Almost half (42%) of audited buildings in England failed their fire safety checks on the first visit in 2024/25, research has revealed.
The study, carried out by Direct365, analysed the latest Home Office Fire Statistics in England to reveal a significant disparity in safety standards across different building types.
With over 2.5 million premises known to fire authorities but only 52,026 audits conducted in 2024/25, the data suggests it would take nearly half a century (48 years) for the UK’s fire services to inspect every building just once.
The UK building types with the highest fire safety audit failures
- Houses converted to flats – 59%
- Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) – 55%
- Hotels – 55%
- Hospitals – 50%
- Licensed premises (pubs/clubs) – 49%
Houses converted to flats recorded the highest rate of audit failures in the UK.
Out of the 790 audits carried out on these premises, 59% resulted in a failure to meet the required standards.
HMOs and hotels saw the joint-second highest failure rate, with 55% of audited buildings in both categories failing their safety checks.
Hospitals followed closely behind, with exactly half (50%) of the 766 audits conducted in the past year deemed unsatisfactory.
The UK building types with the highest fire safety audit passes
- Further education – 74%
- Public buildings – 73%
- Offices – 70%
- Other premises open to the public – 69%
- Schools – 68%
Further education premises recorded the highest amount of audit successes. Out of the 441 audits carried out in the sector, 74% resulted in a satisfactory pass.
Public buildings saw the second highest pass rate, with 73% of audited buildings meeting the required safety standards.
Offices and Schools also performed strongly compared to the national average, recording pass rates of 70% and 68% respectively.
The most and least audited commercial properties
The data highlights a massive disparity in how different sectors are monitored when looking at the proportion of buildings inspected.
Care Homes are the most scrutinised business type in the UK, with 20% of all known premises receiving an audit in the last year.
Hospitals also see significant oversight, with 12% of all sites receiving a specialist inspection.
In contrast, only 1.2% of houses converted to flats were audited in 2024/25.
Even more concerning are HMOs, where less than 1% of the UK’s 94,000 known HMOs were inspected, despite more than half (55%) failing to meet standards.
The least scrutinised sector overall is offices. With over 292,000 premises across the UK, only 0.7% received a fire safety audit last year.
