Short version: if you employ anyone, host the public, sleep tenants, or have control of any non-domestic premises, yes. The Order applies. Where it gets interesting is whether the assessment has to be written down. The table below settles the most common cases — pulled straight from the wording of Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and current local-authority licensing practice.
Your situation
FRA required?
Must it be written?
Why
Sole trader — home office, no staff, no public visitors
Yes
Not required
Suitable & sufficient assessment required, but doesn't have to be written until you employ someone.
Self-employed contractor with one or two casual helpers
Yes
Not required
Same as above — record-keeping becomes mandatory at 5+ people working under your control.
Any employer with 5 or more staff (any sector)
Yes
Yes
Article 9(7) of the Fire Safety Order makes the written record mandatory at this threshold.
Licensed premises (pub, bar, restaurant, hotel, late-night venue)
Yes
Yes
Written record required regardless of headcount — licensing conditions add their own evidence demands.
Landlord — single-let property, no common parts
No
Not required
The Order doesn't apply inside a single private dwelling, but housing legislation still imposes alarm & escape-route duties.
HMO licensing conditions across the East Midlands require a current written FRA — typically a Type 3 LACORS assessment.
Block of flats / converted house with shared common parts
Yes
Yes
FRA of the common parts is required under the Order; Fire Safety Act 2021 extended scope to flat-entrance doors and external walls.
Care home, nursing home, supported-living provider
Yes
Yes
Sleeping-risk premises — CQC also expects the FRA in your compliance evidence pack.
School, nursery, place of worship, village hall
Yes
Yes
Non-domestic premises with public access — the Order applies and most insurers require the written FRA at renewal.
Empty premises between tenants
Yes
Yes
Duty falls on whoever has control of the premises (often the freeholder or managing agent) — voids are not exempt.
The 5-employee rule, explained
Article 9(7) of the Order says the significant findings of the assessment must be recorded if the employer has five or more employees. People often misread this as "you only need an FRA above five staff" — that's wrong. The assessment itself is always required; only the obligation to write it down kicks in at five.
In practice we recommend written records below the threshold anyway. Insurers ask for them, and you cannot evidence a "suitable and sufficient" assessment to a fire-service inspector with an undocumented memory of what you checked.
What changed in 2022
The Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 pulled flat-entrance doors, external walls and structure into the scope of the FRA for any multi-occupied residential building. If your block was last assessed before 2022, those elements were probably out of scope at the time — they're not now.
For buildings above 11m, the 2022 Regulations also added a quarterly check of common-parts fire doors and an annual best-endeavours check of flat-entrance fire doors. We cover the detail in our Regulation 10 guide.
