Purpose-built flats of 6 to 9 storeys recorded the highest unsatisfactory fire safety audit rate of any building type in England in the year ending March 2026, at 51% of 1,303 audits. The same building type received 211 enforcement notices, second only to shops. Audits of blocks above 10 storeys rose 28% while their satisfactory rate fell 12.9 percentage points.
Purpose-built flats are failing fire safety audits more than any other building type
Purpose-built flats of 6 to 9 storeys recorded the highest proportion of unsatisfactory fire safety audits of any premises type in England in the year ending March 2026, at 51% of the 1,303 audits carried out. The same premises type received 211 enforcement notices, which was 11% of all enforcement notices issued in England and second only to shops. Blocks of 10 storeys and over saw audits rise 28% in one year while their satisfactory rate fell 12.9 percentage points.
The duty for the common parts of those buildings sits with freeholders, managing agents, housing associations and registered providers. These figures come from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government release published on 2 September 2026.
Audit performance by storey band
| Premises type | Audits, year ending March 2026 | Audits, year ending March 2025 | One-year change in audits | Satisfactory rate 2026 | Satisfactory rate 2025 | Change in percentage points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose-built flats, 1 to 3 storeys | 1,943 | 1,944 | Down 0.1% | 54% | 59% | Down 4.9 |
| Purpose-built flats, 4 to 5 storeys | 1,821 | 1,626 | Up 12% | 50% | 54% | Down 3.9 |
| Purpose-built flats, 6 to 9 storeys | 1,303 | 1,329 | Down 2.0% | 49% | 51% | Down 1.8 |
| Purpose-built flats, 10 storeys and over | 965 | 756 | Up 28% | 53% | 66% | Down 12.9 |
| Purpose-built flats, 4 storeys and over, no height breakdown available | 607 | 553 | Up 9.8% | 68% | 50% | Up 17.4 |
Four of the five storey bands recorded a falling satisfactory rate. Across all purpose-built flats of four storeys and above, including the band where no height breakdown was available, audits rose 10% in one year to 4,696 and rose 35% over six years from 3,473.
For context, the national satisfactory rate across all 50,195 audits in England was 60%. Every purpose-built flat band with a height breakdown sits below that national figure.
The three findings that matter to a managing agent
1. Half of all audits in mid-rise blocks are failing
An unsatisfactory outcome means the fire and rescue authority judged that further action is necessary to bring the premises into compliance. At 51% unsatisfactory, a mid-rise block being audited is more likely than not to receive some form of follow-up action. That is a planning assumption, not a risk.
2. High-rise blocks are being audited far harder, and doing worse
Audits of blocks of 10 storeys and over rose 28% in one year, from 756 to 965, while the satisfactory rate fell from 66% to 53%. The average time spent on an audit in that band was 9.4 hours, which is the longest of any premises type in England and 3.8 hours above the overall average of 5.6 hours. Across all purpose-built flats of four storeys and above the average audit took 7.2 hours.
A 9.4 hour audit is a full working day in the building. An inspector who spends a full day in a block is not conducting a walk-through.
3. Enforcement notices are concentrating on this building type
Enforcement notices under Article 30 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 were issued most commonly to shops, with 347 notices accounting for 18% of the national total. In second place were purpose-built flats of 6 to 9 storeys with 211 notices, accounting for 11%. Licensed premises came third with 195 notices at 10%.
Shops are the most audited premises type in England at 8,932 audits. Purpose-built flats of 6 to 9 storeys were audited 1,303 times. So a building type that accounted for 2.6% of national audits accounted for 11% of national enforcement notices. That ratio is the finding, and it means that an audit in a mid-rise block is far more likely to convert into formal enforcement than an audit in almost any other building type.
Why this building type performs badly
The statistics do not explain causes, so what follows is the practical reading rather than a finding from the data.
- Split responsibility. The Fire Safety Order applies to the common parts. Individual flats sit outside it. That boundary creates gaps around flat entrance doors, riser cupboards, service voids and balconies, where nobody has treated the item as theirs.
- Compartmentation is concealed. In a shop, a blocked exit is visible. In a block, a breached compartment line sits above a ceiling or behind a riser door and is only found by intrusive survey. See passive fire protection surveys.
- Records sit with several parties. The freeholder, the managing agent, the previous managing agent and the contractor each hold part of the evidence. An inspector asking for the emergency lighting test record for the last three years is asking a question that spans a change of agent.
