Posted By pluto
Adrian,

This is a very complex area, indeed so complex that the relevant government departments have shied away from giving much definitive advice on exactly what this means.

The RRO does not apply to 'single private dwellings' (e.g terraces, semis etc) or to the private, singly occupied areas of flats but does apply to the common areas of multiply occupied residential premises such as HMO's, apartments blocks, sheltered accommodation.

It also applies to the private areas of multiply occupied private areas when there is reasonable grounds for suspecting such serious danger from fire as to make a prohibition notice necessary. At that point enforcement and all the powers of enforcers become available. Residents only really become 'relevant persons' under the RRO when they leave their appartment an enter the common areas, something they must do to escape a fire.

It gets rather more confusing in premises that are shared housing which are termed HMO's under the Housing Act but not under the RRO.

Any day now, a working party including CIEH, LACORS and CFOA will publish a protocol to help address some of these anomalies.

Posted By Peter Leese
http://www.cieh.org/libr...e%20Protocol%20final.pdf

Possibly this is it but it is undated and on first sight isn't helping with the queries.