A leaseholder asks where the fire exits are. You don't have a ready answer
That is a problem. Since January 2023, giving residents clear fire-safety information is not a courtesy — it is a legal duty under Regulation 8 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. If you are the Responsible Person for a building containing two or more domestic premises, this applies to you, regardless of height.
The regulations grew out of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which found that residents had been given confusing, contradictory and in some cases dangerous advice. The response was a set of duties that put specific, practical information into residents' hands. Most of those duties sit under Regulation 8, and they are more concrete than people expect.
What Regulation 8 actually requires
There are two distinct duties here, and the second only applies to taller buildings.
The first duty applies to all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises. You must provide residents with fire-safety instructions and information on the importance of fire doors. The instructions must cover how to report a fire and what the building's evacuation strategy is — for example, whether it operates a 'stay put' policy or a simultaneous evacuation. This information has to be given to new residents when they move in, and provided again to all residents at least every twelve months.
The second duty applies to high-rise residential buildings — those at least 18 metres tall or with at least seven storeys. For these buildings you must display fire-safety instructions in a conspicuous part of the building, somewhere residents are likely to see them, such as the ground-floor lobby or near the lift. You must also provide information about the fire doors residents encounter.
The fire-door message you are legally required to give
Regulation 8 specifically names fire doors, and the wording you give residents is not optional fluff. You must tell them three things in plain terms: that fire doors should be kept shut when not in use; that residents or their guests should not tamper with self-closing devices; and that any fault or damage to a fire door should be reported to you, the Responsible Person, immediately.
This matters because a flat entrance door is often a fire door that protects the shared escape route. A resident who wedges it open, removes the closer because it slams, or fits their own letterbox has compromised a safety feature without realising it. The regulation puts the duty on you to make sure they understand why those doors are there.
A worked example
Consider a 1980s block of twelve flats over four storeys, owned by a small housing association. It sits below 18 metres, so the high-rise display and signage duties do not apply. But the general Regulation 8 duty does.
What the Responsible Person needs in place is straightforward. A short written notice goes to every resident explaining that the building operates a 'stay put' strategy — residents remain in their flats during a fire unless directly affected or told to leave — along with the number to call to report a fire, and the three-point fire-door message. New tenants get this in their welcome pack. Existing tenants get a refreshed copy each year, and the association keeps a dated record showing it was sent.
That record is the part people forget. If a fire officer asks how you discharge Regulation 8, 'we tell people when they move in' is not enough. You need evidence — a log of what was issued, to whom, and when.
Where this connects to everything else
The resident information duty is not a standalone task. It only works if the underlying safety measures are sound. Telling residents to report a faulty fire door is meaningless if you have no inspection regime to act on those reports, and no programme to keep self-closers working. Your evacuation strategy statement has to match the actual fire strategy for the building, which means it should be drawn from your fire risk assessment, not invented at the noticeboard.
This is where many Responsible Persons come unstuck. They treat Regulation 8 as a communications exercise when it is really the visible end of a chain that runs back through your risk assessment, your passive fire protection, and your maintenance records.
What to do this month
Start by confirming your building's height and storey count, because that decides which duties apply. Check that you have a written, plain-language statement of the evacuation strategy and how to report a fire. Confirm the fire-door information is included and accurate. For buildings at 18 metres or above, walk the entrance areas and check that the instructions are actually displayed where people will see them. Finally, set a recurring annual reminder so the twelve-month re-issue does not slip.
None of this requires an engineer. It requires you to know what your building is, what its fire strategy actually is, and to put that in writing where residents can find it. If you are unsure whether your evacuation strategy is correct in the first place, that is a fire risk assessment question — and the right place to resolve it before anything reaches a noticeboard.