New legal duties for building owners, landlords and managers

We are preparing for new national fire safety regulations coming into force on 6 April 2025, aimed at improving evacuation arrangements for residents who may need support to leave their building during a fire.

The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 introduce a new process called Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans. These apply to certain multi‑occupied residential buildings in England and place new legal duties on building owners, landlords and managing agents.

Under the new regulations, responsible persons must use reasonable endeavours to:

• Identify residents who may have difficulty evacuating without assistance due to a physical or cognitive impairment
• Offer those residents a person-centred fire risk assessment
• Agree an emergency evacuation statement, where the resident wishes
• Develop and maintain a building-wide emergency evacuation plan.

With a resident’s explicit consent, building owners will share a small amount of essential information with the fire and rescue service - specifically the resident’s flat number, floor number, and a basic indication of the assistance they may need. No medical or detailed personal information will be shared.

We have now established the secure systems and processes required to receive this information and use it effectively in an emergency response.

Matt White, Technical Fire Safety Lead for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “These changes are an important step towards ensuring everyone feels safe in their own home, especially those who might need extra support in an emergency. They set out much clearer expectations for building owners and managers, and we welcome that.

“While the responsibility for putting these arrangements in place sits with building owners, landlords or managers, we’re ready to receive information—with residents’ consent—and to use it to help us respond as effectively as possible if a fire does occur.

“If any resident believes they may benefit from these new arrangements, we would encourage them to speak to their building owner or managing agent. Our role is to use the limited information we’re given to support our crews on the ground and to continue working with partners to help keep our communities safe.”

Participation is voluntary, and residents can withdraw consent at any time. Fire and rescue services are not responsible for carrying out assessments, creating evacuation statements or deciding mitigation measures. These remain the duty of building owners and managers.

The regulations apply to residential buildings in England that are:

• 18 metres or 7 storeys or higher, or
• Over 11 metres where a simultaneous evacuation strategy is in place.

Find out more on our website:
https://www.staffordshirefire.gov.uk/your-safety/business-safety/residential-personal-emergency-evacuation-plans-rpeeps/