New Residential PEEPs duties have come into force in England today, 6 April 2026, and they matter for landlords connected to taller residential buildings. The rules are aimed at improving fire safety for residents who may have difficulty getting out of a building without assistance if there is a fire.
This will not affect every private landlord in the same way. The regulations are focused on certain taller multi-occupied residential buildings, not the whole private rented sector. But where a landlord owns, manages or has control over property in scope, this is now a live compliance issue rather than something to keep on the back burner.
What has changed
The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 are now in force. They introduce duties around Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans, usually shortened to Residential PEEPs, and around building-level emergency evacuation plans.
In broad terms, the rules are designed to support residents whose ability to evacuate independently may be affected by a physical mobility issue, a sensory impairment such as sight or hearing loss, or a cognitive condition. The aim is not a generic one-size-fits-all form. It is a more person-centred process built around identifying risk, discussing practical measures and recording what should happen in an emergency.
Which buildings are in scope
The regulations apply in England to multi-residential buildings that contain two or more domestic premises and are either at least 18 metres high or seven or more storeys, or are more than 11 metres high and operate a simultaneous evacuation strategy.
That means many smaller landlords with standard low-rise single lets will be outside scope. But landlords with flats in taller blocks, mixed ownership buildings, or stock held through more complex management arrangements should not assume this is someone else’s problem without checking where responsibility actually sits.
What the responsible person has to do
The legal duties fall on the building’s responsible person under fire safety law, typically the building owner, manager, management company or another person with control over the building or its common parts. In some cases that may be the landlord; in others it may be a freeholder or managing agent. Either way, landlords with interests in relevant buildings may still need to understand how the process is being handled.
Where the rules apply, the responsible person must use reasonable endeavours to identify relevant residents who may have difficulty self-evacuating. They must offer a person-centred fire risk assessment and, where the resident accepts, ensure that assessment is carried out. They must then use reasonable endeavours to agree an emergency evacuation statement setting out what the resident should do in the event of a fire.
There are also duties around sharing prescribed information with the local Fire and Rescue Service, but only where the resident gives explicit consent. The regulations also require a building-level emergency evacuation plan, information to be placed in the secure information box where required, and regular review of the arrangements.
Why landlords should pay attention
Even where a landlord is not the main responsible person, these rules still matter because fire safety responsibilities in taller buildings are rarely tidy in practice. Questions around who holds information, who contacts residents, who records consent, and who pays for any reasonable and proportionate measures can become awkward quite quickly if nobody has checked the process in advance.
For landlords with flats in larger blocks, this is a sensible moment to confirm who is leading compliance and what evidence exists. If you have already been reviewing wider safety and condition risks, our earlier piece on building product safety changes is part of the same wider pattern: more scrutiny, more documentation and less room for informal assumptions.
The new rules also sit alongside existing expectations on standards and risk management in rented housing. Good records, clear communication and a realistic view of who is responsible for what matter here just as much as they do in other safety-sensitive areas. That overlaps with the broader warning in our guide to housing hazards and early warning signs, where missed follow-up and weak record-keeping were already emerging as recurring problems.
What may be worth checking now
If you own or let property in a taller block, a practical first step is to confirm whether the building is in scope and who the responsible person is. It may also be worth checking whether residents have been told about the process, whether annual reviews are planned, and whether the building already has the required information arrangements in place.
Landlords should be careful not to overstate their own role if another party has control of the building’s fire safety systems. But equally, relying on vague assumptions is not much of a plan. If you need clarity on the legal position in a particular building or lease structure, this is one of those areas where official guidance and specialist advice matter more than pub-law confidence.
A practical takeaway
The key point is fairly simple: from today, Residential PEEPs are part of the live compliance picture for certain taller residential buildings in England. Not every landlord will be directly responsible, but landlords connected to in-scope buildings should know whether the process is active, documented and being reviewed properly.
This is best treated as a fire safety and governance check rather than a panic story. Confirm the building’s status, understand who the responsible person is, and make sure any questions are being answered through the proper channels.
