessments immediately, keep maintenance logs and evidence of tenant briefings, and ensure smoke/heat detection and escape routes meet the updated guidance — failure to do so increases both enforcement and civil liability. BSI