How often fire doors need inspecting depends on the building. In England, multi-occupied residential buildings with a top storey above 11 metres need communal fire doors checked every quarter and flat entrance doors every year, on a best-endeavours basis. In other buildings, your fire risk assessment sets the frequency.

Each inspection covers the same parts of the door: the leaf, frame, gaps, seals, hinges, self-closer, and signage. A single failed component can stop the door holding back smoke and fire, so every one gets checked.

Joblogic's fire safety software tracks each door as an asset, so every inspection is scheduled and recorded against the specific door.

Are fire door inspections a legal requirement?

Yes. In England, the responsible person must keep fire doors in good working order, and in multi-occupied residential buildings with a top storey above 11 metres the law sets specific check frequencies. Three pieces of legislation apply:

• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005: requires the responsible person (the employer, building owner, or managing agent) to maintain fire safety measures, including fire doors, in non-domestic premises and the communal areas of residential buildings.
• Fire Safety Act 2021: confirmed that the Order covers flat entrance doors of multi-occupied residential buildings.
• Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: set quarterly checks of communal fire doors and annual checks of flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings with a top storey above 11 metres. The annual check is on a best-endeavours basis, because access depends on the resident.

A breach of the 2022 Regulations is a criminal offence if it places people at risk of death or serious injury in a fire.

How often should fire doors be inspected?

The table shows the legal minimums and the industry baselines. In buildings the Regulations do not cover, the law sets no fixed interval for fire door checks, so your fire risk assessment decides. In any building with two or more homes and common parts, you must also give residents fire door information when they move in and at least every 12 months.

The industry-practice rows are not legal minimums, so your fire risk assessment takes precedence. You should also check a door outside the schedule after any of the following:

• A fire on the premises, even a minor one
• Any modification, repair, or replacement of a fire door or its hardware
• Building works near fire door locations
• Reports of damage, misuse, or a door being wedged open

What a fire door inspection should cover

GOV.UK's fire door guidance sets out the basic checks, and a professional inspection goes further.

Door leaf, frame, and gaps

Gap tester cards make the check quick. For anything more specific than these limits, defer to the door's certification and the manufacturer's specification.

Check the following during each visit:

• Door leaf: No splits, damage, or holes where a lock has been removed, and no alterations that affect fire resistance
• Replacement doors: A flat entrance door hasn't been swapped for a non-fire door
• Letterboxes: Firmly closed and not jammed open, and any letterbox added later is suitable for fire-resisting doors
• Frame and wall: Frame and securing wall free of damage or defects
• Glazing: Fire-resisting glass and glazing system undamaged
• Rating: Modern fire doors display a visible fire resistance rating, such as FD30 or FD60

Seals, hinges, closers, and signage

Intumescent strips expand when exposed to fire and seal the gap around the door. Smoke seals look similar to draught seals. Where either is fitted, it should be undamaged, in contact with the door edge or frame, and not painted over. If they were never fitted, that may be acceptable, depending on the fire risk assessment.

The self-closing device matters most. A fire door that does not close fully into its frame will not hold back fire and smoke. To test it, open the door fully and let it go, then open it to around 15 degrees and let it go. Both times, it should close fully into the frame and overcome the latch.

Also check the hinges for missing or loose screws, and that fire door signage is in place and legible.

Routine fire door checks vs professional inspections

These two types of check serve different purposes and should not be confused.

How to record findings and manage remedial work

Every check should produce a written record, and the findings need to be recorded and acted on. For flat entrance doors, Regulation 10 requires you to keep a record of the steps taken to check them, including the steps taken to gain access where it was not granted. Without records, you cannot demonstrate compliance to auditors or the fire service. Unscheduled visits after damage reports or building works are easy to miss, so treat each one as a formal job with its own entry.

A complete record should include:

• Door identification: Unique reference or location code for each fire door
• Inspection date and inspector name
• Component condition: Pass, fail, or requires attention for each item checked
• Remedial actions: What needs fixing, priority level, and target completion date
• Completion record: Who carried out the remedial work and when

Where a check finds a door that needs repair or replacement, the guidance says the work must be carried out by a competent contractor as soon as reasonably practicable.

How to keep fire door inspections on schedule

A fire door register, a specific type of asset register, is the foundation of a managed inspection programme. It is a complete list of every fire door on your estate, with its location, fire rating, and inspection history. Without it, inspections depend on memory and local knowledge. Give routine checks and professional inspections different owners, and track completion so you can see which doors are overdue before they become a compliance gap.

For organisations managing fire door compliance under a planned maintenance contract, the schedule drifts from the first month if asset lists are incomplete or visit frequencies are not confirmed before work begins. Getting the register right before the contract goes live keeps delivery on track for the full term.

Using software to manage fire door compliance

Joblogic's fire safety software holds every door as an asset with its location and inspection history, replacing the spreadsheets and paper logs that create gaps between sites. Planned inspections generate jobs automatically at the contracted frequency, ready to schedule to an engineer.

With Joblogic, engineers complete checklists on site, attach photos, and capture signatures before they leave, so the record is complete without follow-up admin. When an ad-hoc job comes in, such as a damage report or a post-works check, the same job form captures the site details, asset reference, and findings in one place. Compliance dashboards give a general view of overdue doors, but what closes out an audit is the individual door record: inspection history, remedial actions, and completion dates.

Keeping fire door checks on track

Fire door compliance comes down to the same few things on every estate: a complete register, checks that happen on schedule, and records that show what was found and fixed. How much structure that needs depends on your own buildings. A single low-rise site needs far less than a residential portfolio with communal doors on a quarterly cycle, so it is worth checking your current setup against your own fire risk assessment rather than a generic checklist.

If you want to see how Joblogic supports fire door inspections and the records behind them, book a demo and we'll walk you through it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to check fire doors in a small block of flats?

The fixed check frequencies in Regulation 10 apply where the building's top storey is above 11 metres, typically a building of more than four storeys. Below that, there is no fixed interval, but the responsible person must still put in place general fire precautions under the Fire Safety Order, which includes making sure fire doors, including flat entrance doors, can provide adequate protection. You must also give residents fire door information when they move in and at least every 12 months.

Do Regulation 10 fire door checks need a specialist?

No. GOV.UK guidance says the checks Regulation 10 requires should be simple and basic, and you should not need to engage a specialist. With appropriate instruction, caretakers, managing agents, housing officers, and maintenance staff can carry them out, because the checks are visual and do not involve tools. They do not replace periodic assessment of fire doors by fire safety specialists, for example during fire risk assessments.

Who qualifies as a competent person to inspect fire doors?

Someone with the knowledge, training, and experience to assess fire door assemblies against the standards they must meet. FDIS-registered inspectors are one widely recognised route, and their written reports give you a clear record of findings and remedial actions.

What gap is too big on a fire door?

GOV.UK's fire door guidance says the gap between the door and the frame should never be more than 4 millimetres, except at the bottom, where it should be as small as practicable without the door snagging on the floor. Report a wider gap so a competent contractor can correct it.

Can a fire door stay in use with a known fault?

It depends on the fault. A loose hinge screw or minor cosmetic damage can be recorded and repaired promptly. A door that does not close fully into its frame, or has damage that affects its ability to resist fire and smoke, cannot be relied on in a fire, so the repair should be arranged as soon as reasonably practicable by a competent contractor.