Who pays for fire doors?

Read the lease, and Head Lease if there is one, first as that may tell you who is responsible.

The internal Flat front doors are likely to be the property, and therefore the responsibility, of the Lessee. But could be the Freeholders. Have any flats changed their front doors leading to the communal hallways or still the same as when the building was built?

The external front doors are not communal?

If the internal front doors are already F30 (may even be F60) all that needs doing is to retro fit self-closing mechanism (a right pain in the you know where); intumescent strips sides and top (just need a router and a cradle to hold the door); fire grade (3) hinges; locks that cannot be operated ie locked with a key from the inside of the flat. Can change Yale night latches to ones without a key, some don’t need keys; Chubb lock can be changed to Euro-thumb locks or you can blank off the inside key hole with a neat screwed on metal plate. The gaps around the tops and sides or the door must be no more than 4mm and the gap at the bottom no more than10mm (8 mm is better). If any letterbox flaps are fitted they must be fire resistant grade ones.

Most carpenters charge around £300-400 per door but you can DIY.

In our building, all joint freeholders, each flat paid for their own front door to be fire risk compliant. Some got a contractor in.

Reading the lease(s) is the first stop.

You don’t say if you’re independent management or a some kind of freehold buyout scenario. It might make a difference to the terms and expectations.

You’ll probably find there is a term in the lease to recharge additional one off costs pro-rata. It should also define the various responsibilities, maintenance and cost wise.

Yes agree with previous posts for the
Unit holders to read their own leases to see what their service charge costs cover , leases are all substantially the same?

I base this on the Man Co embedded in each lease, an RMC Residents Management Company limited liability registered at Companies House. Unit holders as shareholders have obligations in its Articles as well as the separate obligations in their leases.

Continuing on this basis, there is a deed of trust setting out how the RMC is run by unit holders as trustees and sets out each unit holders cost liabilities and how disputes are settled.

The leases should state which doors are maintained by service charge under the leases and the outer doors a separate cost under RMC Articles falling on unit holders in their role of shareholders.

We are just going through this. In our lease it says the freeholder, then the developer is liable. However, we just got the service charge demand through and they have charged us. They say that they are chasing the freeholder and developer but if they don’t pay, we will have to. The whole leasehold/service charge business seems to have got out of control, we are on our 4th service charge company now and they are all impossible to get hold of, unless they want more money!

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 27/05/2025 – 10:53
Excellent, comprehensive response. I would add that the intumescent strips should have brush (usually felt) seals.

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 27/05/2025 – 10:53
A fantastic reply, however I would point out that one also needs to read the lease very carefully: ours clearly states that individual leaseholders are responsible for the maintenance of their front doors but we successfully argued that these works would constitute an improvement, not a maintenance issue, thus the landlord (Ie all the shareholders) would have to pay.

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 27/05/2025 – 10:53
The 1st thing you need to do is check your lease. It will tell you who owns the door. 2nd, contact the fire brigade for a fire safety inspection it’s free. If your building is under 11 meters. You do comply to the 2023 fire regulations it was originally for flats over 11 meters. The fire service will confirm this for you. The law changed due to grenfell.

Should read don’t comply

Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 27/05/2025 – 12:56
Thank you.

I used brush ones.

Reply to the comment left by Graham Tisdale at 28/05/2025 – 13:07
I know lol.

But thank you