HMO Fire Safety: Basics Explained for Landlords
HMO fire safety starts with a fire risk assessment covering escape routes, alarms, fire doors and windows. Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) have stricter fire safety requirements than a standard rental.
Article updated: July 2026
An Introduction to Fire Safety in HMOs
HMOs present distinct fire safety challenges that set them apart from standard buy-to-let properties. Picture a typical shared house where five individual tenants occupy separate rooms, each with their own locked door. Unlike a family home where occupants know each other's routines and habits, HMO tenants often lead independent lives, sometimes barely interacting with their housemates. This social dynamic creates unique fire safety considerations that wouldn't exist in a traditional rental property.
Consider the morning routine in an HMO: one tenant might be cooking breakfast while another sleeps, and a third has left for work, leaving their bedroom door locked.
With everyone leading separate lives, you need to protect all occupants for all types of scenarios.
So do HMOs need fire doors?
Absolutely yes, you can see why this everyday scenario highlights why HMO fire safety requirements are more robust than standard rentals. Each locked door potentially becomes both a safety feature, providing security and safety for the occupier, and a hazard, protecting privacy but potentially hampering escape routes for other residents in the building.
This is why a comprehensive plan should be considered to help provide the necessary compliance to HMO fire regulations.
HMO Fire Regulations - Getting Started with a Fire Risk Assessment
The first step is usually to speak with your local council HMO team about their fire safety protocols and to get a fire risk assessment carried out for the property. The council team and the risk assessment then give you guidance on your own property, its layout and the tenants you plan to let to.
A fire risk assessment will look at a host of measures from reducing the initial risks of a fire, to escaping in the event of a fire.
Understanding the risks (and costs) will help you answer the question and a fire risk assessment is great way to outline the current situation with the property.
It covers a range of requirements from fire-protected escape routes, to alarms, fire doors and windows, for primary or secondary escape depending on the property layout.
Planning controls under Article 4 and HMO licensing are separate questions. Even if your property does not currently require a licence because of its size and number of occupiers, it is advisable to bring it up to the standards required for an HMO licence. This helps protect tenants and future-proofs the property against changes in local requirements.
Additional legislation to consider that will shape your fire risk assessment is:
- The regulatory reform (fire safety) order 2005
- The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006
- Housing health & safety rating system (HHSRS)
- LACORS
- Fire safety (England) regulations 2022
Getting Help with Fire Regulations
Once you have your fire risk assessment it will help identify any improvements and give you a list of items to implement in priority order, including relevant improvements to fire prevention, fire alarms and protecting fire escape routes.
As a next step, speaking with the local fire officer to get additional support and guidance can be really helpful.
There are many landlords that get concerned about this, unsure on what they might say, most often this is a misconception.
The fire officer and local council HMO officer are there to help and to make sure that the properties in their area are safe to use and fit for purpose.
If you speak to the Officer on the phone, very often they will offer to come and look at your property for free. When they visit the house they will offer tips and advice on how you can make sure that the property is sufficiently suitable for the tenant profile that you are looking to market to.
Essential Fire Safety Features for Modern HMOs
Three common fire safety upgrades HMO landlords can make are thumb-turn locks on doors, fire doors and a fire alarm system that suits the layout. A full fire risk assessment covers the main features and improvements a property may need. Fire safety is one part of getting an HMO ready for tenants, along with planning for enough bathrooms per tenant.
HMO Locks on Doors
In HMO properties, thumb-turn locks play a vital role in tenant safety (like these from screwfix) - far beyond their basic function as security devices. These specialised locks allow occupants to exit quickly without needing to search for keys, which can make a critical difference in an emergency situation. Imagine a tenant waking to the sound of a fire alarm at 3 AM; in their rush to evacuate, the last thing they need is to be fumbling for keys in the dark. Every second counts and it's important to remove this risk.
HMO Fire Door Regulations
HMO fire safety rules call for fire doors with 30 or 60 minutes of protection on the escape routes out of the property.
If you are carrying out a large refurbishment as part of a buy-refurbish-refinance model now is a great time to check your requirements and upgrade your HMO fire doors, frames, hinges, intumescent strips and door closers.
Depending on the size of your property and the building can determine the type of fire doors. Things to consider are
Fire Alarms
The fire alarm system an HMO needs depends on the property's size and layout.
A general guidance on the types of installation required for different scenarios can be found here. This guide provides insight into the different fire alarms and categories needed based on different house layouts, number of floors and floor plans.
Fire-safety costs belong in the purchase appraisal from the start. Buyers can compare the wider investment property market with suitable buy-to-let properties, but any below market value HMO still needs a building-specific assessment of the work required.
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