Understanding Health and Safety Responsibilities for Landlords and Tenants

The real estate sector is broad and varied. It can range from the simple management of external areas through to full facilities management covering services such as gas, electricity and building maintenance. It also includes a wide range of property types across residential, commercial and industrial environments.

Real estate plays a significant role in the UK economy. It covers the investment, development and management of land and buildings across many sectors. Commercial properties alone may include:

• Offices
• Retail units and shops
• Logistics hubs and warehouses
• Healthcare facilities
• Hotels
• Data centres

With such a wide range of properties and activities, it is important to understand who is responsible for managing health and safety within a building.

Who Is Responsible for Health and Safety?

Landlord vs Tenant Responsibilities

Before a tenant moves into a property, the landlord has a duty to provide a safe and suitable building. This means the structure of the building should be sound and that required statutory inspections should already be in place.

However, responsibilities do not always stop there. In many cases, ongoing maintenance and management duties may be shared or transferred through the lease agreement. This can sometimes lead to confusion if responsibilities are not clearly understood.

Examples of responsibilities that may sit with either the landlord or the tenant include:

Fire safety management

• Completing a fire risk assessment
• Servicing fire alarm systems and emergency lighting
• Carrying out fixed wire electrical inspections

Building services maintenance

• Gas boiler servicing
• Air-conditioning maintenance

Depending on the terms of the lease, these duties may pass to the tenant. It is therefore essential that tenants carefully review their agreement to understand what responsibilities they have accepted.

Managing Health and Safety in Shared Buildings

In many locations, particularly in city centres and industrial estates, multiple businesses may operate within the same building or complex.

Where communal areas exist, responsibility is usually divided.

In most cases:

• The landlord or management company manages shared areas such as staircases, reception areas, kitchens or external car parks.
• Tenants remain responsible for the areas they occupy and control.

Landlords will typically retain responsibility for the building itself, including structural elements such as:

• Walls
• Roofs
• Guttering

However, not all buildings have an active facilities management team. In these cases, tenants may need to report maintenance issues or potential safety concerns directly to the landlord.

Clear communication between tenants, landlords and management companies helps ensure that risks are identified and resolved quickly.

Who Carries Out Maintenance Work?

Whether maintenance work is arranged by the landlord or the tenant, there is always a duty to ensure safe and competent contractors are used.

Some landlords may have their own trained maintenance teams. In other situations, external contractors will be required to carry out specialist work.

In every case, contractors should be able to demonstrate that they are competent and working safely. This typically includes providing documentation such as:

• Public liability insurance certificates
• Risk assessments
• Method statements
• Training records
• COSHH assessments for hazardous substances

Checking this information helps ensure work is carried out safely and protects everyone working within the building.

Key Things Every Tenant Should Understand

For both landlords and tenants, the starting point for managing health and safety responsibilities is understanding the tenancy agreement.

You should always know:

• What type of tenancy arrangement is in place
• What responsibilities sit with the landlord, tenant or management company
• Which areas of the building fall under your control

For example, under a Full Repair and Insurance (FRI) Lease, the tenant may be responsible for many aspects of property maintenance and compliance within the leased area. This could include:

• Fire alarm testing
• Emergency lighting checks
• Legionella management
• Electrical installation condition reports (EICR)

Understanding these responsibilities early can prevent confusion and ensure compliance requirements are properly managed.

Don’t Forget the Communal Areas

Communal areas often present additional risks because they are used by multiple businesses, visitors and sometimes members of the public.

These areas may include:

• Staircases and corridors
• Shared kitchens or welfare facilities
• Reception areas
• External walkways and car parks

Clear arrangements should be in place for how these spaces are maintained, inspected and managed.

Competence Is Key

Regardless of who holds responsibility, one principle always remains the same: anyone working within the premises must be trained and competent to carry out their work safely.

This includes:

• Employees
• Contractors
• Maintenance teams
• External service providers

Ensuring competence helps reduce risk, protect people and maintain safe working environments across all property types.

How Stallard Kane Can Help

Understanding property responsibilities can sometimes feel complicated, especially when multiple parties are involved.

Stallard Kane works with landlords, tenants and property managers to help clarify responsibilities, review compliance arrangements and ensure risks are properly managed.

If you would like support reviewing your property responsibilities or improving your health and safety arrangements, our team is here to help.

Contact our Health and Safety team:
 healthandsafety@skaltd.co.uk | 01427 420 403

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