An HMO has three floors + an inhabited basement (so four floors in total). The basement is accessed via the narrow hallway and then down a flight of steps, which begins at the end of the hallway, next to the kitchen. (See picture below - basement stairs are on the left.)

There is currently no fire door/compartmentation between the basement and upper stories (other than the basement ceiling).

From what I understand, an HMO of this size would need to have the basement sealed off completely. The problem is, how/where would you put a fire door at the entrance of this basement? The hallway is narrow and presumabely the door would have to be fitted at the top of the stairs, in the hallway. However, this would be hazardous. If the door opens forwards - into the stairwell, then besides for being against the direction of travel in an evacuation, it would also generally be dangerous for people who are in the hallway who want to go down the stairs, and the door opens directly into the stairs - which could cause someone to fall down the stairs.

On the other hand, if the door opens outwards - into the hallway, then it could hit the kitchen door (pictured), as it's being opened, and would also block the hallway, potentially blocking other people who are trying to escape down the hallway?

Any advice?

Talk to the local authority as they are responsible for legitimate HMO.

You could also look on their planning portal as from the picture this appears to be a new or very recent fit-out so likely there are plans for what will have been approved (and not necessarily installed).

There is currently no door at all to the basement. The door that's wedged open is the kitchen door.

Behind the camera is the front door to the property, a couple of rooms, and an ascending staircase. The basement is on the picture, to the left. Kitchen straight ahead.

Thanks SBH. 

The basement has just a couple of bedrooms and a bathrooms, so it would be low risk in terms of ignition sources.

Does that mean it doesn't need compartmentation? 

Is a fire door just on basement level legally acceptable?

From what you are saying about the property sounds like it will need an HMO licence from you Local Authority. There are some very specific fire safety requirements linked to that licence over and above other types of authority. I would speak to your local authority for advice - just like roundtuit said.

Edited by user 06 January 2020 16:42:08(UTC)  | Reason: spelling - which even i can see!

As SBH has said, its usual practice to have 60 mins fire protection between a basement and upper floors. This can be achieved by fire doors at the top - or in this case at the bottom of the staircase. In some cases a 30 min at each end.

But is it a true/blind basement? Its rare (if ever) the case that a basement flat has no windows. Some basement flats or rooms open up into a light well in the front or garden or yard at the rear. So why is this relevant?

The rationale for a 60 min separation btween basement and upper floors is based on the assumption that a basement fire cannot vent through windows

Fires in ground and upper floors may heighten air pressure in fire rooms and develop to reach temperatures that break windows letting fire and hot gases including smoke to leave the building, thereby reducung the heat & air pressure.

Fires developing in blind/true basements (no windows) dont have the opptunity to vent, so can only spread internally through floors and up the staircase (plus risers and left shafts etc). Therefore to protect escape routes,  enhanced (60 min)fire separation is required.

But if the basement flat/rooms here in this example have windows, its more like a lower ground floor. Indeed, estate agents refer to these rooms as garden flats. In these cases, one could argue in a fire, there is opportunity for the fire to vent so a reduction in separation to 30 mins may be adequate.

For Gods sake dont guess this as it must be assessed competently