Fire Risk Assessments in Scotland: What the Law Requires

Is a fire risk assessment a legal requirement in Scotland?

Two guest houses ten miles apart, one in Carlisle and one in Gretna, can share an owner, a layout and a fire risk assessor, but not a fire safety law. Scotland words the duty differently, asks for less in writing and leaves some buildings out altogether. Those details are where duty holders get caught out.

The short answer is yes. In Scotland a fire risk assessment is a legal requirement for almost every building that is not a private home. The duty comes from Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, not from the Fire Safety Order, which applies only in England and Wales. Scottish guidance often calls it a “fire safety risk assessment”, and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) enforces the rules in most premises.

Who is responsible for the fire risk assessment in Scotland?

Scottish law has no “responsible person”. The duty falls on employers, for the safety of their employees, and on anyone who has control of the premises to any extent, for everyone lawfully there and anyone nearby who would be at risk from a fire. The owner can share the duty, and so can anyone whose contract or tenancy makes them responsible for repairs, maintenance or fire safety.

A landlord, a business tenant and a managing agent can all hold the duty in the same building, each for the part they control. Scottish guidance calls them all duty holders, and each one needs to know where their part ends.

Which buildings need one?

The Act covers every premises except private homes and a short list of others, such as mines and offshore installations. Shops, offices, factories, hotels, hostels and schools are all covered. So are some buildings people live in, which the Act does not count as private homes: houses in multiple occupation that need an HMO licence, care homes and some other care services, and premises used for childminding.

Scottish Government guidance treats holiday lets and bed and breakfasts as covered too, however they are marketed. A short-term let licence does not replace the assessment. Its fire safety conditions cover fire and carbon monoxide detection and furniture records, while the duty to assess the risk comes from the 2005 Act. Our article on holiday lets covers the rules in England and Wales.

Do blocks of flats need a fire risk assessment in Scotland?

For high-rise blocks, the Scottish Government’s guidance makes an assessment “a strong recommendation”. It stops short of a legal duty because the Act counts any stair, passage or other area shared by more than one dwelling as part of a private home, so the duty to assess does not reach the common parts of a block. In England and Wales, by contrast, the Fire Safety Order covers the common parts, structure, external walls and flat entrance doors of any building with two or more homes.

In March 2025 the Scottish Government committed to consult on “mandatory periodic fire risk assessments in specified high rise buildings”, but no consultation has been published as of October 2026. Until the law changes, the sensible course for any block, high-rise or not, is the one the guidance recommends: an assessment of the common parts by a competent assessor, kept under review.

Does the assessment have to be written down?

By law, only in three cases. Regulation 8 requires a record where the duty holder employs five or more people, where the premises need a licence or registration, or where an SFRS alterations notice requires it. The record covers the significant findings, the measures taken or planned, and anyone especially at risk. Licensed HMOs and short-term lets fall within the licence case, whatever their staff numbers. In England and Wales, every assessment has had to be recorded in full since 1 October 2023.

In practice the assessment should be written down in Scotland too. One that lives only in someone’s memory cannot be shown to an enforcing officer, handed to the next assessor or checked at the next review. The written record is the evidence that the duty was met, which is why record keeping matters as much as the assessment itself.

How often should it be reviewed?

The Regulations require a review “regularly so as to keep it up to date”, and whenever the assessment may no longer be valid or something significant has changed, but they set no fixed interval. The standard is twelve months, with a review sooner after any significant change, a fire or a near miss. Our article on review frequency explains what counts as a significant change.

Who can carry out a fire risk assessment in Scotland?

The duty holder stays responsible for the assessment, whoever carries it out, so the choice of assessor matters. The Scottish Government and the SFRS recommend an assessor or company that is third-party certificated by a UKAS-accredited certification body, or an assessor on a professional register. Our guide to who can carry out a fire risk assessment explains how to check.

No law in the UK requires that yet, but Scotland is moving towards it. In March 2025 the Scottish Government committed to strengthening “the requirements for duty holders to hire a competent assessor through legislation”, with a public consultation still to come. England consulted on mandatory certification between March and June 2026, for England only.

What happens if there is no assessment?

The SFRS audits premises on a risk basis, focusing on buildings where people sleep, care settings and other higher-risk premises. An audit can lead to a letter listing areas for improvement, a notification of deficiencies, an enforcement notice giving at least 28 days to put things right, or a prohibition notice that restricts or stops use of the building, immediately if the risk of serious injury is imminent.

Failing to meet the duties is a criminal offence where the failure puts someone at risk of serious injury in the event of fire. It carries a fine of up to £20,000 on summary conviction, or up to two years in prison, a fine or both on indictment.

What else differs from England and Wales?

Neither Part 3 of the Act nor the 2006 Regulations has been amended since 2015, so none of the changes made in England and Wales after the Grenfell Tower fire apply in Scotland. That rules out the Fire Safety Act 2021, the Building Safety Act 2022 duties on full records, resident information and handover to the next responsible person, and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which apply in England only, on fire doors, wayfinding signs and secure information boxes.

The guidance is Scottish too: five practical guides from 2022, covering non-residential premises, premises with sleeping accommodation, care homes, specialised housing and high-rise flats. The SFRS must take them into account when it decides on enforcement, so an assessment in Scotland is best measured against them and not against the English guides.

FireRecord is a fire risk assessment app for assessors. Notes, voice notes and photographs are captured on site, with or without signal, and each finding is drafted from the assessor’s own notes. The legal wording in the report is the firm’s own template, so a report for premises in Scotland can cite the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, and the Trail of Records keeps a written record of what was assessed and why. Find out more at firerecord.co.uk.