Fire doors are where a lot of HMO money gets wasted in both directions: landlords replacing doors that didn’t need replacing, and landlords failing inspections over doors that looked fine. Here’s what’s actually required.
Which doors need to be fire doors
Not all of them. The principle: fire doors protect the escape route. In a typical HMO that means:
- Bedroom doors opening onto the hallway or landing
- Kitchen and living room doors onto the escape route (these are the high-risk rooms)
- Doors to cellars and integral garages
Cupboards and bathrooms usually don’t need fire doors, because nobody sleeps in them and they’re low fire risk. Every building has its quirks, which is why our fire door inspections include advice on where fire doors are actually required, and where they aren’t. Money spent upgrading a bathroom door is money you didn’t need to spend.
What FD30 actually means
FD30 is a door assembly tested to resist fire for 30 minutes, which is the standard expected in most HMOs. Two words in that sentence matter more than the number.
The first is tested: a genuine fire door is certified, usually with a colour-coded plug or label on the top edge. A heavy-looking door of unknown origin is just a door.
The second is assembly. The 30 minutes belongs to the whole installation working together:
- The leaf and frame, compatible and undamaged
- Intumescent seals in the frame or door edge, which expand in heat and seal the gap. Painted-over or missing seals are a classic failure.
- Gaps between door and frame that are consistent and small, typically around 3mm at the sides and top. A door swimming in its frame lets smoke straight past.
- Three hinges, fire-rated and in good order
- A self-closer that fully closes the door from any position. Disconnected closers (“because the door slams”) are one of the most common defects we find.
- No wedges, ever. A wedged-open fire door provides exactly nothing. If tenants keep propping a door, that’s a signal to fit a compliant hold-open device that releases on the alarm, not to keep removing wedges.
Taller buildings have extra legal duties
For residential buildings over 11 metres (roughly five storeys), the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add fixed legal frequencies: quarterly checks of communal fire doors and annual checks of flat entrance doors. If you manage flats in a block this applies to, those checks need to be happening and recorded now, not at the next refurbishment.
For ordinary HMOs there’s no fixed statutory interval, but licence conditions expect doors maintained as effective FD30 assemblies. A sensible rhythm is an annual inspection plus a check at every change of tenancy, because tenants are the leading cause of disconnected closers and missing seals.
What an inspection gives you
Our survey goes door by door: gaps measured, seals and glazing checked, closers and latches tested, hinges and frames examined, signage confirmed where required. You get a photographic report with a clear verdict per door and a prioritised list of remedial work, in plain English. Often the fix is adjustment, seals or a closer rather than a new door, and the report stops anyone selling you replacements you don’t need.
Book a fire door inspection or read more about our fire door service across Hounslow and West London.