Do you need a fire risk assessment for your Airbnb?
Yes - every UK short-term let legally needs a fire risk assessment. What one is, the five steps, whether you can do it yourself, what it must cover, and how often to review it.
One of the most common questions from new Airbnb hosts is whether they really need a fire risk assessment. The answer is yes — it is a legal requirement for every short-term let in the UK, not an optional extra. The good news is that for a straightforward property you can often do a competent assessment yourself. Here is what a fire risk assessment is, why your Airbnb needs one, and how to approach it.
Do you legally need a fire risk assessment for an Airbnb?
Yes. Because guests pay to sleep there, your let is caught by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which makes you the “responsible person” and requires you to carry out and act on a fire risk assessment. This is true whether you let a single room now and then or run whole properties full time, and it sits at the heart of the wider Airbnb fire safety regulations. See it in context in the full Airbnb compliance checklist, or check where you stand with the free Airbnb compliance checker.
What is a fire risk assessment?
A fire risk assessment is a structured look at your property that identifies what could start a fire, who could be harmed, and what you need to do to prevent one and to help everyone escape if it happens. It is not a certificate you buy once — it is a living document you keep under review. The recognised approach follows five steps.
The five steps
- Identify the fire hazards — sources of ignition (cooking, heating, electrics, open fires, candles), sources of fuel (furnishings, bedding, waste) and sources of oxygen.
- Identify the people at risk — your guests in particular, who do not know the building, may be asleep, and may include children, older people or those with limited mobility.
- Evaluate, remove or reduce the risk — decide what precautions are needed: alarms, escape routes, fire doors, safe appliances, a fire blanket, clear information for guests.
- Record your findings, plan and inform — write down the significant findings and the actions, and give guests the fire information they need.
- Review and update — revisit the assessment regularly and whenever something changes.
Can you do it yourself, or do you need a professional?
For a small, simple, self-contained let — a flat or a single house — a host who reads the government guidance carefully can usually carry out a competent assessment themselves. For anything larger or more complex — a property over several floors, multiple lets, an HMO, or a building where you are unsure about escape routes or fire doors — it is sensible to use a competent fire risk assessor. If you are not confident you can identify the risks properly, that is itself a good reason to bring one in: the responsibility for getting it right stays with you either way.
What your assessment must cover
A good assessment for a short-term let addresses the ignition and fuel sources in the property, the detection and warning arrangements (smoke and, where relevant, heat and carbon monoxide alarms), the means of escape and how guests will know to use them, the fire-fighting equipment provided, and the management arrangements — who checks the alarms, how often, and how guests are told what to do. It should be specific to your property, not a generic template with the address changed.
How often should you review it?
Review the assessment regularly — at least annually is a sensible rule — and always after a material change: a refurbishment, a change of layout, new appliances, a near miss, or a change in how many guests you take. An assessment that is years out of date and no longer reflects the property is treated, in practice, as no assessment at all.
Keep the record — and keep it current
Even where the strict legal duty to record applies only above a certain size, you should always keep a written record for a short-term let. If there is ever a fire, a complaint or an insurance claim, the assessment is your evidence that you took your responsibilities seriously. Storing it, reviewing it on time and being able to produce it on demand is exactly the part hosts most often let slip.
How Complys helps
Complys builds a proper, property-specific fire risk assessment for your let, following the five-step method, and — if you already have one that a reviewer has failed or that has gone stale — it can rebuild it to the current standard. It then keeps the assessment, your alarms and your certificates in one place and reminds you when a review is due. See Airbnb & short-term let compliance software.
Official guidance and sources
Complys creates a proper, property-specific fire risk assessment for your short-term let, following the five-step method, and keeps it under review - or rebuilds an existing one to the current standard.