"Surely That's the Landlord's Responsibility?"

Who's actually liable for health & safety in your unit — and why "I don't own the building" isn't the answer you think it is.

If you rent a unit, kiosk, or stall, it's tempting to assume health and safety is the landlord's problem. You don't own the building, you didn't install the wiring, you didn't choose the fire doors — so it can't be on you. Right?

Not quite. UK law splits the duty by who controls what, not by who owns the freehold. Under Section 4 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, anyone with control over a space — even part of one — has a duty to keep it safe. Courts have confirmed this applies even where a lease restricts what a tenant can alter; control, not ownership, is what counts.

That general principle then gets sharpened by two more specific laws that matter day-to-day:

Fire safety

This is governed separately, by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. It puts a duty on the "Responsible Person" for a space — in a shared building, that can mean the landlord covers the shared corridors and exits, while you're responsible for your own unit's evacuation plan.

COSHH

Chemicals, cleaning products, cooking substances — this duty sits with whoever's actually using them. That's you, not your landlord, regardless of what your lease says.

"The inside of your unit — your fire evacuation plan, your chemical assessments, your basic risk checks — is yours to sort, even though you don't own the bricks."

The good news is it's a handful of straightforward documents, not a compliance department.

From the register — resource

Checklists and templates covering fire safety, COSHH, general workplace risk, and a quarterly self-audit — built the way a regulator actually wants to see it done.

$12 View on Gumroad →

Control, not ownership, is what the law actually looks at.