Hi,

I've been asked to advise a client on the following scenario and am struggling to provide an answer that either I or the client is happy with.

The client owns a flat in converted three-storey terrace house. The house was converted around 20 years ago. The entrance door to the common areas is at ground level at the front of the buidling. The front door to the neighbouring house is next to this door (about 50cm to the side). The neighbouring house is a single three-storey dwelling.

A recent T1 FRA of the converted house has just been produced and recommended that the front door to both the converted house and the terrace house be replaced with FD30 fire doors due to their proximity. Although reluctant, my client could replace the front door to the converted house, however there is absolutely no chance his neighbour will replace the front door to his private dwelling. This has resulted in something of an impasse and is holding up the sale of one of the flats in the converted house.

Is the recommendation to replace the doors reasonable? And if so, what are my clients options give he has no control over the door to the neighbouring house?

Absolutely unreasonable and not anywhere in guidance - if this were true every terrace of houses in the country would have to have a fire door as it's front door

The door needs to be fire rated. If the front door to your client’s property is stout and robust (a solid wood) they can usually be brought up to a nominal spec, you would need a specialist to advise if it could be done and if it would be cost effective.

As for the next door, small spherical objects!

Thanks for the replies. I'm still a bit confused though. So does the communal front door to the building converted into flats need to be a fire door? If so, then this does apply to a lot of terrace houses in the country.

Building Regs state that openings within 1.8m of an external escape route should be fire-rated, as do openings within 1m of a boundary. Does this apply here or not (for relevant alterations since the regs came into force - whenever that was)?

Fire-rated front doors are required in terraced housing under three specific circumstances:

• Flats or Apartments: If the terraced house has been converted into separate flats, any front door opening onto a shared communal corridor or internal stairwell must be a certified fire door (usually FD30S

• Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs): If the terraced property is rented out to three or more unrelated people who share facilities, it faces strict fire safety laws. The main entrance door and individual bedroom doors must be fire-rated.

• Mixed-Use Buildings: If the terraced property contains a shop, office, or commercial business on the ground floor with a residential home above it, a fire-rated door is required to separate the two zones.

For a standard, single-family terraced home, there is no legal requirement for the external front door to be fire-rated, as it leads directly outside to safety rather than into an enclosed shared escape route. 

As for the 1.8m this requirement applies only when the external route is a designated escape route under Building Regulations — typically:

• a protected route serving multiple dwellings

• a route that forms part of a building’s formal means of escape

• a walkway or path that must remain tenable during evacuation

It does not apply to:

• ordinary pavements

• shared front gardens

• the public street

• the gap between two neighbouring front doors in a terrace.

The 1.0m rule — but it applies in very specific circumstances:

It applies when:

• A building is being constructed, extended, or materially altered

• The wall in question is close to a relevant boundary

• The purpose is to prevent fire spread between buildings

It does not apply when:

• Two existing houses already sit side‑by‑side in a terrace

• No building work is being done to the neighbouring house

• A fire risk assessor is simply reviewing an existing building

• The opening is not part of a new or altered wall under Building Regulations

 

 

Thank you for providing such a detailed response.

You say "If the terraced property is rented out to three or more unrelated people who share facilities, it faces strict fire safety laws. The main entrance door and individual bedroom doors must be fire-rated".

Are you able to point me in the direction of the regulations/guidance that says the main entrance door must be fire-rated?