Fire Risk Assessment in Leicester
A written fire risk assessment for your HMO, block of flats, shop, office or care home, carried out on site by a qualified local assessor working to PAS 79-1:2020 (workplaces) or BS 9792:2025 (housing). Most Leicester premises cost between £200 and £500. Tell us about the building and a local assessor will come back with a fixed quote.
Updated September 2026
Fire risk assessments for Leicester buildings
Leicester’s rented housing, its converted industrial buildings and its busy retail streets each bring different fire problems. Pick the one closest to yours.
HMOs and student lets
Shared houses in Clarendon Park, Westcotes, Highfields and the West End, including properties inside the city’s selective licensing areas.
HMO guide →Blocks of flats
Communal areas, stairs, fire doors and compartmentation for freeholders, RMCs and managing agents.
Flats guide →Prices in Leicester
What drives the cost up or down, and the price ranges for each type of building.
Cost guide →Shops and flats above
Ground-floor retail with a flat or storage above, common along Narborough Road, Evington Road and Belgrave Road.
Offices and workplaces
City-centre offices, serviced suites and small industrial units around the ring road.
Offices guide →Care homes
Residential and nursing homes, with night-time evacuation and PEEPs tested against real staffing.
Care homes guide →Leicester building types and what usually comes up
This is the table we would want if we owned a building here. It sets out the property types found most often in Leicester, where they cluster, and the problems an assessor tends to find in them.
| Building type | Where you find it in Leicester | What tends to come up | Typical price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victorian terrace let as an HMO | Clarendon Park, Westcotes, West End, Highfields, Knighton fringe | Kitchen at the back on the only escape route. Old panel doors in place of fire doors. Detection that is battery-only or not interlinked. | £250–£400 |
| Converted hosiery or shoe factory | St George’s and the Cultural Quarter, around the canal and river corridors | Large open floors split into flats with new partitions. Service risers and ceiling voids that break compartmentation. Long single-direction corridors. | £300–£500+ |
| Shop with a flat above | Narborough Road, Belgrave Road, Evington Road, Queens Road | The flat’s only way out passes through or beside the shop. Weak separation between the two uses. Stock stored in escape routes. | £200–£350 |
| Purpose-built block of flats | City centre, Highcross area, suburbs such as Aylestone and Beaumont Leys | Flat entrance doors replaced by leaseholders with non-rated doors. Missing smoke seals and closers. Bin stores against the building. | £300–£500 |
| City-centre office | Granby Street, New Walk, the business quarter near the station | Floors let to several tenants with nobody coordinating fire safety. Fire alarm servicing records incomplete. | £200–£350 |
Prices are the typical ranges across Leicester and match our cost guide. Your fixed quote depends on size, layout and access.
How fire safety is enforced in Leicester
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service carries out fire safety inspections of non-domestic premises and the shared parts of residential buildings across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It can issue enforcement notices, prohibit use of a building, and prosecute. It has done all three in the city.
7-storey residential block
The owner and the managing agent of a multi-occupied block in the city centre were fined a combined total of about £180,000 including costs. The court heard there was no fire risk assessment and no competent person in charge of fire safety.
11 flats and bedsits
A landlord was jailed for eight months after a fire exposed missing fire doors, blocked exits, no working smoke alarms and no risk assessment across two adjoining houses split into flats.
Neither case began with a complicated building. Both began with nobody having written down what the risks were and who was dealing with them. That written record is what a fire risk assessment gives you.
How much a fire risk assessment costs in Leicester
These ranges cover the on-site visit, the written report and the action plan. Quotes are free and fixed before anything is booked, so the price does not change on the day.
| Premises | Typical range | Usual time on site |
|---|---|---|
| Small office or shop | £200–£350 | 1–2 hours |
| HMO, 3–5 bedrooms | £250–£400 | 2–3 hours |
| Block of flats (common parts) | £300–£500 | 2–4 hours |
| School or academy | £350–£600 | 3–5 hours |
| Care home | £400–£600+ | 3–6 hours |
What pushes a price up: more floors, more than one staircase to trace, sleeping accommodation, poor records, or a deadline from an enforcement notice. Full Leicester cost guide.
