Fire risk assessments in Camden
Fire risk assessments and fire safety servicing in Kentish Town, Camden Town, Hampstead, Swiss Cottage, West Hampstead, Kilburn, Bloomsbury and Holborn.
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T&T Fire Safety carries out fire risk assessments in Camden for residents’ management companies, freeholders, managing agents, HMO landlords and commercial occupiers. Few boroughs pack as many building types into so small an area: Georgian terraces in Bloomsbury, Victorian villas in Hampstead and Belsize Park, red-brick mansion blocks in West Hampstead, large council estates, and offices and shops with flats above around Camden Town and Holborn.
Fire safety law in Camden is enforced by the London Fire Brigade, and the borough’s housing team runs one of London’s longest-standing HMO licensing regimes. Alongside assessments we inspect fire doors and service fire alarms, emergency lighting and AOVs in shared residential and mixed-use buildings.
Where we work in Camden
- Camden Town
- Kentish Town
- Gospel Oak
- Hampstead
- Belsize Park
- Swiss Cottage
- West Hampstead
- Kilburn
- Primrose Hill
- Somers Town
- King’s Cross
- Bloomsbury
- Holborn
- Highgate (Camden side)
Period conversions, mansion blocks and estates
Many Camden flats are in houses built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and divided long before modern Building Regulations. Listed status and conservation areas add a complication: replacing a panelled door or adding a lobby may need consent, so the fire risk assessment has to find ways to protect the escape route without harming the building, such as upgrading existing doors, adding intumescent seals or improving detection. Mansion blocks raise different issues, including lifts set within the stairwell, rear service stairs and old refuse chutes.
Camden is also a major social landlord, and its post-war towers are a reminder of why the law changed. On 23 June 2017, nine days after the Grenfell Tower fire, the council evacuated four of the five towers on the Chalcots Estate in Swiss Cottage after inspectors found problems with cladding, fire doors and gas pipe insulation. The lesson for any block is that external walls, front doors and service routes have to be assessed together, not one at a time.
HMO licensing in Camden
Camden Council has run borough-wide additional HMO licensing since 2015. Its current designation, agreed on 2 July 2025, took effect on 8 December 2025 and runs to 8 December 2030. It covers HMOs below the mandatory threshold, and the council can grant shorter two-year licences where it has concerns about how a property is managed or its condition.
We have not found a selective licensing scheme in Camden, so single-household lets do not currently appear to need a licence there; check with the council before you let, because schemes change. HMO licences carry their own conditions, and the fire risk assessment for the common parts is a separate duty under the Fire Safety Order.
Fire safety law in England
Fire safety law for Camden’s older buildings
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the common parts of Camden’s converted houses, mansion blocks and estates, and to every shop, office and restaurant. Following the Fire Safety Act 2021, the assessment of any building with two or more flats must take in the structure, the external walls and the flat entrance doors, which in period conversions are often original timber doors never designed to resist fire. Every assessment, however small the building, has had to be recorded in full since 1 October 2023.
In mixed-use buildings, such as a restaurant with flats above on Camden High Street, there are often two responsible persons: the business for its premises and the freeholder for the residential parts. The law requires them to co-operate and share information. Residential parts with two or more flats also come under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which require fire safety instructions and fire door information to be given to residents every year.
Fire safety services in Camden
Fire Risk Assessments
On-site fire risk assessments with written reports and prioritised action plans.
Fire Door Inspections
Fire door inspections with door-by-door records, identified defects and recommended actions.
Fire Alarm Servicing & Installation
Fire alarm servicing, installation and system alterations for residential and commercial premises.
Emergency Lighting Servicing & Installation
Emergency-lighting testing, servicing and installation for residential and commercial premises.
AOV & Smoke Control Servicing
Servicing and functional testing of automatic opening vents and associated smoke-control systems.
Get a free quote in Camden
Fire safety in Camden: FAQs
My building in Kentish Town is listed. Can it still meet fire safety requirements?
Usually, yes. Upgrading existing doors, fitting intumescent strips and smoke seals and improving detection can often protect the escape route with little impact on the building. Speak to the council’s conservation team before changing doors or partitions in a listed building.
When does Camden’s current HMO licensing scheme end?
The borough-wide additional licensing designation runs from 8 December 2025 to 8 December 2030, unless the council revokes it earlier.
Who is responsible for fire safety in a shop with flats above?
Each person who controls part of the building has duties for that part. The shop operator assesses the shop; the freeholder or managing agent assesses the common parts and the building as a whole. Our retail page covers the commercial side.
Does our mansion block need a fire risk assessment if it is under 11 metres?
Yes. The Fire Safety Order applies to the common parts of any block with shared areas, whatever its height. Height only changes which extra duties apply under the 2022 Regulations. See our blocks of flats page.
Nearby areas
All areas we coverSources
- Camden Council: new additional HMO licensing scheme designation agreed
- Camden Council: Camden renews HMO licensing scheme
- Arab News (AP): hundreds evacuated from London towers, June 2017
- Fire Safety Act 2021, s.1 (legislation.gov.uk)
- GOV.UK: responsible persons in England, changes in fire safety legislation
- Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)
Licensing schemes change. Check the current position with your council before relying on this page.