Fire Risk Assessment in Market Harborough
Fire risk assessments for flats above High Street shops, old factory and mill conversions, converted Victorian houses and commuter blocks in Market Harborough, the Bowdens, Kibworth and Fleckney. Most jobs cost £200 to £500. Harborough District Council asks for an HMO licence only once five or more tenants share, yet the hall and stairs of any HMO or block of flats need a written assessment regardless.
Updated October 2026
Harborough’s rules next to Leicester’s and Oadby & Wigston’s
Harborough has kept to the national minimum since the mandatory rules widened on 1 October 2018. Before that date only HMOs of three or more storeys needed a licence. Now any house or flat with five or more unrelated tenants does, however many floors it has. Cross into Leicester or Oadby & Wigston and the picture changes, because both councils add local schemes on top.
| Harborough District | Leicester city | Oadby & Wigston | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared house, 3 or 4 tenants | No licence needed | Licensed only where the street falls inside a selective area | No HMO licence, but a selective licence may apply in part of Wigston and South Wigston |
| Five or more tenants | Licence required | Licence required | Licence required |
| Flat in a purpose-built block of 3+ | Outside mandatory licensing, even if the flat itself is an HMO | Outside mandatory licensing | Outside mandatory licensing (national rule) |
| Council fee | £980 per HMO licence, lasting five years | £900 for an HMO; £1,290 for a selective licence | £1,000 mandatory (£900 if accredited); £850 selective |
| Local scheme | None. Mandatory licensing only | Selective licensing from October 2022, which is due for review October 2027 | Selective scheme in part of Wigston from 10 November 2025, for five years |
| Fire risk assessment | Required for the shared parts of every HMO and every block of flats, whether or not a licence is needed | ||
Where these figures come from: Harborough’s HMO page, its news release on the 1 October 2018 change (24 August 2018) and its 2026/27 fee list; Leicester’s mandatory HMO and selective scheme pages; Oadby and Wigston’s HMO fee page and selective licensing page. All checked October 2026.
What assessors find in Market Harborough buildings
Georgian fronts on the upper High Street
The council describes almost every building on the upper High Street as listed, four of them at Grade II*: the Congregational Church and numbers 29, 41 and 42. Many are older than they look. Number 29 has a mid-18th-century front on a 17th-century rear, and number 63 keeps an early 18th-century staircase. Where a shop or office fills the ground floor and the upper rooms are let, the people upstairs often depend on that one old timber stair to get out. The assessor will check what separates it from the business below and whether it can be protected without stripping out the features that got the building listed. Changing doors or panelling here can need listed building consent.
Yards behind the frontages
Behind the High Street frontages, many of the town’s historic yards survive, such as Three Crowns Yard behind number 52. The council notes that many of these yards have been turned into shops, restaurants and homes. A flat at the back of a yard can share its only route to the street with a restaurant’s kitchen door, its bins and its deliveries. Assessors look at where the route runs past openings that could let fire or smoke in, whether the gate opens without a key from the inside, and whether the flat would hear an alarm sounding in the business next door.
Factory and mill buildings
Victorian Market Harborough made corsets, rubber and carpets. The Symington corset factory of 1884, listed at Grade II with a five-storey corner tower on Church Square, became the council offices, library and museum. On St Mary’s Road, the listed building at the old Harborough Rubber Works started life around 1860 as a steam flour mill, with timber floor beams on thin iron columns. The rubber firm moved out in 2006, and plans put forward for the site include turning the mill into six flats beside new blocks. When a building like this is divided, the assessor will want proof that each flat is a sealed box, that the iron columns and timber floors have been protected, and that the route out does not rely on one long open stair.
Big Victorian houses split into flats
The Symington money also built large houses. Park House on Park Drive, built in the 1880s for William Henry Symington and used by the US 82nd Airborne Division in 1944, was converted into apartments in 1980. Conversions of that age often have original doors on to the shared hall, gaps above the old ceilings, and a single staircase that every flat depends on. A converted house like this needs an assessment of its common parts, and it is the freeholder or management company that has to arrange it.
Commuter flats near the station
Market Harborough sits on the Midland Main Line, with London St Pancras under an hour away, which makes one and two bedroom flats within walking distance of the station a natural fit for commuters. Many are in small purpose-built blocks or converted houses. In these buildings nobody lives on site, residents are out all day, and the hallway can fill up with bikes and parcels. Expect the assessor to check the communal alarm or the stay-put strategy, the flat entrance doors and whether the escape route is kept clear.
Sources: Harborough District Council, Market Harborough Conservation Area; Historic England list entries for Symingtons Factory and the original north west building at Harborough Rubber Works; TheBusinessDesk, November 2018 and UK Construction Media, June 2023 on the rubber works site; Harborough District Council, Park House, Park Drive local heritage record; Market Harborough (industries and rail link). Checked October 2026.
