In a multi-let office, the question “who is the responsible person?” rarely has a single answer, and the gaps between the answers are where fire safety fails.
The Fire Safety Order places the duty on whoever has control of the premises. In a multi-tenanted building that means the landlord or managing agent is responsible for the common parts, stair cores, lift lobbies, plant rooms, shared toilets, and each tenant is responsible for their own demised space.
The duty does not move with the lease. It sits with whoever actually controls the part of the building in question. Both parties need an assessment covering their own scope, and the two must be compatible.
The most common failure is a tenant who assumes the landlord’s common-parts assessment covers their floor, and a landlord who assumes the tenant has assessed their own space. Read your lease, establish the demarcation in writing, and make sure there are no parts of the building that nobody has assessed.
