Fire door has failed an inspection or fire risk assessment in London

Fire door specialists London landlords call after a failed inspection

If you've had a fire risk assessment come back with fire doors flagged, or a survey report listing doors that don't close properly, don't shut properly, or have gaps you could post a letter through - you're not alone. This is one of the most common calls we get from managing agents and landlords right across London, from Victorian conversions in the east to post-war estates in the south east.

The report usually reads the same way. A list of flat or door references. Words like "excessive gap," "closer not engaging," "seal missing," "non-compliant ironmongery." Sometimes it's one door. Sometimes it's forty, and the responsible person is left staring at a schedule wondering where to start.

What it might mean

A failed inspection doesn't tell you the cause - it tells you the symptom. There are a few things that commonly sit behind it, and it's worth understanding them before assuming the worst.

Recorded defects like gaps around the frame, a self-closer that's stopped working, damaged intumescent seals or the wrong handles and hinges fitted are the most frequent findings on these reports. Older timber FD30 doors in post-war council blocks are especially prone to this - closers wear out, strips perish, and nobody's been checking.

In some cases the door itself may be fine but there's no adequate test evidence or visible certification to prove it - common in period conversions across inner London where a door was fitted years ago and nobody kept the paperwork. Maintenance records can also be incomplete or missing entirely, which on its own can flag as a compliance gap even if the door is performing well. And occasionally a door that was compliant when installed has had an alteration since - a new lock, a vision panel, a letterbox - that hasn't been tested and may have affected its rating.

None of these are certainties from a report alone. That's what a proper inspection is for.

How urgent is it?

Treat a failed inspection as planned work, but don't let it drift. If the report says a door won't close, won't latch, or can't hold the line against smoke and fire - that's not something to leave for next month's budget round. Doors that don't perform their basic job are a live compartmentation issue, not a paperwork one.

If the defects are cosmetic or minor - a scuffed seal, a sign that's fallen off, a hinge that needs a screw - that can be scheduled sensibly. But anything affecting closing, latching or seals needs arranging promptly. Buildings over 11 metres carry routine Regulation 10 checking duties for the responsible person, and a formal inspection report showing failures on top of that is exactly the kind of thing an enforcement visit will ask about.

What you can safely check

Before anyone comes out, keep the inspection report or fire risk assessment to hand - the engineer will want to work through it door by door. Note which flat numbers or door references were listed as defective, so nothing gets missed on the day.

Don't remove labels, plugs or old certificates from the door itself, even if they look irrelevant or out of date. They're evidence, and taking them off can make a fixable door look like an unknown one. Beyond that, there's not much a resident or caretaker should be doing themselves - you can't certify a fire door with a tape measure and a Saturday morning.

What we check

We work through the report line by line, cross-checking each defect against the actual door reference on site - not just taking the schedule at face value. That means measuring gaps at the head, jambs and threshold against what the doorset's test evidence actually allows, checking the self-closer closes and latches properly every time, inspecting seals and glazing, and confirming signage is present and correct.

Part of the job is separating what's a simple adjustment from what needs replacement or fresh certification. A closer that just needs resetting is a different job - and a different cost - from a door that's been through unauthorised alterations and lost its rating. We photograph everything and put together a prioritised remedial schedule, so whoever's responsible for the building knows exactly what needs doing first and what can wait.

This is where composite doors in post-2000 developments often surprise people - the leaf itself is compliant, but the handles, hinges or missing smoke seals let the whole doorset down. A defect list won't always tell you that. An inspection will.

How it's fixed

Most failed inspections end up in one of a few places. Straightforward defect repair and remedial works - closers, seals, hinges, gaps - covers a large share of what gets flagged. Where the fault's more fundamental, that might mean a planned maintenance programme so it doesn't happen again, or in some cases a flat entrance or communal door replacement programme where the doors are genuinely beyond adjustment.

Once the work's done, a follow-up fire door inspection confirms it's actually resolved, not just patched. Inspection reports, installation records and compliance documentation are supplied as applicable to the work completed - so there's something to hand back to the assessor or the fire brigade if anyone asks.

Call now if the report says any door won't close or latch properly

If your fire risk assessment or survey has flagged doors that don't close, don't latch, or have failed seals affecting compartmentation, that's not one to sit on. Anything else on the schedule can be planned in sensibly - but a door that can't do its job needs sorting first.