What Happens If a Commercial Property Is Not Compliant: Notices, Fines and Insurance
- Enforcement usually starts with a notice: an improvement notice setting a deadline, or a prohibition notice closing the premises or part of them until the risk is removed.
- Serious breaches of fire and health and safety law are criminal offences, with unlimited fines and, for fire safety, up to two years in prison.
- Letting below EPC E attracts civil penalties up to £150,000 per property and publication of the breach.
- The commonest cost is commercial: a claim reduced or refused, a sale delayed, a lease dispute lost for want of records.
The fines are what people search for, and they are real: unlimited in the Crown Court for the serious offences, and up to £150,000 per property for letting below the energy standard. But a fine is usually the last thing that happens, after the notice, the improvement works, the refused insurance claim and the sale that fell through. This guide walks through the sequence so the cost of a gap is understood before it opens.
First, the notice
Fire and rescue authorities and HSE inspectors rarely go straight to prosecution. The usual first step is an enforcement or improvement notice listing what is wrong and a date to put it right, or, where there is an immediate risk, a prohibition notice that stops use of the premises or the dangerous part until the risk is removed. A prohibition notice on a trading business is a closure order in all but name. Failing to comply with a notice is itself an offence.
Then the offences
Fire safety. Article 32 of the Fire Safety Order makes it an offence for the responsible person to fail in the duties that put people at risk of death or serious injury. On conviction in the Crown Court the fine is unlimited and the sentence can be up to two years' imprisonment. No fire risk assessment, or a fire exit blocked, is enough.
Health and safety. Section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act covers breaches of the general duties and of regulations made under the Act, which includes the electrical, gas, asbestos and legionella duties. Fines are unlimited and imprisonment is available for the most serious cases. Sentencing guidelines link the fine to the size of the organisation and the harm risked, so a large employer with a poor record is fined accordingly.
Asbestos. Failing the duty to manage is prosecuted under the same Act, and HSE can stop works on site immediately.
Energy standard. Letting a non-domestic property below E without a registered exemption attracts civil penalties based on rateable value, up to £150,000 per property, plus publication of the breach. The lease itself remains valid, so the tenant stays and the landlord pays.
The insurer
This is where most businesses actually feel it. Commercial policies carry conditions about maintaining the premises and complying with statutory requirements. After a fire, the insurer will ask for the fire risk assessment, the electrical report and the gas record. Missing or expired, they give the insurer grounds to reduce or refuse the claim, and at renewal the premium reflects the record. The records are what settle this, not the state of the building.
Close the gaps before anyone asks
Seven questions, every duty listed, and a quote for each one you are missing.
The sale, the letting and the lease
A buyer's due diligence asks for every certificate. Missing ones become price reductions, retentions or conditions, and an EPC below E stops a letting outright. At lease end, a tenant who cannot show maintenance records is on the back foot in a dilapidations claim, and a landlord who cannot show the common parts were maintained has the same problem in reverse. None of this is a fine. All of it costs more than one.
Personal liability
Where an offence is committed with the consent or neglect of a director or manager, that person can be prosecuted as well as the company. For fire and health and safety law this is explicit in the statutes. The practical consequence is that compliance records protect individuals, not only the business.
Closing the gaps
Every consequence above starts with a duty that was not met or could not be evidenced. The free compliance check lists what applies to your property and gets a quote for each gap, which is cheaper than any line on this page.
Sources & further reading
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 32 — offences under the Fire Safety Order
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 33 — offences under health and safety law
- GOV.UK: non-domestic minimum energy efficiency standard — MEES penalties
- HSE: the duty to manage asbestos — enforcement of the asbestos duty
External links open in a new tab. ComSurv is a matching service, not a firm of surveyors, and is not affiliated with these organisations. This article is general information, not legal, surveying or valuation advice; take advice on your specific situation.
