Fire, CO and Exits: A Safety Inventory by Property Type

The inventory differs by building type before it differs by country. A flat on a shared stairwell and a detached villa fail in different places.

Last updated: October 28, 2026

Fire and carbon monoxide rules are written by local authorities and change, so any list copied from another country is a guess. What travels better is the order you build the list in: the building first, then detection, then the way out, then the record. A flat on a shared stairwell and a detached villa end up with different inventories even when they sit in the same town.

Key Takeaways

• Start with the building. Construction, fuel-burning appliances, floors, and who else shares the stairs decide most of the list.
• A device nobody can reach is decoration. Placement and access matter more than the label on the box.
• The way out is part of the inventory. A route that needs a key, or a stair full of luggage, isn't a route.
• Shared stairs move the boundary. Part of the answer belongs to the building, not to your unit.
• Write it down, with a date. A check you can't show is a check that didn't happen.

Start with the building, not the rulebook

Before you read a single requirement, walk the property and answer four questions. What is it made of, and what has been added since? What burns inside it — a gas hob, a boiler, a wood stove, a fireplace that hasn't been swept? How many floors, and how does someone get from the top one to the outside? And who else uses the parts you don't own?

Those answers sort the property into a type, and the type is what the local requirements are usually written around. A detached house with its own door to the street is treated differently from a flat above a shop, and a flat above a shop is treated differently again when the stairs are shared with several other households.

This is why the same checklist produces different work in two buildings. In one, the question is where the alarm goes relative to the bedrooms. In the other, the question is whether the alarm in your hallway is connected to anything at all, and who is allowed to test it.

Take photographs while you walk. Not for the file yet — for the argument you'll have with yourself in six months about whether the boiler cupboard door was ever replaced.

Where the requirements bite, they're published, and they're published locally. Read the version that applies to your address, from the authority that applies to it, and treat any summary — including this one — as a way of organising the questions rather than as an answer.

Alarms, extinguishers and the exit route

Detection comes first because it's the only part that buys time. Smoke alarms go where people sleep, and on the route from sleeping to outside. Carbon monoxide detection usually sits near the appliance and near the sleeping area, because the gas travels and because the failure mode is quiet.

The mistake that recurs isn't the wrong device. It's the right device in a place nobody can reach, with a battery nobody has checked, behind a curtain or above a wardrobe. If a guest can't see it and you can't reach it without a ladder, the inventory entry is fiction.

Extinguishing is the second decision, and it's smaller than people expect. A device sized for a kitchen fire, placed where someone would actually grab it on the way out, with a label the guest can read in the dark. Anything larger tends to be bought, mounted and never touched, which is a cost rather than a control.

Then the route. Walk it as a guest would, at night, with the lights off, carrying a bag. Does the door open without a key from the inside? Is the stair lit? Is there anything stored on it? Can someone find the way out from the far bedroom without trying several doors first?

If the answer to any of those is no, that's the item to fix before anything else on the list, because it's the one that matters when the other items have already failed.

What changes on a shared stairwell

On a shared stairwell, part of your inventory isn't yours to complete. The stair, the front door, the cupboard under it and the alarm that may or may not be linked across the building usually sit with the building's owner or manager. Your influence there is a conversation, not a purchase.

What you can still control is what your guests put there. Bags left on the stairs, a buggy parked across the half-landing, a fire door propped with a chair because the corridor is hot — those are the failures that start inside your unit and end in a shared space. A line in the arrival message, and a hook by the door, does more than a sign.

Then there's the question of who tests what. If the alarm in the common hall is the building's, you need to know that it's being checked and by whom, because a guest will ask you and "not my responsibility" is a bad answer at the door. Ask the manager for the arrangement in writing, and keep the reply.

The same logic applies to anything the building has added recently: a charging point in the hallway, a store room converted into a bedroom, a lock on the roof access. None of it is yours, and all of it changes what happens on your floor.

None of this is a substitute for the local requirements, which are set by the authority that covers the address and are revised from time to time. Where they're silent or unclear, ask, and keep the answer with the record.

Recording the check so it counts

A record is worth what it can prove: what was checked, on what date, by whom, and what was found. One line per item, a photograph of the item in place, and a note of anything replaced. That's enough for a guest, an insurer or an inspector to see the shape of your practice.

Keep it with the property rather than in your head, and date every entry. A record with no dates reads as a document written after the event, which is the opposite of what it's for.

Keep it light on other people's data. The record needs the unit, the date and the item; it doesn't need a copy of anyone's passport, and storing one turns a safety file into a liability. localsbnb.com masks guest names, phone numbers and ID numbers automatically, and scopes access by area: bookings, finance, room status, rates. A note about a stay can then point at the booking without carrying the guest's documents with it.

Finally, review the record when the building changes, not only when the calendar says so. A new boiler, a new tenant on the floor below, a stair that's been repainted and had its handrail removed for the work: each of those invalidates part of the file, and none of them announces itself.

FAQ

Do I need an extinguisher in every room?

That's a question for your local authority, not for a blog, and the answer varies by building type and by what's in the room. What holds everywhere is the reasoning: a device that's reachable, suitable for the fire likely to start there, and simple enough to use under stress. Anything else is furniture.

Who is responsible for the alarms in a shared hallway?

Usually the building's owner or manager, which is exactly why you need the arrangement in writing. Ask what is checked, by whom, and what happens when it fails. Your own unit's detection stays yours regardless of who owns the stair.

Can I keep the record as photos on my phone?

You can, and a dated photo is better than a tidy document that doesn't exist. What matters is that someone else could read it: the unit, the date, the item, the finding. Keep a copy somewhere that isn't only your phone.

A safety inventory is a short document about a specific building, written before anything goes wrong. localsbnb.com keeps the property record and the four connected channels in one place, and masks guest details by default, so the file stays about the building rather than about the people in it.

---

This article is general guidance for hosts and isn't legal, tax or insurance advice, and it isn't a statement of fire or carbon monoxide law in any jurisdiction. Requirements, and who enforces them, differ by place and change over time; check with the competent authority for the address before you rely on any list, including this one.