Belongings in a block's shared escape route: the responsible response

A corridor or stairway in a block is part of the fire strategy, not spare storage. When residents leave belongings there, assess the immediate risk, engage the residents, clear obstructions under a fair process, and set a policy that stops it recurring. The responsible person must keep escape routes available and safe.

What has happened

Bikes, prams, furniture, mobility items, deliveries or rubbish appear in a shared corridor, lobby or stairway. Items in an escape route can obstruct people leaving, add fire load, cause trips in smoke, and some (such as mobility scooters with batteries) carry their own ignition risk. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which applies to the common parts of blocks of flats, the responsible person must ensure escape routes and the means of escape are kept available and safe. Government guidance on fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats explains how to manage common parts, including storage.

Immediate actions

Assess the immediate risk first: does the item block or narrow the escape route, obstruct a fire door, or add significant fire load? An item causing a serious, immediate obstruction to escape should be moved to make the route safe now, with a record of the decision. For lower-risk items, note the location and owner if known and start the engagement process. Check whether the obstruction is a one-off or a pattern, and whether vulnerable residents rely on that route. Confirm fire doors on the route still close and the route remains usable end to end.

What not to do

Do not ignore "just a pram" in a single-stair building, and do not assume residents know the corridor is an escape route. Do not summarily bin residents' property without a fair, recorded process except where an immediate serious danger requires it. Do not apply a blanket policy that ignores the building's actual escape strategy, and do not let repeated storage become the accepted norm because no one followed up.

Who is responsible

The responsible person for the common parts (freeholder, managing agent or landlord in control) holds the Fire Safety Order duty and sets and enforces the storage policy, informed by the building's fire risk assessment. Residents are responsible for not obstructing shared routes and for cooperating with the policy. A competent fire risk assessor advises on whether the building supports a managed or zero-tolerance approach.

Evidence and records

Record what was found and where, photographs, the risk assessment decision, the resident engagement (notices, letters, conversations), any items removed and why, and the date the route was confirmed clear. Keep this with the fire risk assessment and any action log, so a pattern can be shown and enforcement is defensible.

Escalation

Escalate a serious, immediate obstruction by clearing it at once and reviewing the fire risk assessment. Escalate persistent storage through your tenancy or lease enforcement route and resident communications. If storage coincides with fire-door problems on the route, deal with those under a communal fire door that will not close, and hand over open actions cleanly if management changes, per managing-agent change handover. The fire and rescue service can enforce the Fire Safety Order where escape routes are not kept safe.

Prevention

Publish a clear storage policy based on the fire risk assessment, tell every resident (including new ones) what it means and why, inspect the common parts on a routine cycle, provide sanctioned storage or bike/mobility solutions where practical, and act consistently and early so a first item does not become a settled habit. A logged inspection round makes recurrence visible and enforcement fair.

Where Complys can help

Complys can hold the building's fire risk assessment, storage policy, communal-inspection records, resident communications and action log, and keep repeat issues and their resolution visible. It does not carry out fire risk assessments or make fire-strategy decisions; a competent assessor and the responsible person do. Ask the Complys team to show how communal-inspection and action tracking fit your block management.