Concise answer
Who is responsible for fire safety in a rented office?
In a workplace, the employer is the responsible person where the workplace is under its control. An owner, landlord, occupier, facilities manager, building manager or managing agent can also have duties for parts of the premises or fire-safety measures under their control.
That means responsibility is often shared. A tenant employer may control staff, activities, its office suite and local emergency arrangements, while the landlord or managing agent controls common stairs, final exits, the building alarm, plant or other shared precautions.
Control boundaries
A practical office responsibility map
The exact allocation is premises-specific. The table below shows the questions an assessment should resolve rather than assigning every item automatically to one party.
| Office matter | Typical tenant or employer questions | Typical landlord or manager questions |
|---|---|---|
| Tenant office suite | Work activities, people, contents, layout, local hazards and management | Base-build limitations, approvals and information supplied to the occupier |
| Common escape routes | Staff and visitors can reach and use them; local doors do not obstruct escape | Condition, lighting, signs, security and availability of shared stairs and final exits |
| Fire alarm | Staff recognise the signal; local devices and interfaces suit the occupation | Building-wide design, testing, maintenance, fault communication and evacuation cause-and-effect |
| Emergency plan | Tenant procedures, staff instruction, visitors, contractors and people needing assistance | Coordinated building strategy, reception, assembly, shared drills and communication |
| Fire doors and compartmentation | Condition of doors and penetrations within the tenant fit-out | Shared doors, risers, structure, common walls and relevant base-build records |
| Maintenance records | Equipment and arrangements the tenant owns or controls | Shared systems, contractors, defects, impairments and evidence available to occupiers |
Overlapping scope
Does the landlord’s FRA cover the tenant’s office?
Not necessarily. A landlord or building-management assessment may focus on common parts and shared systems. It may not examine the tenant’s activities, staff, fit-out, ignition sources, local escape arrangements, training or emergency procedures in enough detail.
Equally, a tenant-only assessment cannot reliably conclude on evacuation if it ignores the shared alarm, stairs, final exits or fire strategy. The two assessments should identify their boundaries, exchange relevant findings and address interfaces without leaving gaps.
- Obtain the current landlord or common-parts FRA and relevant action status
- Confirm whether the tenant demise was inspected and to what depth
- Identify who controls each alarm, door, route, plant item and maintenance contract
- Record assumptions, unavailable evidence and matters referred to another responsible person
- Make sure actions are assigned to the organisation able to complete them
Shared-premises duty
Cooperation and coordination cannot be left informal
Article 22 of the Fire Safety Order requires responsible persons who share premises, or have duties for the same premises, to cooperate and coordinate so far as necessary. Current duties also require responsible persons to identify and share prescribed information with other responsible persons.
For an office, coordination should cover assessment findings, alarm arrangements, evacuation strategy, drills, system impairments, work affecting escape or compartmentation, people needing assistance and emergency contacts. Important decisions should be recorded rather than depending on conversations that cannot later be verified.
Name the parties
Record the responsible organisations, contacts and control boundaries.
Share relevant findings
Provide information that may affect other occupiers or the whole building.
Align emergency plans
Make alarm, evacuation, reception and assembly arrangements work together.
Track interface actions
Prevent tenant and landlord reports from each assuming the other will act.
Contract and law
What does the office lease decide?
A lease, licence, service agreement or management contract can allocate access, maintenance, approvals and cost. It is important evidence of the intended arrangement, but it does not by itself remove duties created by the Fire Safety Order where a party remains an employer or has control.
Who pays for an assessment or remedial work is often a contractual question that may require property or legal advice. The immediate fire-safety task is to identify risk, make any urgent situation safe and ensure the organisation with control can complete the action.
Occupation changes
New leases, fit-outs and office handovers
A new tenant changes the people, activities and management of the workplace. A fit-out can alter partitions, travel distances, fire doors, alarm coverage, sprinklers, emergency lighting, access control, occupancy and the information on which an earlier assessment relied.
Before occupation, collect the fire strategy, relevant assessments, completion and commissioning information, system contacts, defect status and emergency arrangements. Review the FRA after material changes and make sure departing dutyholders pass relevant fire-safety information to those taking over.
- Confirm the office demise and every shared route or system
- Obtain pre-occupation and fit-out fire-safety information
- Resolve outstanding landlord and tenant actions
- Update staff, visitor and assisted-evacuation arrangements
- Set review, maintenance, testing and cooperation responsibilities