HMO Fire Risk Assessment in Leicester
If you let a house in Leicester to three or more people from different households, the shared parts need a fire risk assessment, and it has to be written down. For a typical 3 to 5 bedroom HMO it costs £250 to £400. Whether you also need a licence depends on how many tenants you have and which ward the house is in.
Updated September 2026
Which licence applies to your Leicester HMO?
Leicester runs two licensing schemes side by side. Most landlords only need to know which one catches their house. We put the council’s rules into one table.
| Mandatory HMO licence | Selective licence | No licence | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it catches | 5 or more tenants, 2 or more households, sharing a kitchen, bathroom or toilet | Every privately rented home, including small HMOs, inside the designated areas | A 3 or 4 person HMO outside the designated areas |
| Where | The whole city | Parts of Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields, Fosse, Westcotes, Stoneygate and Saffron wards | Everywhere else |
| Council fee | £900 | £1,290 (£1,032 on application, £258 when issued) | None |
| Review date | Ongoing (national scheme) | Due for review October 2027 (started October 2022) | n/a |
| Fire risk assessment | Needed. Expect the council to want to see it. | Needed. Licence conditions cover fire safety. | Still needed. The Fire Safety Order applies with or without a licence. |
Sources: Leicester City Council, Houses in multiple occupation and Selective licensing, checked September 2026. Check your exact street on the council’s map before applying, as the designated areas cover parts of wards, not whole wards.
Does your Leicester rental need a fire risk assessment?
What assessors find in Leicester HMOs
Most Leicester HMOs are Victorian and Edwardian terraces that were built for one family and later divided. The same handful of problems appear again and again.
The kitchen is on the way out
In a typical Westcotes or Clarendon Park terrace, the kitchen sits in the rear extension and the back door is the second exit. When the front hall is the only protected route, a fire in the kitchen can still fill it with smoke if the kitchen door is not a fire door with a closer. This is the single most common action assessors raise.
A loft room has changed the rules
A loft conversion takes the house to three storeys. Escape windows that were acceptable on the first floor are too high to rely on at the top, so the stair has to be properly protected all the way down. Loft rooms added without building control often miss this.
Fire doors that no longer work as fire doors
The doors may be rated, but closers have been disconnected, gaps are too wide, intumescent strips have been painted over, or a door has been wedged open for so long it no longer latches. Tenants do this for convenience. The report needs to say so, and so should your tenancy rules.
Cellars and under-stair cupboards
Many Leicester terraces have a cellar reached from under the stairs. Used for storage, meters or bikes, it can put a fire directly beneath the only escape route. It needs separating or clearing.
Alarms that are the wrong type
Battery alarms, or mains alarms that are not linked, are common in smaller shared houses. Guidance for HMOs generally expects mains-powered, interlinked detection, with the level of coverage rising as the house gets taller or the tenancy arrangement gets riskier.
A typical Leicester student HMO, start to finish
5-bed terrace near the University of Leicester
The house: three-storey Victorian mid-terrace with a loft bedroom, rear kitchen extension, shared lounge, one bathroom upstairs and a WC off the kitchen. Five students on a joint tenancy. Mandatory licence needed.
Enquiry to visit: landlord sends floor plan and photos in March. A fixed quote before anyone visits. Visit booked for the following week while tenants are in term, with 24 hours’ notice given to the tenants.
On site: about two and a half hours. Every bedroom door, the kitchen door, stair enclosure, alarm panel and each detector checked. Cellar inspected. One bedroom locked, recorded as not inspected.
Findings: kitchen door not self-closing; loft bedroom door has a 6mm gap at the head; heat detector missing in the kitchen; cellar used for bike storage under the stair.
Action plan: high priority to fit a closer and heat detector and clear the cellar; medium priority to adjust or replace the loft door. Report delivered with a review date of 12 months, or sooner if the layout changes.
Result: works done before the summer changeover, assessment attached to the licence renewal pack.
The rules that apply to a Leicester HMO
| Law | What it requires | Who enforces it in Leicester |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 | A suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of the common parts, kept up to date, with the findings recorded in writing | Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service |
| Housing Act 2004 (HHSRS) | The whole house must be free of serious hazards, including fire. Covers bedrooms, not just shared areas | Leicester City Council |
| Management of HMOs (England) Regulations 2006 | The manager must keep escape routes clear and maintain fire alarms and fire-fighting equipment | Leicester City Council |
| Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, amended 2022 | A smoke alarm on each storey with living space, a CO alarm by fixed combustion appliances, and repairs once reported | Leicester City Council |
| Licence conditions | Fire safety conditions attached to mandatory and selective licences | Leicester City Council |
In practice the council deals with most HMO fire safety, and the fire service becomes involved with larger HMOs, flats and anything that has already had a fire or a complaint.
Five questions to ask any HMO assessor
- Will you go into the bedrooms? Bedroom doors and detection are where most HMO actions come from. A common-parts-only walk misses them.
- Is the report laid out for a licence application? The council will read it. Clear findings and a dated action plan make that easier.
- Do you know the selective licensing areas? An assessor working in Leicester should be able to tell you whether your street is likely to be covered.
- What is included in the price? Ask whether a revisit after the works, or an updated report, costs extra.
- Do you sell the fixes? Independence matters. The assessor does not carry out remedial works.
Real questions from HMO landlords
“The report indicates the doors are not compliant as they have no seals and only two hinges instead of the required three.”An HMO landlord on Property118, September 2022, asking whether to repair or replace
Often a rated door can be brought back into line: add intumescent strips and smoke seals, fit a third hinge, adjust the gaps and fit a closer. Replacement is for doors that were never rated or are too damaged to fix. A good report should say which applies to each door, so you are not quoted for eight new doors when two will do.
“I engaged another professional who charged me £150 and gave me a clean report with no issues.”A landlord on Property118, July 2026, after a first assessor charged £295 and recommended far more work
Two very different reports on the same house means at least one of them is wrong. An over-cautious report costs you money. A report that finds nothing in a shared house may leave you with no defence if something goes wrong. Ask each assessor to show their reasoning: which guidance they applied and why. In Leicester, the council may read the report too.
HMO fire safety questions from Leicester landlords
Do I need a fire risk assessment for a 3-bed HMO in Leicester?
Yes. Three unrelated tenants sharing facilities makes it an HMO, and the common parts are covered by the Fire Safety Order. You may not need a licence unless the house is in a selective licensing area, but the assessment is required either way.
How often should an HMO fire risk assessment be reviewed?
At least once a year for most HMOs, and whenever the layout, number of tenants or use changes. A licence renewal is also a natural point to update it.
Do my tenants need to be home?
No, but the assessor needs access to as many rooms as possible. Give tenants 24 hours’ written notice. Any room the assessor cannot get into is recorded as not inspected, with the reason.
Can I do the fire risk assessment myself?
The law allows it if you are competent, but for an HMO the council and your insurer are likely to expect it from someone with fire safety training and experience of residential buildings. A self-written assessment that misses a door or alarm issue gives you no protection.
Does a selective licence cover fire safety?
Licence conditions include fire safety, such as alarms and safe escape. The licence does not replace the fire risk assessment. You need both.
Get a fixed quote for your Leicester HMO
Send the postcode, number of bedrooms and storeys, and whether the house is licensed. A local assessor gets back to you with a fixed quote and their next available date.
Also see our guide for blocks of flats and the Leicester cost guide, or call 0116 497 6683.