The offence structure.
- Article 32(1)(a) — failure to comply with Articles 8 to 22 (including the Article 9 assessment duty) where the failure places one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury. Triable either way; unlimited fine and/or up to two years' custody on indictment.
- Article 32(2) — failure to comply with an enforcement, alterations or prohibition notice. Same maximum penalties; breaching a prohibition notice is treated with particular severity.
- Article 32(8)–(9) — where a corporate offence is committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of a director, manager or similar officer, that individual is personally guilty of the same offence.
How courts set fines.
Since 2016 fire safety offences have been sentenced by analogy with the Sentencing Council's Health and Safety Offences guideline. The court fixes culpability (deliberate, reckless, negligent, low), assesses harm risked (fire safety failures with sleeping risk are routinely Category 1 — risk of death), then reads the fine from a band scaled to the organisation's turnover:
| Organisation size | Turnover | Typical fine range for high-culpability, harm category 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Micro | Under £2m | £150,000 – £450,000 starting range |
| Small | £2m – £10m | £250,000 – £1.6m |
| Medium | £10m – £50m | £600,000 – £4m |
| Large | £50m+ | £1m – £10m+ |
Reported prosecutions show the pattern: national hotel and retail operators have received seven-figure fines for defective fire doors, blocked escape routes and inadequate assessments; landlords of HMOs and flats above shops have received six-figure fines and, in the worst cases, immediate custody. Guilty pleas attract up to one-third reduction, which is why most fire safety prosecutions resolve by plea.
"The fine must be sufficiently substantial to have a real economic impact which will bring home to both management and shareholders the need to comply with the law."Sentencing Council, Health and Safety Offences Guideline
The failures that get prosecuted.
- No fire risk assessment at all — almost always charged alongside the substantive failures it would have caught.
- An assessment that isn't suitable and sufficient — generic, stale or scope-limited documents.
- Findings ignored — an action plan that sat unimplemented is treated as aggravating, because the risk was known.
- Defective means of escape — locked or obstructed exits, storage in protected stairways.
- Fire door failures — missing self-closers, propped doors, non-compliant replacements. See fire door requirements.
- Breach of a notice — continuing to sleep guests in a prohibited premises is among the most heavily sentenced conduct. See enforcement notices.
Beyond the criminal courts
Conviction is rarely the whole cost: insurers may void cover for undisclosed non-compliance (see insurance requirements), HMO licences can be revoked, banning orders and rent repayment orders apply to housing offences, and directors face disqualification proceedings.