Statutory regulation
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added a set of operational duties on the Responsible Person of multi-occupied residential buildings in England. They sit alongside the FRA, not inside it. This page explains the three-tier scheme: duties on all 2+ flat buildings, additional duties on 11m+ buildings, and full duties on Higher-Risk Buildings.
Tier 1
The first tier of duties applies to all multi-occupied residential buildings in England with two or more sets of domestic premises. There is no height threshold; a low-rise converted house with two flats is in scope on the same basis as a high-rise tower.
Tier 2
For multi-occupied residential buildings with a top storey more than 11 metres above ground level (or buildings with the top floor more than 11m above the ground at any point), additional duties apply.
These duties create an ongoing operational rhythm separate from the periodic FRA review. A building with 200 flats and quarterly common-part fire door checks is signing off many hundreds of door inspection records a year. The FRA does not produce these records; an operational fire door inspection programme does. But the FRA should reference whether the programme is in place and operating.
Tier 3
For Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) under the Building Safety Act definition (at least 18 metres or 7 storeys with 2+ residential units), the full set of duties applies. These are additional to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 duties above.
How they relate to the FRA
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 do not change the FRA methodology and they do not add anything that needs to be assessed inside the FRA itself. They impose recurring operational duties on the Responsible Person.
A competent housing FRA on an English multi-occupied residential building does three things in relation to the Regulations. First, it records in the fire safety arrangements section whether the Tier 1 duties are being met (residents have been provided with fire safety instructions and fire door information; up-to-date floor plans are with the FRS). Second, for 11m+ buildings, it records whether the Tier 2 quarterly common-part fire door checks and annual flat entrance door best-endeavours checks are operating. Third, for HRBs, it records the position on Tier 3 wayfinding signage, monthly equipment checks and the secure information box.
Where any of these duties are not being met, the FRA records this as a finding. The action plan flags it for the dutyholder. The FRA does not by itself fix it; an operational programme does. But the FRA is often the document that surfaces the gap.
In practice
For a housing-focused organisation managing a portfolio of in-scope buildings, the Regulations create a year-round operational discipline. Each Tier 2 building generates four common-part fire door inspection records a year. Each Tier 3 building generates twelve lift and equipment check records a year. New residents need to be given fire safety instructions and fire door information when they move in. Floor plans need to be kept up to date and resent to the FRS when material changes happen.
This is significantly more operational record-keeping than the FRA cycle alone produces. The Regulations effectively assume that the RP has either an in-house facilities or compliance team running a continuous programme, or has a contracted maintenance partner doing it on their behalf. The FRA is one input into this programme; it does not replace it.
Common pitfalls
Software
FRA Flow is built primarily around the FRA itself, not the operational compliance programme that sits alongside it. But the FRA does need to record the Regulations position. FRA Flow surfaces the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 duties as standard checkpoints in the fire safety arrangements section of the assessment, sized to the building (Tier 1 only for sub-11m, Tier 1+2 for 11m+, all three tiers for HRBs). The assessor records whether each duty is being met, and the issued report carries the position into the section the dutyholder reads when planning the action plan.
For dutyholders running the operational programme separately (in-house or contracted), the FRA finding is the input that flags any gap so the operational programme can address it.
FAQ
If it is a multi-occupied residential building in England with at least 2 flats, the Tier 1 duties apply. If the top storey is more than 11m above ground, the Tier 2 fire door check duties also apply. If it is an HRB (18m+ or 7+ storeys), the Tier 3 duties apply on top. There is no lower threshold for Tier 1.
No. The Regulations impose operational duties on the Responsible Person separate from the FRA methodology. The FRA records whether the duties are being met and flags any gap as a finding. The duties themselves are discharged by an operational programme of inspections, resident communications and information sharing with the FRS.
The RP must take reasonable steps to gain access to each flat to inspect its entrance door once a year. Refusal of access by the resident is a recordable outcome, not a failure of duty, provided the attempts and the refusal are properly documented. The duty does not allow entry by force.
No. The Regulations apply only in England. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate fire safety regimes; Wales has its own equivalent legislation in development. A multi-jurisdiction housing portfolio needs to apply each regime to its respective stock.
The Regulations do not specify a fixed refresh interval, but the information must be kept up to date. Material changes to the building (compartmentation work, change of RP, change of evacuation strategy) trigger an update. A periodic check that contents are still current is standard practice on most operational programmes.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough and see how the fire safety arrangements section surfaces Tier 1, 2 and 3 duties on the right buildings.
