Checks for blocks of flats
Communal doors every three months, flat doors every twelve, and a log that stands up when someone asks for it.
Get a priceHeight decides this. At over 11 metres, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 apply. The responsible person has to check the fire doors in the communal areas at least every three months, and use best endeavours to check every flat entrance door at least once a year. Under it, the timetable comes from your fire risk assessment.
The quarterly walk
An invented quarterly log:
Stair 1, ground to third. Doors open wide and released, all latch. Door on the second landing sticks at 15 degrees, closer arm loose.
Lobby, ground. Seal missing on the hinge side. Wedge under the door, removed.
Bin store. Leaf scuffed through to the core at wheelie bin height. Closer fine.
Riser cupboard, each landing. Closed and latched. Third floor one has a bike chained to the rail beside it.
Each door is let go from wide open and again from about 15 degrees, because a closer that copes from wide open can still fail from a narrow angle.
The yearly flat doors
Flat entrance doors are the awkward ones, since the lease says they're the leaseholder's and the regulations still expect the freeholder to try. Some residents are at work. Some have moved out and left a subtenant who's never heard of the managing agent. Some haven't opened a letter in months.
Flat 9, second floor. Knocked 10.15, no answer. Letter under the door 10.20. Back Thursday 2pm, resident in, door checked.
Flat 14, third floor. No answer twice. Letter, then a second letter. Marked not reached, with both dates.
Entries like those are what an inspector wants to see in place of "no access".
What a walk won't tell you
A quarterly walk can't tell you what a door is made of, whether the frame has been altered or whether a label is missing. For that you need a full inspection, with a gauge on every gap and a close look at each door. Most blocks do the inspection once to set a baseline, then the quarterly and yearly checks after it.
A fire risk assessment is another thing again. It looks at the building as a whole. We look at doors, and one doesn't stand in for the other.
Notices for residents
The 2022 regulations also expect residents to be told to keep fire doors shut and to report faults, and that has to go out at least once a year. If you want a simple notice for each landing, we can put one up while we're there.
Blocks near Reading
We've worked on blocks of flats in Luton and Stevenage, and surveyed a hotel in Reading. A stair core is a stair core wherever it is. Shared lobbies, doors that were fine in 2015 and aren't now. Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is the fire authority for Reading and its officers can ask to see your records.
Send us the postcode, the number of flats and the number of floors, and we'll tell you how long it should take.
Questions we get asked
Who has to arrange these checks?
The responsible person for the building. In a leasehold block that's normally the freeholder, or the managing agent acting for them.
Can the caretaker do the quarterly checks?
Yes, if they know what to look for. We can walk a block with them once so they do.
Send us the postcode and a rough door count and we will come back with a price the same day.
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