- Section 156 duties are recent. The requirements that came into force on 1 October 2023 under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 introduced recorded fire risk assessment duties and, in buildings above 11 metres, quarterly checks of communal fire doors and annual checks of flat entrance doors. Those regimes are young and the evidence trails are still being built. See fire door inspection requirements.
- Service charge recoverability shapes procurement. Work that cannot be recovered gets deferred, and deferred work is exactly what an audit finds.
There is a further point about the national data. The MHCLG release states that it does not include statistics relating to the section 156 requirements. So the sector has audit outcome data for these buildings and no national measure of section 156 compliance at all. Anyone benchmarking their own door check regime has no national comparator.
The evidence an inspector will ask a managing agent for
| Item | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Fire risk assessment for the common parts | Current, by a competent person, recorded, covering the whole common parts including risers, roof spaces and external walls where in scope |
| Fire door records | Quarterly communal door checks and annual flat entrance door checks where the building is above 11 metres, dated, with the identity of the person who carried out each check |
| Compartmentation evidence | A survey of the compartment lines, not an assertion that the building was built compliant |
| Emergency lighting | Monthly function tests and the annual full duration test, recorded against the applicable British Standard. See emergency lighting testing frequency under BS 5266 |
| Detection and alarm | Service records at the correct interval for the installed category, with commissioning certification |
| Article 11 arrangements | A single written document naming who holds each fire safety task, because Article 11 breaches rose 25% nationally in one year to 5,240 |
| Contractor competence | Third-party accreditation verified on the scheme register, not a logo. See contractor vetting and accreditation guide |
What to do this quarter if you hold a portfolio of blocks
- Rank your blocks by storey band, not by size or value. The data says 6 to 9 storeys is the worst performing band and 10 storeys and over is the band being audited hardest with a collapsing satisfactory rate.
- Establish, in writing, who holds the fire safety records for every block. Where a block changed agent in the last three years, treat the record set as incomplete until proven otherwise.
- Close the flat entrance door gap first. It is the item most often missing, it is inexpensive to check relative to everything else on the list, and it is specifically named in the section 156 regime.
- Commission compartmentation surveys on the highest blocks. The 9.4 hour average audit time in the 10 storey and over band tells you what inspectors are looking at.
- Write the Article 11 arrangements document if you do not have one. It is a document, not a project, and it is the cheapest thing on this list.
Broader duties for agents are set out in our managing agent compliance obligations guide, and the national enforcement picture is in our analysis of the 2026 fire safety enforcement statistics. If a notice has already been served, start with what happens when you receive a prohibition notice.
Frequently asked
Which building type fails fire safety audits most often in England?
Purpose-built flats of 6 to 9 storeys. In the year ending March 2026, 51% of the 1,303 audits carried out in that premises type recorded an unsatisfactory outcome, the highest proportion of any premises type in England. The national average across all 50,195 audits was 40% unsatisfactory, so mid-rise blocks fail at a materially higher rate than the country as a whole.
How many enforcement notices go to blocks of flats?
Purpose-built flats of 6 to 9 storeys received 211 enforcement notices in England in the year ending March 2026, accounting for 11% of all enforcement notices issued and placing them second behind shops at 347 notices. That building type accounted for only 2.6% of national fire safety audits, so it is significantly over-represented in formal enforcement.
Does the Fire Safety Order apply inside individual flats?
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to most non-domestic premises and to the common parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. It does not apply inside individual dwellings. That boundary is where compliance gaps commonly arise, particularly around flat entrance doors, which face onto the common parts and are covered by the section 156 regime in buildings above 11 metres.
How long does a fire safety audit of a high-rise block take?
Purpose-built flats of 10 storeys and over recorded the longest average audit time of any premises type in England, at 9.4 hours in the year ending March 2026. That is 3.8 hours above the national average of 5.6 hours. Across all purpose-built flats of four storeys and above the average was 7.2 hours. Expect an inspector to spend a full working day in a high-rise block.
Are audits of high-rise residential buildings increasing?
Yes. Fire and rescue authorities carried out 965 audits at purpose-built flats of 10 storeys and over in the year ending March 2026, an increase of 28% on the 756 carried out the previous year. Across all purpose-built flats of four storeys and above, audits rose 10% in one year to 4,696 and rose 35% compared with six years earlier.
Is there national data on section 156 fire door compliance?
No. The MHCLG fire prevention and protection statistics release states that it does not include statistics relating to the fire safety requirements that came into effect on 1 October 2023 under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022. That means there is currently no national measure of how the residential sector is performing against the quarterly communal door and annual flat entrance door check duties.
Sources & further reading