Real questions from buyers and owners of older buildings
“We are in the process of buying a property above the shop on the high street.”A buyer writing to Property118, August 2014
The same buyer went on to say they could see the shop’s lights through the floorboards. On Market Harborough’s High Street, that is exactly the problem to find before exchange, not after. Gaps in an old floor mean smoke from a fire in the shop will reach the flat in minutes. Have an assessor look at the floor between the two, the stair, and whether the flat’s way out passes through the shop. The report gives you a costed list of work to weigh against the price, and tells you who will be responsible for what once the shop and the flat are in different hands.
“I have been told I need to replace a 30-min fire door”A landlord with a Grade II listed building, writing to Property118, December 2021
The owner had been told to fit a 60 minute door on a communal hallway, leading to a locked and empty basement, and worried about tearing up the historic frame and wall. With so many listed buildings in the centre of Market Harborough, this comes up often. Ask the assessor to explain the risk the door is meant to control. A basement that is empty, locked and has no ignition sources may justify a different answer, such as upgrading the existing door and frame, adding a self-closer, or improving detection. Whatever is agreed, write down why, and check with the council’s conservation team before changing anything.
Sources: Property118, 5 August 2014; Property118, 8 December 2021.
How a Market Harborough block enquiry runs
Victorian villa split into five flats, near the station
The building: a three-storey brick villa a short walk from the station, converted into five flats in the 1980s. All five flats open on to one shared hall and staircase. The freehold is owned by the leaseholders through a small management company, and three of the flats are let to commuters.
From enquiry to booking: a director of the management company sends the floor plan from the original conversion and photos of the hall. The assessor’s fixed price is £380, within the £300 to £500 band for a block’s shared hall and stairs. The visit is arranged for a Saturday morning so a director can open the meter cupboard and the loft hatch.
The morning itself: roughly two hours, working down from the loft hatch to the front door. Every flat entrance door is checked from the hall side, the meter cupboard under the stair is opened up and the communal alarm is set off.
What turned up: two flat entrance doors are original panelled doors with no self-closers. The meter cupboard under the stair has no fire-resisting lining. The loft runs unbroken over all the top-floor flats. Residents leave bikes against the bottom flight.
What to fix, and when: first, clear the bikes and bring the two entrance doors up to a fire-resisting, self-closing standard. Next, line the meter cupboard and get a builder to look at fire-stopping in the loft. The assessor suggests a fresh look in a year, or straight after any building work.
The finished report: written to BS 9792:2025, the British Standard for fire risk assessment in housing, ready for the directors to circulate to every leaseholder. Each action carries a priority, and the doors are marked as the individual flat owners’ job where the leases say so.
BS 9792:2025 replaced PAS 79-2 for housing: BSI, 2025.
Areas covered in Harborough District
Further north, enquiries from Leicester and the rest of the county, Loughborough and Hinckley are handled the same way.
Market Harborough FAQs
Do I need an HMO licence in Market Harborough?
Only when five or more tenants from more than one household share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. Harborough’s HMO page describes mandatory licensing and nothing more (checked October 2026). A three or four person shared house in the district therefore needs no licence, though it still needs an assessment. The fee is £980 for a five year licence in 2026/27.
My flat is in a purpose-built block. Does the building need a fire risk assessment?
Yes. A flat in a purpose-built block of three or more is outside mandatory HMO licensing, even if it is shared, but the hallways, stairs and other shared parts of the block are still a matter for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The freeholder or management company is normally the responsible person and must keep a written assessment.
How much does a fire risk assessment cost in Market Harborough?
Most Market Harborough enquiries are for converted houses and small blocks, where assessing the shared hall and stairs falls between £300 and £500. A High Street shop with rooms over it usually comes in at £200 to £350, while letting a 3 to 5 bedroom house to sharers puts it at £250 to £400. The cost guide lists the other building types and what moves a price.
We own the freehold of our converted house together. Who arranges the assessment?
The management company, or whoever the leases make responsible for the common parts. Directors of a small residents’ company are often surprised to find that this duty sits with them. One assessment of the shared hall and stairs, shared with every owner, is the usual answer.
My building is listed. Will the assessor insist on new fire doors?
Not always. In listed buildings around the High Street and Church Square, an existing door can often be upgraded rather than replaced. Ask the assessor to give options and to say which actions may need listed building consent, and speak to Harborough’s conservation officer before any builder is booked.
Do you cover Kibworth, Fleckney and the Bowdens?
All three are included, as are Lutterworth, Broughton Astley, Great Glen and every other parish in the district. Your enquiry goes to one qualified local assessor. You agree the price before anyone visits.
Get a fixed quote for your Market Harborough building
Tell us the postcode and what the building is: a converted house, a block of flats, a shop with rooms above. For flats, say how many share the hall and stairs.
Want to read first? Try the blocks of flats guide or the cost guide, or call 0116 497 6683.