The rise of flexible workspace incorporating serviced offices, managed floors, and coworking hubs, has fundamentally transformed how UK businesses occupy real estate. For tenants, the appeal is obvious: plug-and-play infrastructure, rolling monthly contracts, and zero hassle dealing with facilities maintenance.
However, this blurred line of commercial property ownership introduces a critical and frequently misunderstood question: Who is legally responsible for fire safety?
If a fire occurs in a shared, flexible office building, does the liability rest with the space provider (the landlord/operator) or the business renting the desks (the tenant)?
Under UK law, the answer isn’t a simple case of one or the other. Instead, fire safety is a shared legal duty, and getting it wrong carries severe criminal penalties.
The Legal Framework: Understanding the Responsible Person Under the Fire Safety Order (FSO) 2005
To understand responsibility in a managed workspace, you have to look at the primary piece of legislation governing UK commercial fire safety: The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (often referred to as the FSO), alongside recent tightening via the Building Safety Act 2022.
The FSO completely did away with old-fashioned “fire certificates.” Instead, it places the absolute onus of fire safety on the “Responsible Person” (RP).
The law dictates that a building can have, and usually does have, more than one Responsible Person simultaneously. The legislation establishes a clear hierarchy to determine who holds this status:
- In a Workplace: The employer is automatically a Responsible Person for the areas their staff occupy.
- In Non-Workplace or Shared Areas: The person who has overall control of the premises (the landlord, the freeholder, or the building management operator) is the Responsible Person.
Because a managed workspace contains both individual business operations and shared communal infrastructure, both the landlord/operator and the tenant are legally designated as Responsible Persons.
Commercial Landlord vs. Tenant: How Fire Safety Obligations Are Split in Managed Offices
Because responsibility is overlapping, the law requires all duty holders in a multi-tenanted building to cooperate and coordinate their fire safety measures. In a typical managed or serviced office setup, the responsibilities are generally divided along physical boundaries:
The Landlord / Workspace Operator’s Responsibilities
The flexible office provider or ultimate landlord has control over the building’s infrastructure, common parts, and overall safety systems. Their legal duties include:
- The Overarching Fire Risk Assessment (FRA): Conducting and regularly updating a comprehensive FRA for the entire building, covering common hallways, structural escape routes, stairwells, plant rooms, and shared amenities.
- System Maintenance: Ensuring the central fire alarm system, smoke detectors, emergency lighting, and automated fire doors are regularly tested and maintained to British Standards (e.g., BS 5839 for alarms).
- Clear Escape Routes: Keeping shared corridors, lobbies, and final exit doors entirely free of blockages and hazards.
- Evacuation Co-ordination: Creating a universal emergency evacuation plan for the building and organizing regular, building-wide fire drills.
The Tenant’s (Employer’s) Responsibilities
Renting a serviced office does not exempt an employer from their duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or the FSO. Even if you only rent a single closed office or a bank of dedicated desks, you are responsible for:
- The Workspace Interior: Ensuring that your specific demised area is safe. This means not overloading electrical sockets, avoiding daisy-chaining extension leads, and keeping your own office doors clear.
- Staff Training & Awareness: Ensuring every single member of your team (including hybrid workers who are rarely on-site), knows exactly what the building’s fire alarm sounds like, where the nearest fire exit is, and where the external assembly point is located.
- Appointing Fire Wardens: Designating internal fire wardens/marshals to sweep your specific office area during an evacuation and assist in taking a roll-call at the assembly point.
- Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs): Writing and implementing custom evacuation plans for any of your employees or visitors who have mobility, visual, or hearing impairments. The landlord cannot do this for you, as they do not manage your staff.
Comparing Landlord and Tenant Accountability for Shared Premises
To visualise how these overlapping lines of accountability interact on a daily basis, consider how core safety elements are split:
| Fire Safety Element | What the Landlord/Operator Must Do | What the Tenant Must Do |
| Fire Risk Assessments | Assess structural risks, common escape paths, and central building plant machinery. | Assess internal hazards (e.g., specialized tech equipment brought into the private office). |
| Emergency Evacuation | Define the building-wide evacuation strategy and maintain clear external assembly signage. | Train staff on the routes and actively participate in the operator’s scheduled fire drills. |
| Equipment & Assets | Install and service structural fire doors, fire extinguishers in hallways, and main alarm panels. | Ensure items brought into the space do not obstruct fire doors, and execute PAT testing on personal laptops/appliances. |
Common Fire Compliance Failures and Risks in Flexible and Coworking Spaces
Friction and non-compliance usually happen when assumptions are made. In flexible workspaces, three specific scenarios consistently catch businesses out during inspections:
1. High-Density Layouts
Managed operators often charge by the desk or by the square foot, incentivising companies to fit as many employees into a private office as possible. However, packing an office tight can easily breach the room’s maximum occupancy limits, overload the designated fire exit capacities, or block access to the windows or internal doors.
2. Tenant Fit-Outs and Alterations
If a tenant puts up temporary partitioning, creates a private meeting room, or adds internal acoustic pods within their rented space, they may inadvertently isolate a smoke detector or cut off a direct line of sight to a fire exit sign. Any internal physical change must be coordinated with the operator’s primary Fire Risk Assessment.
3. Fluctuating Occupancy
With flexible working, an office might have 5 employees on a Monday and 45 on a Thursday. Tenants frequently fail to ensure that a trained fire warden is physically present every single day the office is open. If your sole designated fire warden works from home on Tuesdays, your business is operating non-compliantly on that day.
Conclusion
In the UK, you can outsource your office management, but you can never outsource your legal liability for life safety.
If you are a tenant in a managed workspace, do not assume the operator has taken care of everything. Ask to see a copy of the building’s overall Fire Risk Assessment, confirm when the last fire drill was executed, and explicitly document fire safety responsibilities within your licence agreement.
Ultimately, passing a fire safety inspection, and keeping people safe, relies on seamless cooperation. The landlord provides the safe structure and the systems; the tenant must provide the safe behaviors and the training.
Why Choose Fire Door Care?
Fire Door Care are LPCB certified meaning your can have total confidence in our work and your compliance. We specialize in the full lifecycle of fire door safety. From initial inspections and identifying hardware failures to the precision installation of fire-rated components, we ensure your property meets all current safety standards.
Our certified team delivers high-quality solutions to enhance fire resistance, prevent smoke spread, and safeguard lives. Whether you need a new fire door, routine inspections, or urgent repairs, we provide reliable and cost-effective services tailored to your needs.
- Safety First: We prioritise protecting lives and properties by ensuring every fire door meets the highest safety standards.
- Uncompromising Quality: Our expert team delivers precision craftsmanship and reliable solutions for long-lasting fire protection.
- Integrity You Can Trust: We are committed to honest, transparent, and dependable service at every step of the process.
- Customer Focused: Your safety is our mission. We tailor every inspection, repair, and installation to your unique needs.
If you would like to find out more about our fire door services, or would like help, advice or a quote please feel free to call us on 0203 488 5923 or send us a message here.
