Fire safety requirements for flat owner

[Guest Tilly]

I recently bought the top floor flat in a Victorian converted property (5 storeys total and 4 flats, a basement flat with its own entrance and three above with a communal entrance and hallway/staircase). 
I have renewed our buildings insurance but have been told this is only valid if we are compliant with fire safety regulations for communal areas. 
Do I need to hire someone to do a fire safety assessment for our hallway/stairs? I am an owner occupier but the other two flats that share the communal hallway and entrance are rented and have tenants. 

[Mike North]

Technically no.

But the insurance company may ask about your competency to conduct a fire risk assessment before they payout any claim.

[AnthonyB]

On 20/09/2023 at 18:21, Guest Tilly said:

I recently bought the top floor flat in a Victorian converted property (5 storeys total and 4 flats, a basement flat with its own entrance and three above with a communal entrance and hallway/staircase). 
I have renewed our buildings insurance but have been told this is only valid if we are compliant with fire safety regulations for communal areas. 
Do I need to hire someone to do a fire safety assessment for our hallway/stairs? I am an owner occupier but the other two flats that share the communal hallway and entrance are rented and have tenants. 

You could do it yourself, but the premises fall out of the scope of the small premises guidance and being a conversion of an older building would fall between two very different guidance documents with very different outcomes regarding installed fire protection and fire procedures depending on when, how and to what standard it was converted, so a degree of competence is required to determine which applies.

If a modern conversion following the guidance in Approved Document B this is your guide:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-in-purpose-built-blocks-of-flats

If an older conversion or a modern one that departed from Approved Document B due to the constraints of the host building then this is your guide:
https://www.cieh.org/media/1244/guidance-on-fire-safety-provisions-for-certain-types-of-existing-housing.pdf