Fire Safety Act 2021 Explained

Short Title:	Fire Safety Act 2021
Type:	Act
Parliament:	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long Title:	An Act to make provision about the application of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 where a building contains two or more sets of domestic premises; and to confer power to amend that order in future for the purposes of changing the premises to which it applies.
Year:	2021
Citation:	2021 c. 24
Introduced Commons:	Priti Patel
Introduced Lords:	Lord Greenhalgh
Territorial Extent:	England and Wales
Royal Assent:	29 April 2021
Status:	Current
Legislation History:	https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2730
Original Text:	https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/24/enacted
Revised Text:	https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/24

The Fire Safety Act 2021 (c. 24) an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which arose out of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire and relates to fire safety in buildings in England and Wales with two or more domestic residences, making changes to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the "Fire Safety Order"). It was sponsored by the Home Office.

The bill received royal assent on 29 April 2021.^[1]

The Fire Protection Association welcomed the legislation, noting that it "makes good a long-standing issue about who is responsible for the fire safety of communal doors, external walls and anything attached, such as balconies", but also regretting that provision was not made to exclude a requirement for leaseholders to pay for remedial works to remove dangerous cladding from their buildings.^[2]

Contents

The Act includes the following provisions:

• those responsible for the fire safety of a building will be required to share information about its external walls with the local fire and rescue service
• building owners or managers will have to inspect flat entrance doors annually and lifts monthly, notifying the local fire and rescue service if there are any faults with the lifts
• residents of buildings with two or more flats will need to have access to evacuation and fire safety instructions provided by the building owner or manager
• a public register of fire risk assessments will be established
• future changes to be made to identify which premises are covered by the Fire Safety Order, without further primary legislation.

Notes and References

1. Today's Conveyancer, Fire Safety Bill is given Royal Assent, published 29 April 2021, accessed 30 April 2021
2. Fire Protection Association, Fire Safety Act 2021, accessed 1 May 2021