Regulation 10 Fire Door Checks — A Plain-English Guide for Block Managers
Since January 2023, Regulation 10 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 has required quarterly checks on flat entrance doors and annual checks on communal doors in 11m+ residential blocks. Here is exactly what to do.
What Regulation 10 requires
Regulation 10 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 imposes specific duties on the Responsible Person of any multi-occupied residential building above 11 metres in height:
- Quarterly checks on every flat entrance door
- Annual checks on every communal fire door
- Information to residents about the importance of fire doors and how to report defects
The 11-metre threshold is measured from ground level to the top of the highest occupied floor.
What "checks" actually means
These are not full BS 8214 inspections — they are best-effort visual checks. The Regulations require the Responsible Person to use "best endeavours" to carry them out. In practice this means:
- Visual inspection of the door, frame, glazing, ironmongery and intumescent / smoke seals
- Functional test of the self-closing device
- Confirmation that the door has not been modified, damaged or replaced with a non-fire-rated unit
The check is documented but does not produce a formal certificate.
What about flat entrance doors?
This is the trickiest part. The Responsible Person does not own the inside of a leasehold flat — but does own the door (in most leases) and has a regulatory duty to check it.
Best practice:
1. Write to every leaseholder explaining Regulation 10 2. Request access for a quarterly external check (no entry needed) 3. Document refused access — "best endeavours" includes documenting refusals 4. Report any obvious defects to the Building Safety Regulator if escalation is needed
What the FSE Regulations 2022 require above 18m
For 18m+ residential buildings (Higher-Risk Buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022), additional duties apply:
- Premises information box installation
- Electronic information to Fire and Rescue Services
- Wayfinding signage to BS 5266-1
- External wall information
These are addressed in the building's Building Safety Case under the BSA 2022 regime, not Regulation 10 alone.
Common defects we find
Walking 1000s of fire doors a year, MetroFire engineers consistently find:
- Excessive gaps — more than 4mm between leaf and frame
- Painted-over hinges — fire-rated CE3 hinges painted shut
- Missing intumescent strips — particularly at hinge cut-outs
- Damaged or missing smoke seals — common after redecoration
- Self-closers wedged open — usually for tenant convenience
- Non-fire-rated replacement doors — leaseholders replacing for cosmetics
How to evidence Regulation 10 compliance
A defensible Reg 10 record includes:
- Quarterly inspection reports for every flat entrance door
- Annual inspection reports for every communal door
- A live defect tracker with closure evidence
- Resident communications archive
- Refused-access log
MetroFire delivers full Reg 10 inspection programmes for residential block managers across London and Essex. Book a survey.
