Fire safety

Landlords are responsible for making sure that the accommodation that they let out is safe and that the risk to their tenants from fire is as low as possible. Fire safety is covered by the Housing Act 2004 and the Council is responsible for enforcing it. Landlords of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) have even more legal responsibilities.

Bradford Council expects all landlords to carry out risk assessments for fire safety on their properties - this means methodically inspecting the property to look at the likelihood of a fire starting, what the risk of harm to the occupants would be and then looking at what can be done to make sure everyone is safe. These steps include things like physical precautions such as fire doors, escape routes and smoke alarms and special management arrangements.

To help landlords, Bradford Council has published a set of fire safety principles (PDF, 576 Kb) for residential accommodation, which describes how to carry out fire risk assessments and provides practical advice on the type of fire precautions and arrangements that will be acceptable.  The Council has written these principles in full consultation with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and has also followed national guidance.