The moment you take paying guests, the property stops being a private dwelling in the eyes of fire safety law. Most owners who move from long lets to short lets never notice the change.
A holiday let or short-term let in Wales needs a written fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 as soon as it is let to paying guests, because it is no longer a private dwelling. Whoever controls the letting is the responsible person, and since 1 October 2023 the significant findings must be recorded in full whatever the size of the business.
This is the single most useful thing on this page, so it goes first.
A house let to a household is a private dwelling. In Wales the Renting Homes (Wales) Act fitness requirements apply: interlinked mains smoke alarms on every storey, carbon monoxide alarms where there is a fuel-burning appliance, and a five-yearly electrical condition report.
Take paying guests and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies instead. That brings a duty to carry out a fire risk assessment and, since 1 October 2023 in Wales, to record it in full whatever the size of the business.
Pembrokeshire has a great many properties that have moved from long tenancies to holiday letting in the last few years. The mortgage changed, the insurance changed, and the fire safety regime changed too, quietly, without anyone sending a letter.
There is no notification, no inspection on day one and no reminder. The first time most owners hear about it is an insurer's renewal question, an agency's compliance pack, or a complaint.
None of these are expensive to fix. All of them are cheap to find out about the hard way.
Sykes, Coastal Cottages, FBM and the other Pembrokeshire agencies increasingly ask for a current fire risk assessment as part of their compliance pack, alongside gas and electrical certificates. Airbnb and Vrbo do not currently check, but Airbnb's own host guide, written with the National Fire Chiefs Council, is unambiguous that a written assessment is required by law.
The practical position is simple. Whether or not anyone asks you for it this year, you need it, the licensing scheme coming to Wales is expected to ask for it, and it takes an hour to have done properly.
Airbnb's own host guidance, produced with the National Fire Chiefs Council, states that written fire risk assessments are a legal requirement for premises with paying guests. The platform does not currently police it in England and Wales the way it polices Scottish licensing, but the legal duty exists whether or not anybody asks you for the document.
Legally, yes, and the difference matters. A property let to a household on a tenancy is a private dwelling, governed in Wales by the Renting Homes (Wales) Act fitness requirements. The same property let by the night to paying guests is not a private dwelling, and the Fire Safety Order applies to it. Owners who switch from long lets to short lets often do not realise they have changed regime.
If you take paying guests, the parts of the house they use are in scope. This catches a lot of people doing bed and breakfast in a spare room and assuming their home is exempt because they live in it.
Almost certainly, and the grade depends on the building rather than the letting arrangement. A two-storey cottage sleeping six is a different proposition from a one-bed flat. Battery smoke alarms bought from a supermarket are the single most common finding we write up in Pembrokeshire holiday accommodation.
It counts for a great deal, and it is nearly free. Guests arriving in the dark in an unfamiliar building need to know where the exits are, where the alarm points are and where to assemble. A single laminated sheet by the door is worth more than most of the equipment people buy.
Not for the register itself, which asks for no safety documents at all. The licensing scheme that follows is expected to require one. But the Fire Safety Order already requires it today, which is the point most coverage of the new rules misses.
What registration actually asks for, and what the later licence will.
The full detail of what we look at in self-catering accommodation.
What Grade D1 and LD2 mean, and which one your cottage needs.
Tell us the building and we will give you a price on the phone. Most assessments are booked within the week.