Frequently Asked Questions

Your front door is considered a fire door. The primary purpose of fire doors is to save lives and stop the progress of fire for a period of time in support of both escaping occupants and fire-fighting activities. They are an important part of a building’s passive fire protection system and fire strategy.

Because of their importance in protecting lives, it is imperative that fire doors receive regular inspections. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which came into force on 23rd January 2023, have made it a legal requirement for responsible persons for all multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11 metres in height to undertake quarterly checks on all fire doors in common areas and annual inspections on apartment front doors.

As a result, it is our responsibility as your managing agent to try and ensure your apartment front door is inspected annually.

The government issued guidance* around the nature of the fire door inspections required in connection with the new 2022 regulations. This guidance is informative and ensures clarity. Taking this into account it is important to note that the inspections are visual in their nature, whilst they do take account of additional information (for example relevant documentation) they are not intrusive.

In summary the inspections undertaken are visual, non-intrusive inspections only, undertaken by trained and competent persons in accordance with the relevant regulations.

We have created an infographic and video guide that aim to provide further information on what a standard visual fire door inspection should include as a minimum.

• Infographic - https://info.podmanagement.co.uk/view/508107510/ -

• Video guide - https://www.podmanagement.co.uk/fire-door-safety#fire_door_inspection_videos

A digital ‘asset’ record of every fire door at your development is created. When any fire door is inspected a record of this inspection is recorded against the ‘asset’ record for the same door. This ensures a digital history of each fire door and any inspection undertaken of the same is created and maintained.

A relation to your front door, a PDF copy of the digital inspection record is shared with you following the inspection.

It is common for leaseholders or property owners to be responsible for the ongoing maintenance and repair of their apartment front door as it generally forms a part of their own ‘demised’ property. However, this will depend on the terms of the lease for your property.

Where you are responsible for maintaining your front door, we will write to you to confirm this and share a copy of any visual inspection record with you for your attention. It is our responsibility to request that any fire doors that form part of your property are maintained and not modified to ensure they do not compromise fire safety.

It is generally considered appropriate that a competent person be appointed to install, maintain or repair a fire door. There are accreditation schemes that seek to validate the competency of a company or person and demonstrate that they have the required skill, experience and training to work on a fire door. Appointing a competent person to maintain or install a fire door should ensure that the door meets all relevant fire safety standards. Accredited installers or maintenance providers can be found through relevant professional bodies such as the following:

• British Woodworking Federation Fire Door Alliance

• Warrington Fire FIRAS (filter search to 'doors') 

• BM Trada

• https://www.blueskycert.com/members/#Fire-Resistance

It is important to note that any party appointed to complete repairs may wish to make their own assessment of a door and /or any required repairs and inspections can only be considered as an accurate record of the door at the time of the inspection. 

Other accreditation schemes, established by private bodies, establish alternative inspection criteria to the government guidance and may recommend intrusive inspections to assess other components of the door or the associated area. However, this is not what is required under the legislation we have referred to and as such these could be considered ‘enhanced’ forms of inspection in accordance with relevant codes of best practice or otherwise that may have been produced by trade bodies.

The inspection reports we share seek to provide an effective summary of the inspection’s findings. In the event that remedial actions or repairs are required, the inspectors will provide guidance based on the BM-Trada approved repair technique scheme (ART), noting approved repair techniques that could be used to facilitate required repairs to the door. This information is intended for guidance only, but it aims to provide any reader with an accurate summary of the inspection’s findings at the time of inspection, enabling many repair providers to interpret and understand the scope of work involved in remediating the door. However, we would highlight that some competent repair providers may want to undertake their own inspections in accordance with any relevant professional standard they subscribe to in order to facilitate repairs. Some of these inspection standards may be above and beyond the requirements of the specific legislative requirement. Furthermore, some repairs may be more complex than others or a contractor may deem it more economically appropriate to recommend the replacement of a door. Ultimately, it would be down to any repair provider to determine the extent of repairs appropriate for the door to achieve compliance.

We cannot recommend a specific contractor as it might create conflict of interest. However, accredited installers or maintenance providers can be found through relevant professional bodies such as the following:

• British Woodworking Federation Fire Door Alliance

• Warrington Fire FIRAS (filter search to 'doors') 

• BM Trada

• https://www.blueskycert.com/members/#Fire-Resistance

An accreditation scheme or comparable is an independent certification body that aims to provide reassurance that a contractor has received specific training and certification relevant to a specific discipline of work as a validation of their competency. Many accreditation schemes are UKAS accredited. UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) is an independent, non-profit-distributing private company that is recognised by the UK government.

It is important that anybody working on a fire door understand the components of a fire door, their intended functionality and how they operate in combination to ensure the overall functionality of the fire door. Modifications or repairs to fire doors can compromise their integrity and ability to perform as intended in the event of a fire and therefore it is generally recommended that only a competent contractor is appointed to repair a fire door.

Unfortunately, for several reasons we cannot arrange the repairs for you. Repairs works to your individual property sit outside the scope and contract of our appointment meaning that we have no legal basis under which we could facilitate this for you.

Practically this also means we do not have resources which we can allocate to facilitate these repairs at your development.  Furthermore, we are legally unable to utilise service charge monies to facilitate a repair to a demised property. This creates further complexity as we would have to seek separate renumeration for the work and collect additional monies to enable the repair.

We feel all these dynamics would ultimately convolute and protract any repair process and as such a repair is best facilitated via direct liaison with a suitable and competent contractor.

In the visual inspection report summary that you receive you will find a photo of your apartment door (including door number) under the Fire Door Asset Information section of the report.

When a competent contractor completes any repair work to your door you should receive a report or certificate from the contractor to confirm the work undertaken and validate that door has been returned to a satisfactory standard.

A copy of this report is all we need to update our records accordingly. Please send this to support@podmanagement.co.uk

Timber fire doors will require regular maintenance to ensure they are effective in the event of a fire. This is because they are susceptible to damage and excessive wear and tear resulting from repeated operation. 

Broadly speaking deterioration in the context of general wear and tear can take two main forms: a) damage to the door leaf or the components making up the door assembly; b) wear in the door hardware, or a reduction in the performance of fixings, causing the door to fail to self-close, leading to a potential breach of the fire barrier. 

Timber also has a natural reaction to environmental factors such as humidity and seasonal temperature changes. All these dynamics can mean that frequent adjustments and operational maintenance is needed to maintain a door’s performance in the event of a fire. 

Fire doors require regular maintenance to ensure they are effective in the event of a fire, even in a few months or years, gaps can change between the door and frame, door closers might need to be readjusted and so on. This can be due to building settlement, temperature fluctuations during the winter and summer when timber can naturally react to environmental factors such as humidity and seasonal temperature changes, or even typical wear and tear of key components such as hingers and door closers due to a door’s repeated operation. All of these dynamics can mean that frequent adjustments and maintenance are needed to maintain the door’s performance capability in the event of a fire. The intention of recent regulations is to ensure that any required remedial works are frequently identified, highlighted and acted upon.

If your property was relatively recently built and you still retain information from the developer this information may include a certificate for your front door from the door’s manufacturer. Alternatively, you can check at the top or side of the door leaf for a label (certificate) that may confirm key information about your door.

If the label is not present or is damaged you can ask us for any information that we may hold, please contact us via support@podmanagement.co.uk

More information about fire safety doors and the legislation guidelines can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022-fire-door-guidance/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022-fire-door-guidance