75% of Fire Doors Fail Inspection: What Managing Agents Need to Know
Three-quarters of fire doors in the UK don't meet the required standard. That statistic comes from the Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS), based on over 100,000 inspections carried out by accredited inspectors in 2021.
If you manage residential blocks over 11 metres in England, those doors are your responsibility under regulation 10 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Here's what the failure data actually tells us and what it means for your compliance process.
What's Failing and Why
The FDIS data breaks down the most common reasons fire doors fail inspection:
| Failure type | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Excessive gaps (door to frame) | Gap wider than 3–4mm — a £1 coin slides through easily |
| Care and maintenance issues | Damage, wear, or neglect that wasn't caught or repaired |
| Smoke seal problems | Intumescent strips or cold smoke seals missing, damaged, or painted over |
| Improper installation | Wrong hinge count, incorrect seals, non-fire-rated components fitted |
According to FDIS data, excessive gaps are the most common issue, followed by care and maintenance problems, seal defects, and installation issues.
These aren't exotic failures. Excessive gaps and damaged seals are things you can see with your eyes and fix with a competent contractor. The problem isn't that failures are hard to detect — it's that nobody was checking regularly until regulation 10 made it mandatory.
Why the Number Is So High
The 75% figure reflects decades of underinvestment. Before regulation 10 came into force in January 2023, there was no specific requirement for routine quarterly and annual fire door inspections in residential buildings. Broader fire safety maintenance duties existed under the Fire Safety Order, but regulation 10 introduced the first defined inspection cycle. Doors were installed during construction, occasionally replaced when visibly broken, and otherwise ignored.
Three factors drive the high failure rate:
Wear and tear over time. Door closers weaken, seals degrade, hinges sag. A door that was compliant when installed 15 years ago may not close properly today. Normal use — residents propping doors open, deliveries, moving furniture — accelerates wear.
Poor replacement practices. When a fire door needs replacing, it's often done by a general contractor rather than a fire door specialist. The wrong intumescent strips get fitted, a third hinge doesn't get installed, or the door leaf itself isn't fire-rated. FDIS found installation issues in 31% of failed doors.
Resident modifications. Cat flaps, extra locks, letterboxes drilled through the door leaf — all compromise the fire rating. In leasehold blocks, managing agents may not know about modifications until the inspection.
What This Means for Your Portfolio
If 75% is the national average, your portfolio won't be dramatically different. When you run your first quarterly checks under regulation 10, expect most doors to need some form of attention. This is normal — not a sign that your buildings are unusually neglected.
The practical implication: your inspection process needs a remediation workflow built in from day one. Recording "pass" or "fail" is only half the job. For every failed door, you need:
- A record of the specific defect
- A severity assessment (critical, important, or monitor — see our requirements guide for the priority framework)
- A quote or remediation plan
- An assigned contractor
- Evidence of the completed fix
- An updated inspection record
Multiply that by the number of failed doors across your buildings. With a 75% failure rate and 400 communal doors in your portfolio, that's 300 doors needing remediation in some form.
The Enforcement Context
The high failure rate has attracted regulatory attention. Since regulation 10 took effect, enforcement activity has intensified. The government's Grenfell Tower Inquiry annual report (February 2026) shows 124% more formal notices and 140% more inspections year-on-year.
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR), established under the Building Safety Act 2022, has powers to investigate and take enforcement action on higher-risk residential buildings (over 18 metres or 7+ storeys). For buildings in that category, fire door compliance is one of the areas the BSR is actively examining.
For managing agents, the practical takeaway: regulators aren't just checking whether you've done inspections. They're checking whether you can evidence the full cycle — inspection, findings, remediation, close-out. A spreadsheet with "checked" next to each building doesn't meet the evidence standard if you can't produce photos, contractor certificates, and a timeline showing defects were resolved.
What To Do About It
The 75% figure isn't a reason to panic — it's a reason to have a system. Here's the practical response:
Accept that most doors will fail. Budget for remediation, not just inspection. If you're scoping the cost of regulation 10 compliance, the inspection itself is the cheap part. Remediation — contractor time, replacement seals, new door closers, occasional full door replacements — is where the money goes.
Prioritise by risk. Not every failure needs immediate action. A missing "Keep Shut" sign is cosmetic. A self-closing device that doesn't work is a fire safety risk. Use the priority framework in our inspection requirements guide to triage.
Track remediation, not just inspection. The difference between compliance and non-compliance isn't whether you found the defects — it's whether you can show you fixed them. Every defect needs a trail from discovery to resolution.
Build the process before the first inspection. Decide now: who records findings? Where do photos go? Who commissions remediation? How do you evidence completion? Figuring this out after your first 200 failed doors creates chaos.
For a look at how dedicated tools compare to spreadsheets at portfolio scale, see our comparison of fire door inspection software for managing agents.
Check your buildings with our free inspection checklist generator →
Map your quarterly and annual inspection schedule →
The Bigger Picture
The 75% failure rate will improve over time as quarterly inspections become routine and remediation backlogs clear. But for the next 2–3 years, managing agents are dealing with the accumulated maintenance deficit of buildings that were never systematically checked.
The agents who handle this well will be the ones who treat fire door compliance as an ongoing operational process — not a one-off audit. Quarterly inspections, rolling remediation, documented evidence. The agents who scramble will be the ones who discover their compliance gaps when an enforcement notice arrives.
FireDoorReady is being built to make that ongoing process manageable: scheduling across quarterly and annual cycles, remediation tracking from defect to close-out, and compliance evidence that's ready when regulators ask for it. Join the waitlist →
This guidance applies to England. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have separate fire safety legislation.
This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Consult a fire safety professional or legal adviser for advice specific to your buildings.
Sources
- FDIS survey: three-quarters of UK fire doors fail inspection — Guild of Architectural Ironmongers
- Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, regulation 10 — legislation.gov.uk
- Building Safety Act 2022 — legislation.gov.uk
- Fact sheet: Fire doors (regulation 10) — GOV.UK