Safety rules when living in high-rise buildings

The Building Safety Act 2022 tells residents and social landlords of high-rise buildings (HRBs) what you must do to keep residents and buildings safe.

What you must do as a tenant or leaseholder

New rules added to the Building Safety Act 2022 say that people living in our housing must:

• not touch, remove or damage signs in the common areas, fire doors or smoke and heat detectors
• give us the information or access we need to assess and manage building safety risks, like checking fire doors or letting us in for gas safety checks every year
• not create a significant building safety risk - these could be leaving items in the communal areas that could stop your neighbours from escaping a building or might be a fire hazard, or making changes to your home that we have not approved. Read more about your responsibility and how we will remove items in the communal areas that could set fire or block escape routes.

Residents also have to use building and fire safety protection measures in their flats, such as testing smoke or carbon monoxide alarms, and:

• follow all health and safety advice or instructions
• keep communal areas clear and dispose of rubbish properly
• report repairs or concerns as soon as possible
• keep fire doors closed at all times
• follow fire evacuation procedure
• take note of recalls for white goods
• follow advice on smoking and cooking
• let us know of any changes to your health that could affect your ability to escape safely during a fire. If you or a family member need assistance to evacuate from your home during a fire, let us know by filling out this short form. We will share your information with the London Fire Brigade (with your permission) to help you escape the building, if needed. 

Your rights and responsibilities as a secure tenant or introductory tenant are set out in your Conditions of Tenancy. Read more about your responsibilities and rights as a secure tenant.

For your responsibilities about fire, you can visit our page on what you must do to prevent fire.

What we must do as a landlord

The Building Safety Act 2022 tells landlords what we must do to manage and make sure of the safety of our buildings and residents. This includes a schedule of building safety risk checks and to manage and keep an eye on those risks.

The rules on this page ('What you have to do as a tenant or leaseholder') help us meet the safety needs for everyone who lives in our buildings. If you do not follow our rules, then we can serve a notice, whether you are a tenant or a leaseholder. The notice will tell you:

• what rule we think you have broken (your “alleged contravention”)
• what you should do within a fair amount of time so that you are not breaking the rules
• anything you should not be doing so that you don't do something wrong again
• what may happen next if you don’t do what the notice says.

We will try to discuss an alleged contravention with you first before we issue a notice. But if you do not do what we ask on the notice, we may take legal action.

Make sure you understand the rules on this page and if you do get a notice from us, follow what it says and if you do not understand, contact the Building Safety Liaison team on HRBSafetyTeam@islington.gov.uk.