Telling your landlord about structural issues that may indicate a fire risk (cracks in the walls, leaking windows, etc)

A letter you can copy

What to do:

  • Copy and paste the text below into an email or document.
  • Replace any text [in brackets] with your own information
  • Include details {in curly brackets} if they are relevant, or remove them if they are not.
  • Send the email to your landlord, or print out the document and send it by post.
  • If you are sending by post, keep a copy for yourself and a record of the date that the message was sent.

Where to use this letter

You can use this anywhere in the UK – just make sure to delete the name of the law that doesn’t apply to your location – so for example if you live in Scotland, include mention of The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004, and delete mention of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.


[Your address]
[Today’s date]

[Name of your contact or landlord]
[Your landlord’s address]

[Your rent/tenant ID number]
{REF: any reference number you were given when previously raising this subject}

Dear [your landlord’s name],

I am a tenant of [name of your block or building] and I am writing to inform you about some structural issues in my flat which I believe could indicate underlying problems with the fire safety within the block.

[Describe the physical issue, for example:]
{The walls have large/fine/hairline cracks in them}
{The windows are leaking}
{The cladding is coming off the walls}
{In a recent leak, of which I notified you separately, water was flowing down the edge of my flat’s walls}

This has been the case since [month or year when you first noticed the problems] {and indeed I have raised it [once/several times] before}.

As you may be aware, any gap in the construction of a block of flats may be a sign that compartmentation has been breached, that is to say that if fire were to break out in one flat in the building, it would not be contained to the degree required by {the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005/The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004}. Compartmentation helps delay the spread of fire from one flat to another, and relies on each flat being a sealed unit.

Additionally, {add any effects the damage is having to your daily life, health or property}.

As this is an urgent matter I would be glad if you could contact me at your earliest convenience so that we can arrange a date when you might visit to assess the damage. I look forward to receiving your reply by [date, two weeks in the future] at the latest.

Yours sincerely,
[sign your name]
[print your name]


If you don’t get an answer within two weeks