Are RMC and RTM directors personally liable for building safety?

Directors can carry duties as the Accountable Person for a building, and failing those duties can lead to enforcement action and, in serious cases, personal liability. Duties can often be delegated to a competent managing agent or contractor, but accountability for making sure the work happens stays with the duty-holder.

What is a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act?

A higher-risk building is generally one at least 18 metres tall, or with at least seven storeys, containing two or more residential units. These buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator and carry additional duties such as a safety case report and the 'golden thread' of information.

Do these duties apply to small blocks under 18 metres?

The full higher-risk building regime does not apply, but fire safety law still does. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations, the Responsible Person for any multi-occupied residential building must assess and manage fire risk regardless of height.

RMC & RTM Director Responsibilities Under the Building Safety Act

If you sit on the board of a Residents’ Management Company (RMC) or a Right to Manage (RTM) company, you took on more than a bit of admin. Since the Building Safety Act 2022 and the fire safety reforms that came with it, directors of residential blocks carry real legal duties — and most volunteers were never told exactly what they signed up for. This guide sets out, in plain English, where responsibility actually sits.

Two separate legal regimes apply

It helps to separate two things that often get muddled:

Fire safety law — the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, strengthened by the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. This applies to the common parts of every multi-occupied residential building, whatever its height.
The Building Safety Act 2022 — a further, heavier regime that applies to higher-risk buildings: broadly, those at least 18 metres tall or with seven or more storeys, containing two or more homes.

Your block may fall under one or both. Knowing which is the first job of any board.

The “Responsible Person” for fire safety

Under fire safety law, the common parts of your block must have a designated Responsible Person. For a self-managed block that is usually the RMC or RTM company itself, acting through its directors. The core duties are to carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment, act on its findings, maintain fire precautions (alarms, emergency lighting, fire doors, signage), and keep records.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added specific, ongoing tasks for blocks — including routine checks of fire doors and, for taller buildings, wayfinding signage, secure information boxes and sharing floor plans with the fire service. These are recurring obligations, not one-off jobs. Our statutory compliance service exists to take exactly this list off a volunteer board.

The “Accountable Person” for higher-risk buildings

If your building is higher-risk, the Building Safety Act introduces the Accountable Person (and, where there is more than one, a Principal Accountable Person). This duty-holder must:

register the building with the Building Safety Regulator;
prepare and maintain a safety case report demonstrating that building safety risks are being managed;
keep the golden thread of building information up to date;
put in place a system for residents to raise safety concerns.

For many RTM and RMC-run buildings, the company is the Accountable Person. That is a significant responsibility to hold as a board of unpaid volunteers, which is why many appoint a competent partner to discharge it.

Where personal liability really sits

The point that worries directors most: can I be personally liable? The honest answer is that duties fall on the company as duty-holder, but directors are the people who must make sure the company actually does what the law requires. Persistent failure — an out-of-date fire risk assessment, ignored remedial works, an unregistered higher-risk building — can lead to enforcement, penalties and, in the most serious cases, personal exposure.

Crucially, you can delegate the work but not the accountability. Appointing a competent managing agent or compliance contractor is exactly how most boards manage the risk sensibly — but the board still has to be able to show the work is being done. That is why a live, exportable record of every certificate matters as much as the certificates themselves.

A practical starting point for boards

Confirm whether your building is higher-risk (18m / 7 storeys / 2+ homes).
Find your current fire risk assessment and check its review date.
List every statutory obligation — fire, gas, electrical, water, asbestos, lifts — and its renewal date. Our block compliance calendar guide walks through each one.
Decide what the board will hold and what it will delegate — and make sure whoever you appoint gives you a defensible audit trail.

If you are a director of a block and want to know exactly where you stand, we run a no-obligation compliance review that maps your obligations and any gaps against current requirements.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Building safety duties are detailed and evolving; verify your position against current regulations and take professional advice for your specific building.