I have worked 40+ years in fire safety, but  am a little stumped over this issue, so would appreciate some pointers please.

A friend’s daughter owns a flat which she is about to sell. The landlord has completed a FRA and has a few items to complete from the findings. These include signage, a small upgrade on three riser doors and record keeping improvements. 

She has found a buyer and everything was going well until the buyer’s solicitor saw the FRA and now wants more information from the landlord..

Of course any costs associated with the works from the FRA will be shared amongst the various leaseholders, so the solicitor wants to know how much his client will face just after they move in. It seems a reasonable request. The solicitor wrote to the landlord 8 weeks ago, but despite all parties chasing him, he has ignored their requests for information.

Other than failing to carry out work as identified by the FRA, I doubt whether the Fire Safety Order will be any use in persuading the landlord to cough up the information.

But I was wondering as the building is 7 floors - whether the Building Safety Act would be of more use. Sections 89 and 91 talk about sharing information and resident engagement.

 I am not hugely familiar with the BSA so I was wondering if anyone had any insight as to whether the information the solicitor is requesting might be covered by a statutory duty associated with Section 89 - or 91???

So how can I persuade the landlord to supply the fire safety information she needs to allow the sale of her property to proceed???

​​​​​​​Many thanks

With it being an existing building it will (as Peter points out) be reliant upon secondary regulation to The Building Safety Act before the "responsible person" fully engages with residents.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations S.I. 2022 No. 547 laid May 2022 entered force in January 2023 also talk about responsible person duties AND communication with residents. One would presume the "responsible person" to have been appointed and conducting the required duties at the time of your post and certainley be well advanced as they are obliged to conduct annual review 12 months after the regulations enter force.

That said there appear to be very few specific time lines for corrective action completion merely that review should take place.