What happens when you book
Tell us about the building
Type, floors, number of rooms or flats, and any notices. A few photos help.
Fixed quote
The assessor confirms the price and a visit date. Tenants do not need to be home, but the assessor needs access.
The visit
The assessor walks every accessible area, tests what can be tested and notes anything not inspected, with the reason.
Report and action plan
A report in PAS 79-1 or BS 9792 format with actions ranked by urgency, so you know what to fix first.
How to spot a poor fire risk assessment
Cheap assessments are common and some are close to worthless. Watch for these.
- Under 30 minutes on site for a whole house or block. Nobody can check doors, detection, escape routes and compartmentation that fast.
- The same wording as your last one. Template reports copy findings from building to building. Look for details that could only come from yours.
- A low price, then a quote for the fixes. Some firms make their money on the remedial works. An assessor should tell you what is needed, not sell it to you.
- No list of areas not inspected. Locked rooms and loft voids happen. A good report says what was missed and why.
- No review date. The assessment should say when it needs looking at again, and what changes would trigger an earlier review.
Areas we cover in Leicester and Leicestershire
Two questions that come up in different forms every week
“I’m getting an electrician in for a repair and he’s told me that hard wired fire alarms are now mandatory.”A landlord on the OpenRent community forum, February 2025
Partly true, and it depends on the property. For a house let to one household in England, the law requires a working smoke alarm on every storey and a CO alarm by fixed combustion appliances. It does not say they must be hard wired. For HMOs and flats with shared areas, guidance usually expects mains-powered, interlinked alarms, and the fire risk assessment is where that gets decided for your building. Get the assessment before you pay for a new system, not after.
“Hi, who is responsible for the Fire Risk Assessment and Fire extinguishers and other equipment in a commercial 3 storey multiple occupancy building?”A tenant on the Safelincs fire safety forum, August 2025
Usually more than one person. The landlord or managing agent is responsible for the shared parts, and each business is responsible for the space it controls. The law expects them to co-operate and share information. In Leicester’s multi-let offices around New Walk and Granby Street this is often where things fall through the gaps, so the first question to settle is who controls what.
Questions Leicester owners ask us
Is a fire risk assessment legally required in Leicester?
Yes, for any non-domestic premises and for the shared parts of flats and HMOs. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts the duty on the “responsible person”, usually the employer, owner, landlord or managing agent. Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service enforces it.
Do I need one for a single-let house?
No. A house let to one household has no common parts, so the Fire Safety Order does not apply. You still need working smoke alarms on each storey and a carbon monoxide alarm where there is a fixed combustion appliance.
My rental is in a selective licensing area. Does that change anything?
It can. Leicester’s selective licensing scheme covers all privately rented homes, including small HMOs, in parts of five wards. Licence conditions include fire safety, and the council may ask to see evidence. Our HMO guide explains which areas are covered.
How often does it need reviewing?
The law says “regularly” and whenever something significant changes. In practice most Leicester HMOs and blocks are reviewed every year, and lower-risk offices and shops every one to two years. Any refurbishment, change of use or new tenant mix should trigger a review.
Do tenants need to be in when you visit?
No. The assessor needs access to the common parts and, for HMOs, ideally to a sample of bedrooms to check doors and detection. Anything the assessor cannot access is recorded as not inspected, with the reason.
Will you do the remedial work too?
No. The assessor assesses and reports, nothing more. You are free to use any contractor for the fixes, which keeps the advice independent of what it costs to put right.
Get a fixed quote for your Leicester building
Tell us the type of building, the address or postcode and roughly how big it is. A local assessor gets back to you with a fixed quote and a date.
Prefer to talk? Call 0116 497 6683.
Leicester Fire Assessments · Unit 3, 6 St George’s Way, Leicester, LE1 1QZ