How often must the lift in a block of flats be examined? The six-month LOLER rule, the report, and what an overdue date looks like

The lift engineer comes every month. The insurer's inspector comes "twice a year". A leaseholder asks whether the lift is legally inspected, and the honest answer depends on dates that nobody has lined up. The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, known as LOLER, set the rule, and the gap between two visits is what matters.

The rule: at least every six months

Regulation 9(3) of LOLER says lifting equipment exposed to conditions that cause deterioration must be thoroughly examined at suitable intervals. For lifting equipment for lifting persons, that means at least every 6 months. Other lifting equipment, such as a goods-only lift, must be examined at least every 12 months. The alternative is an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person, which sets its own intervals.

A passenger lift in a block is lifting equipment for lifting persons. So, unless there is a written examination scheme, the interval is six months at most. That is a maximum gap, not "twice a year". Two examinations in January and December of the same year meet "twice a year" and break the six-month rule.

Does LOLER apply to a residential block?

LOLER places duties on employers and on people who control lifting equipment used at work. In a block, the lift is used at work by cleaners, contractors, concierge staff and the agent's own staff, and the freeholder, residents' management company or right to manage company that controls the common parts is the usual dutyholder. HSE's guidance on lifting equipment in places with public access also uses LOLER as the benchmark where equipment falls outside it. In practice, treat every communal passenger lift as covered and set the dates accordingly. The building's lease and management agreement say who arranges it.

What a thorough examination is

HSE describes a thorough examination as a systematic and detailed examination of the equipment and its safety-critical parts, carried out at set intervals by a competent person, who then writes a report. It is not the same as routine maintenance. Monthly servicing by the lift contractor keeps the lift running; the thorough examination is an independent check of whether it is safe, often arranged through the buildings insurer's engineering inspection service.

What the report must say

HSE says the report must include the date of the examination, the date the next one is due, and any defects found which are, or could become, a danger to people. Read every report for three things:

1. The next due date. Put it in the compliance diary the day the report arrives.
2. Defects and their deadlines. A defect with a date to fix is a job to order, and its cost may need to go through the service charge.
3. Anything marked as immediate danger. HSE says the examiner must tell the dutyholder straight away and follow it in writing, and send a copy to the enforcing authority. The lift should not be used until the defect is put right.

A worked overdue date

Say the lift was last examined on 10 March 2026. Six months later is 10 September 2026, so that is the latest date for the next examination. If the inspector's next visit is 30 September, the gap is 204 days, 20 days beyond the legal limit, even though the block has had "two visits this year".

The arithmetic scales with the number of lifts. A block with two passenger lifts needs at least four thorough examinations a year and twenty across a five-year service charge plan. Each one is a report to file, check for defects and act on. A portfolio of thirty such blocks is 120 reports a year.

What to set up

• One diary entry per lift for the latest legal date of the next examination, taken from the last report, not from the insurer's schedule.
• A rule that a report is not filed until its defects have an owner and a date.
• A copy of each report on the building file, so you can answer a leaseholder or an auditor quickly.
• A line in the budget for defect remedies; if lift works will cost any leaseholder more than £250, check whether section 20 consultation applies first.

Our block management readiness check asks whether you can produce the last lift report for each building in a minute, and the asbestos duty to manage guide covers another survey that lift motor rooms often feature in.

Overlyft builds AI staff who join a block management team: they read each lift examination report as it arrives, pull out the next due date and any defects, add them to the diary and draft the contractor instruction, for the property manager to approve.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the lease, the management agreement and your insurer's terms for each building.