“Our Landlord Does All That” — The Most Expensive Assumption in Compliance

Key takeaway: Under UK law, certain compliance obligations attach to whoever has control of the premises — not simply to whoever owns the building. If you are the occupying employer in a commercial building, your statutory duties as Responsible Person cannot be transferred to your landlord, regardless of what your lease says.

It’s a phrase we hear often. You raise the subject of fire safety, Legionella control, or electrical testing, and the response comes back quickly and confidently: “Don’t worry — our landlord handles all of that.”

It’s said without hesitation. And that confidence is precisely the problem.

If you are an Office Manager, a Facilities Manager, or anyone else carrying compliance responsibility for a commercial building, this guide is written directly for you. Because the assumption that your landlord “handles it all” could leave you — and your organisation — legally exposed in ways that no lease clause will protect you from.

The Short Answer: Statutory Duty Cannot Be Delegated

Under UK law, certain compliance obligations attach to whoever has control of the premises, not simply to whoever owns the building. The law does not recognise a polite arrangement between landlord and tenant as a reason to transfer the legal burden of statutory duty.

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — the cornerstone of fire safety law in England and Wales — defines the Responsible Person as, in a workplace, the employer if the premises are to any extent under their control. In a multi-occupied commercial building, this means the employer-tenant is the Responsible Person for the areas they occupy, and the landlord holds responsibility for common areas. Both carry independent, non-transferable duties.

Legal responsibility under the Fire Safety Order cannot be delegated. While fire risk assessments, maintenance, and inspections can be contracted out to specialists, ultimate accountability always remains with the Responsible Person. Arranging for someone else to carry out a fire risk assessment does not transfer your legal obligation — it only discharges the practical task.

The same principle runs through Legionella legislation. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and ACOP L8 — the Approved Code of Practice for Legionnaires’ Disease — the dutyholder is the person with control of the premises or the water systems within them. ACOP L8 is clear: the dutyholder cannot delegate the legal duty itself. In a multi-let commercial building, the landlord is typically responsible for central plant and risers, while individual tenants are the dutyholder for water systems within their own demise. Wherever you sit in that building, you cannot assume the other party has covered your obligations.

Can a Landlord Take on Compliance Contractually?

This is where the answer becomes more nuanced — and more important.

Commercial leases in England and Wales offer considerable freedom of contract. Both parties can negotiate how responsibilities are allocated. It is entirely possible for a lease to include a clause that places specific compliance obligations on the landlord — for example, to maintain fire detection systems, undertake periodic Legionella risk assessments in shared plant rooms, or provide an up-to-date asbestos management plan for the building.

Even under a Full Repairing and Insuring (FRI) lease — where tenants take on extensive maintenance obligations — the statutory duties of the occupying employer as Responsible Person do not transfer to the landlord. Courts interpret commercial leases on their exact wording, but they cannot rewrite legislation.

A landlord may commit in writing to carrying out fire risk assessments for common areas, to managing the building’s water hygiene programme, or to maintaining the electrical installation across the structure. But that commitment does not remove your duty — it merely adds a contractual obligation on them to support it.

Will a Landlord Actually Commit Themselves?

The honest answer is: it depends on the landlord, the building, and how the lease is drafted.

Many institutional landlords with professional property management teams do operate comprehensive compliance programmes covering common areas. They will typically commission and maintain fire risk assessments, run water hygiene and Legionella monitoring programmes for central plant, hold current Electrical Installation Condition Reports for shared systems, maintain an asbestos management plan, and provide annual gas safety certification where landlord-supplied appliances are in use.

This is good practice. But good practice is not the same as a contractual commitment, and a contractual commitment is not the same as demonstrated compliance. What does your lease actually say? Many standard commercial leases contain a general clause that attempts to shift all statutory compliance to the tenant “where possible.” If you have not read that clause carefully — and taken legal advice on what it means — you may be making assumptions that your lease does not support.

How Do You Know the Landlord Is Actually Compliant?

This is the question most tenants never ask — and the most important one.

A landlord telling you they handle compliance is not evidence of compliance. An assurance in a conversation, or even a clause in a lease, tells you nothing about whether a fire risk assessment has actually been carried out, whether it is current, whether any actions arising from it have been completed, or whether the building’s water system has been risk-assessed and monitored in line with ACOP L8.

You are not obliged to simply take their word for it. There are practical, reasonable steps you should take:

Request documentary evidence

Ask your landlord or managing agent to provide copies of:

• The current fire risk assessment for common areas, together with the action plan
• The Legionella risk assessment and water hygiene records for any systems that serve your demise
• The current EICR for shared electrical installations
• The asbestos management plan and any recent survey reports
• The current Energy Performance Certificate for the building

These are not unreasonable requests. A compliant, well-managed landlord will have these documents readily available and should have no hesitation in sharing them.

Check the dates

A fire risk assessment from five years ago that has never been reviewed is not compliant. A Legionella risk assessment carried out when you moved in but never updated following a refurbishment or change in water system use is a liability, not a safeguard. Under the Fire Safety Order, risk assessments must be reviewed regularly and whenever there is reason to believe they are no longer valid.

Review the action plan

An assessment that identifies significant findings but has no completed remedial actions is almost worse than none at all — it demonstrates awareness of a risk without mitigation. Ask what actions were identified and when they were completed.

Understand what is not covered

Even the most diligent landlord’s compliance programme will typically cover shared and common areas only. Your demised space — your office floor, your server room, your kitchen, your plant equipment — is almost certainly your responsibility. As the occupying employer, you remain the Responsible Person for fire safety in the areas under your control regardless of what the landlord does for the building as a whole.

The Risk You Are Actually Carrying

Consider what happens when something goes wrong.

If there is a fire in your building and it is subsequently found that no current fire risk assessment was in place for the areas you occupied, the investigation will not stop at your landlord’s door. The Fire and Rescue Service enforces the Fire Safety Order against the Responsible Person — and in a workplace, that is the employer. Penalties include unlimited fines and, in serious cases, criminal prosecution and imprisonment.

If an employee or visitor contracts Legionnaires’ disease and the source is traced to a water system for which you held dutyholder responsibility, the HSE will look to you. The fact that you believed your landlord was handling it carries no legal weight if you cannot demonstrate you took reasonable steps to verify that belief.

The Building Safety Act 2022 has further sharpened the regulatory landscape. Accountability across multi-occupied buildings is increasingly explicit, and the expectation of proactive, evidenced compliance continues to grow.

What You Should Do Now

This guide is intended for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Specific situations should be reviewed by a qualified professional. Legislative references are accurate as at May 2026.

Want audit-ready working documents for every compliance area?

Our UK Statutory Compliance Audit Toolkit gives you six professionally designed, legislatively referenced documents — fire safety, Legionella, asbestos, electrical, gas and a master compliance log. Ready to complete and file.

Related guides

• What the Responsible Person must do under the Fire Safety Order
• L8 ACOP Legionella compliance — duty holder obligations
• UK statutory compliance — the complete guide