Fire risk assessments in Southwold

Southwold is a short drive from Steve’s base at Spexhall. Many of its houses are holiday lets or second homes, and the town has a high number of listed buildings, so a fire risk assessment here has to suit both the guests and the building.

Fire risk assessments in Southwold

Southwold is a seaside town on the Suffolk coast, with a pier, a lighthouse that stands in the town itself, a brewery at its heart and a harbour at the mouth of the River Blyth. East Suffolk Council’s conservation area appraisal notes that a significant proportion of its houses and former shops are let for holidays or have become second homes. Whether you let a cottage, run an inn or keep a shop on the High Street, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, and since 1 October 2023 every responsible person must record it in full.

The town has been reshaped by fire before. In 1659 a fire destroyed much of Southwold, including the town hall, the prison and shops, and local accounts link the town’s many small greens to it. Today most of the historic centre lies within a conservation area.

Steve Milligan spent 26 years with the fire service, retiring as a Watch Manager in 2021, and is now an NFRAR Advanced Level fire risk assessor. He visits your premises himself, writes the report himself and answers your questions afterwards.

Premises Steve assesses in Southwold

• Holiday lets and second homes let by the week, where guests sleep in a building they don’t know and the owner may live a long way off
• Inns, hotels and guest houses where guests sleep on the upper floors, above kitchens, bars and dining rooms
• Shops, galleries and cafés on the High Street and around Market Place, often with a flat, a stockroom or a holiday let upstairs
• Seafront and pier businesses that are busiest in summer, when seasonal staff need to know the fire routine from their first shift
• Businesses by the harbour, where fuel and gas cylinders for boats and kitchens need storing well away from the way out
• Houses and former shops converted into flats, where a fire in one flat must not cut off the shared stairs for everyone else

If your building is listed, take care before changing it. East Suffolk Council says listed building consent is required for any work that affects the character of the building, inside as well as out, and that unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence. Steve’s action plan sets out what needs to improve, so you can agree how to do it with the council before work starts, for example by upgrading an original door rather than replacing it.

Who enforces fire safety in Southwold

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service enforces the Fire Safety Order in Southwold, and holiday lets are part of that work. Its page on fire safety for self-catering holiday lets says any space you rent out to a paying guest is subject to fire safety law, and that the service undertakes fire safety inspections of holiday let premises.

Southwold is in the East Suffolk Council area. For privately rented homes, the council inspects unsafe conditions using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, takes action where smoke or carbon monoxide alarms are missing or not working at the start of a tenancy, and licenses houses in multiple occupation where five or more people from two or more households live, including flats above shops. The council also deals with listed building consent.

What you get

• A visit by Steve and an electronic written report with an overall risk level
• An action plan graded High, Medium and Low, plus a For Information section of advisory points
• The full findings and the assessor’s details recorded, as the law requires
• Free follow-up advice by phone or email while you work through the actions

Fire risk assessments start at £250, with a fixed quote before you book and nothing to pay until your report is ready. See all services and prices, or read what affects the price.

Training for teams in Southwold

Fire warden training runs at your premises for up to 12 people for £400, with a certificate valid for 3 years. Fire safety awareness training raises your staff’s awareness of how fires start, how to prevent them and what to do if one breaks out, from £120.

Questions from Southwold

We don’t live in Southwold. Who is responsible for fire safety at our holiday let?

Usually the owner, as the person running the let as a business, even from a distance. Anyone else with some control over the property, such as a letting agent or a changeover company, can also have duties for the things they control, so agree who tests the alarms and checks the escape routes between guests.

Our building is listed. Can the assessment still ask for changes?

Yes. The Fire Safety Order has no exemption for listed buildings, so the building still has to be reasonably safe for the people in it. What differs is how the work is done: listed building consent may be needed first, and improvements such as upgrading original doors, better fire detection or clearer escape routes can often be made in a way that respects the building.

Is a guest house treated differently from a holiday cottage?

The same law applies, but the guidance differs. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service points owners of small properties, similar to an average family home, to the government guide on making small paying guest accommodation safe from fire, and owners of larger or more complex premises to the guide on sleeping accommodation. Your assessment should follow the guidance that fits your building.

Related reading: Fire safety for holiday lets in Suffolk and Norfolk and The five-step fire door check