The Fire Safety Bill received Royal Assent and has become the Fire Safety Act 2021. The legislation had its first reading in March 2020 and is aimed at reducing the risk of fire through unsafe cladding and entrance doors. It clarifies that the responsible person for the building should assess and mitigate the fire safety risk associated with these external and communal parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. The new Fire Safety Act makes it clear that external wall systems, balconies and flat entrance doors now fall within the scope of fire safety legislation. The responsible person for each building now needs to update their fire risk assessments to ensure that these aspects of the building are maintained in a safe condition. Enforcement action by fire and rescue services can be anticipated if they fail to do so. For more information you can read The Fire Safety Act (2021) in full here
