Fire safety instructions for residents: what regulation 9 requires a block of flats to display and hand out, and four blocks counted

A fire door check is on the diary and the evacuation notice in the lobby has been there for years. Is that enough, and does every resident have to be given a copy?

What the source says

I read regulation 9 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 on legislation.gov.uk today. The page shows the commencement of regulation 9 as 23 January 2023 and lists no outstanding changes to it. In plain terms:

• Who and where (paragraph 1). The responsible person must display fire safety instructions in a conspicuous part of any building that has two or more sets of domestic premises and common parts residents would use to get out in an emergency.
• What the instructions must say (paragraph 2). They must be in a form residents can reasonably be expected to understand. They must cover the building's evacuation strategy, how to report a fire to the fire and rescue authority, and any other steps residents must take when there is a fire.
• Who gets a copy, and when (paragraph 3). Each new resident of domestic premises must be given a copy as soon as reasonably practicable after moving in. All residents must be given a copy within each 12-month period beginning with the date the Regulations came into force.
• A change (paragraph 4). After a material change to the instructions, the responsible person must display them again and give residents a copy.

Four blocks counted

I invented four blocks and one household per flat. Resident numbers in real blocks vary, so treat the counts as an example of the method. I counted the largest number of copies each block could need: one for every household in the annual round, plus one for every household that moves in during the year.

Check: 24 + 48 + 12 + 90 = 174. 6 + 14 + 2 + 25 = 47. 174 + 47 = 221, and the row totals 30 + 62 + 14 + 115 also give 221. Someone who moves in a month before the annual round has already had a copy, so the true number can be lower.

Now the dates. The periods run from 23 January 2023, so each one ends on 22 January. The current one runs from 23 January 2026 to 22 January 2027. From 29 October 2026 that leaves 2 days in October, 30 in November, 31 in December and 22 in January: 85 days. A block whose annual copies have not gone out yet has under three months.

What to do about it

• Check each block has a notice on display in a part residents pass, and that it names the evacuation strategy (for example stay put or simultaneous evacuation), how to report a fire and anything else residents must do.
• Keep a dated record of each hand-out round, and of each new resident's copy with the move-in date.
• If the evacuation strategy changes, treat that as a material change: display the new notice and send copies. Whether a given change is material is a judgement I have not tested.
• The wider picture of which duties reach which block is in the four-question duties check. The door checks that sit beside this duty are in how often fire door checks are due and the fire risk assessment guide.

What I did not read

I did not read regulation 1, the rest of the Regulations, the Fire Safety Order that defines the responsible person, any guidance on the wording of the notice, or any case law. The blocks, flat counts and move-ins are invented.

Overlyft builds AI staff who join your block management team and, each year, list every household in every block, draft the notice and the covering letter, and log who has had a copy. A property manager checks and approves everything before it goes out.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the legislation and take advice on a particular block.