Fire Door Inspections Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: A Schedule That Holds Up

Since 23 January 2023, fire door checks in many residential blocks in England have had a legal rhythm. Regulation 10 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 requires the responsible person in a building over 11 metres that contains two or more sets of domestic premises to check communal fire doors at least every three months, and to use best endeavours to check flat entrance doors at least every twelve months.

Neither interval is difficult on its own. What makes the duty hard is scale. A managing agent with forty blocks has hundreds of communal doors on a quarterly cycle and thousands of flat entrance doors on an annual one, some of which the team will never get into on the first, second or third attempt. This guide sets out what the regulation asks for, how to turn it into a schedule, and what a record needs to contain so it stands up when the fire and rescue service, an insurer or a leaseholder asks for it.

What regulation 10 actually requires

The duty sits with the responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which in a block of flats is usually the freeholder, the management company or the right to manage company, often acting through a managing agent. The regulation applies to buildings in England that are over 11 metres high and contain two or more sets of domestic premises.

"Best endeavours" is the phrase that catches teams out. It does not mean every flat door must be checked every year regardless of access. It does mean that when a resident does not let you in, you are expected to show what you did about it: the letters, the calls, the alternative appointments and the dates of each attempt. A spreadsheet that simply says "no access" against flat 14 is weak evidence. A record that shows three dated attempts by two different channels is much stronger.

Extra duties in buildings of 18 metres or more

In high-rise residential buildings (18 metres or at least seven storeys) the same regulations add further duties. The responsible person must carry out monthly checks of firefighting and evacuation lifts and of key firefighting equipment, and report faults to the fire and rescue service if they cannot be fixed within 24 hours. These buildings also need a secure information box, wayfinding signage for firefighters and information about the external wall system shared with the fire and rescue service.

For a portfolio that mixes 11 to 18 metre blocks with taller ones, this means two different check sets per building type. It is worth tagging each building with its height band from the outset so the right recurring checks attach to it automatically.

How the fire door checks fit with everything else

Fire door checks are rarely the only recurring fire safety task in a block. The fire risk assessment under article 9 of the Fire Safety Order must be reviewed regularly and recorded. Fire alarm systems are serviced at least every six months under BS 5839-1. Emergency lighting needs a monthly functional test and an annual full-duration test under BS 5266-1. Dry risers are inspected six-monthly and pressure tested annually under BS 9990. Passenger lifts need a thorough examination every six months under LOLER 1998.

When each of these lives in a different place, the fire door checks tend to be the ones that drift, because they are done by the in-house team rather than a contractor who turns up with a certificate. That is exactly why they need their own dated record per building.

Building the schedule

1. List every door that is in scope

Start from the fire risk assessment and the building plans. Give each communal fire door a short reference (for example "Core A L3 lobby") and count the flat entrance doors per block. You do not need a separate deadline for every communal door. One quarterly check per building or per core, with a checklist that lists the doors, is usually easier to run and easier to prove.

2. Set the cycle and the lead time

A quarterly check that is due on the last day of the quarter will slip. Schedule it for the start of the quarter and give the site team a reminder a few weeks before. For the annual flat entrance door programme, plan the year in waves so letters go out well before the anniversary and there is time for second and third attempts.

3. Name an owner for each building

Every check needs one named person, not a team inbox. When that person leaves or changes patch, the record should move to the next person without the history being lost.

4. Decide what evidence each check captures

For each door, record the date, who checked it, the outcome and a photo where a defect is found. Common things a check looks at include the self-closing device, gaps around the leaf, the condition of intumescent strips and smoke seals, hinges, glazing and signage. Your fire risk assessor or a competent fire door inspector can confirm the checklist for your buildings.

What a record should look like

Records like this are easy to produce on paper for one building. Across a portfolio the problem is retrieval: finding three years of quarterly checks for one block when a fire officer asks, or showing a new client that the outgoing agent left the programme in order.

Running it in ExpiryEdge

In ExpiryEdge each building gets a recurring record for the quarterly communal door check and another for the annual flat entrance door programme, each with a named owner and reminders at the cadence you choose. When the check is logged, the next due date rolls forward automatically. The check itself runs as a checklist where each step can require a photo, a signature, a timestamp and a location, so "no access" becomes a dated step rather than a blank cell. See how this works across a portfolio on our building inspection tracking page.

Reminders go to site teams by SMS or WhatsApp and to the property manager by email, Slack or Microsoft Teams. If a quarterly check is still open when its date passes, ExpiryEdge escalates to the next person in line. When an insurer, a fire officer or a client asks for evidence, you filter by building and export the history as CSV, PDF or XLSX.