Fire Doors in Holiday Lets and Airbnbs: What Liverpool Hosts Need to Know

Does fire safety law apply to my Airbnb?

Yes. The government’s guide for small paying guest accommodation is clear that the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies wherever you charge guests to stay and the property is not occupied as a private dwelling. It makes no difference whether you let for a week in summer or one night a month, or whether you use a platform such as Airbnb.

That puts holiday lets in the same legal category as a small guest house, not a privately rented home. A long-term rental is mainly covered by housing law. A holiday let is treated as non-domestic premises, and in Liverpool the law is enforced by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.

The person in control of the property, usually the owner or host, is the Responsible Person. If a management company runs the let for you, it may share some of the duties, but you cannot hand the legal responsibility over completely.

Your fire risk assessment

Everything starts with a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. It decides which doors need to be fire doors, so it is the most important document you hold.

Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 tightened the rules from 1 October 2023. Every Responsible Person must now:

• record the full findings of the fire risk assessment in writing, whatever the size of the property
• record the fire safety arrangements, meaning how fire safety is managed and checked
• record the name, and organisation if there is one, of anyone who carries out or reviews the assessment

You can complete the assessment yourself if you are competent to do it, using the government guide. Many hosts choose a professional fire risk assessor, especially for older or larger properties. Either way, you remain responsible for acting on what it finds. The guide suggests reviewing it every year, and straight away after any building work, a change of layout or a fire.

Fire doors in small holiday lets

The government guide Making your small paying guest accommodation safe from fire is written for small properties: houses on the ground floor only, or on the ground and first floors, with no more than 10 guests and no more than four first-floor bedrooms. It also covers most individual flats. Its advice on doors is more practical than many hosts expect.

• Solid doors are often acceptable. In most cases, existing solid doors that fit well in their frames can be accepted on the escape route.
• Hollow-core doors are not. Lightweight hollow-core doors and doors with thin panels give very little protection, and will normally need replacing with 30-minute fire-resisting doors where they open onto the escape route.
• Self-closers are not always needed. In a small house, doors onto the escape route should be at least notional fire doors, but they do not always need to be self-closing. Your fire risk assessment decides.
• Bathrooms, toilets and cupboards are low-risk rooms, and their doors do not normally need to be fire doors.

“Notional” fire door means a solid, well-made door that would be expected to give some fire resistance but has no test evidence or certificate. We explain the difference in our guide to nominal vs notional fire doors. If you are replacing a door anyway, a certified FD30 fire door assembly removes the guesswork.

The guide also warns against inner rooms, meaning a bedroom whose only way out is through another room such as a kitchen or lounge. Guests should not sleep in an inner room unless it is on the ground floor with its own door or escape window to outside.

Which doors need to be fire doors?

This table summarises the usual position. Your own fire risk assessment always has the final say.

Three storeys or more: when the rules step up

Many Liverpool holiday lets are tall Victorian and Georgian townhouses, or terraces with a loft conversion. These fall outside the small-premises guide. For larger properties the government points hosts to its main guide, Fire safety risk assessment: sleeping accommodation, and fire services are clear that provisions will need to be more comprehensive.

In practice, assessors usually look for a protected escape route: a stairway and landings enclosed by fire-resisting construction, with certified fire door assemblies, normally self-closing, on every room that opens onto it. Hollow-core or badly fitting doors, gaps around frames, and missing smoke seals are the usual reasons these properties fail.

Period houses bring their own challenge. Doorways are often larger than standard, and owners want to keep the character of the building. We make fire doors for Victorian and period properties to fit the opening, so the house keeps its look and still meets modern standards.

Under BS 8214:2026, every new installation must have evidence that all its components (leaf, frame, ironmongery, seals and glazing) have been tested together as one fire door assembly. Our BS 8214:2026 guide explains what that means for you.

Holiday flats in a block

If you let a flat in an apartment block, there are two Responsible Persons: you for the flat itself, and the building owner or managing agent for the common parts. The government guide advises that the flat entrance door should be a fire door fitted with a self-closing device, because it protects the shared corridor and stairs that every resident relies on.

In residential buildings over 11 metres tall, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 also require the building’s Responsible Person to check communal fire doors at least every three months and to try to check flat entrance doors at least once a year. Expect them to ask to inspect your door, and do not swap it for a non-fire-rated door. The lease may also have its own rules.

Inspections and penalties

Fire and rescue services can inspect paying guest accommodation, and complaints from guests or neighbours often trigger a visit. Where they find problems, they can issue an enforcement notice setting out work that must be done, or a prohibition notice stopping you using the property until it is made safe.

Serious breaches can be prosecuted. On conviction in the Crown Court, offences under the Fire Safety Order carry an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison. A fire in a property without a proper risk assessment could also affect your insurance.

The coming short-term let register

The government is setting up a national registration scheme for short-term and holiday lets in England, using powers in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. At the time of writing, it aims to have the register fully running by March 2027.

The detail has not been confirmed yet, including fees and exactly what hosts will need to provide. One stated aim is to help councils check that properties meet existing safety rules. Whatever the final form, the hosts with an up-to-date fire risk assessment and properly recorded fire door work will be in the strongest position.

Your holiday let fire door checklist

• Complete or update a written fire risk assessment, recording who did it.
• Walk the escape route from every bedroom to the front door, and note every door that opens onto it.
• Knock on each door. If it sounds hollow, it is unlikely to be acceptable.
• Check doors close fully into the frame, with no large gaps or damage.
• Make sure fire doors are never wedged open and nothing hangs on them.
• Check self-closing doors close on their own at every changeover.
• Keep certificates, labels and installation records for every fire door in your fire safety file.
• Book a competent inspection if you are unsure what you have.

How Liverpool Joinery Services can help

We are UK Fire Door trained and FireQual-certified fire door specialists with over 20 years’ experience, working across Liverpool and Merseyside. For holiday let owners we can:

• carry out fire door inspections with a clear, photo-backed report you can add to your fire risk assessment records
• supply and fit certified fire door assemblies made to your openings, with sign-off documentation for every door
• repair closers, seals and hardware through our fire door maintenance service, using parts that match each door’s certification

We can work around your booking calendar, so the property is ready for the next guests. If you also let to long-term tenants, our HMO fire door compliance guide covers the different rules that apply.