If you own or manage rented residential buildings – including HMOs, blocks of flats or purpose-built rental properties – new legal duties around fire evacuation are coming into force on 6 April 2026.

The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 require the person responsible for the building – typically the owner, landlord or managing agent – to identify any residents who might struggle to evacuate on their own in a fire. This might include someone with a mobility issue, a hearing or sight impairment, or a cognitive condition.

The new duties apply to residential buildings that are:

• 18 metres or more in height, or seven or more storeys
• Over 11 metres in height where all residents are expected to evacuate simultaneously in the event of a fire

For buildings in scope, the responsible person must:

• Make reasonable efforts to identify residents who may need help to evacuate
• Offer those residents a personal fire risk assessment, tailored to their specific needs
• Agree and write down an individual evacuation plan with each resident who wants one
• Prepare an overall building evacuation plan, share it with the local fire service, and review it every 12 months

Residents cannot be compelled to take part, and the Regulations do not require 24-hour on-site evacuation staff or automatic lift retrofits. The focus is on documented, reasonable planning – but the duty to try sits with the building manager, not the resident.

These Regulations follow the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and sit alongside existing fire safety law. If you manage properties that fall within the height thresholds above, now is the time to check whether your current fire risk assessment and evacuation planning covers these new requirements.

Source: GOV.UK – Residential PEEPs Factsheet, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (December 2025) (gov.uk)