Fire safety crackdown in PRS – e-bikes and other hazards to watch out for

There has been a renewed push for fire prevention awareness in the private rental sector (PRS). Furniture Fire Safety legislation has been recently amended. All landlords have to comply with this – but responsibility lies on tenants’ shoulders, too.

In addition, e-bikes and e-scooters have been identified as significant potential hazards that landlords need to be cautious of, especially in urban centres.

Furniture Fire Safety compliance

The Furniture and Furnishings Regulations 2025 is the latest amendment to the historic 1988 legislation of the same name.

The previous legislation emphasised the fire risks associated with furniture and upholstery provided by landlords, with the 2025 amendments tightening (and in some cases, relaxing) the rules further. 

For a small example of a relaxed rule, the government have reduced the amount of excessive compliance labelling for items, with some no longer needing fire risk labels, such as children’s mattresses. 

This is more targeted towards manufacturers, though landlords could be found at fault for providing furnishings without the correct labels.

Local authorities now have an extended window to initiate legal proceedings against landlords found to have committed compliance failures. 

They have 12 months to begin proceedings against a landlord, once they have enough evidence of wrongdoing. Previously, they had 6 months to do this.

Non-compliant landlords can potentially be prosecuted, fined and given a criminal record. If Trading Standards contact a landlord with compliance questions, it is advisable that they respond immediately and remove any problematic items. 

E-bike danger

While there has been no specific legislation surrounding this yet, the potential hazards posed by electric bikes and scooters have been highlighted by the London Fire Brigade and the UK government.

In 2025, 206 blazes were caused by these vehicles in London, resulting in two deaths and an enormous amount of property damage. 

Tragically, both deaths were not the owners of the vehicles that started the fatal fires. This goes to show that the consequences of unsafely charging e-bikes indoors can extend far beyond the owners’ wellbeing.

In one of these instances, two landlords of a London property were fined over £90,000 for safety negligence. One of their tenants died due to a fire started by someone else’s faulty e-bike, which was left on charge.

It should be noted that the landlords in question were also found guilty of running a badly overcrowded HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy), so there were multiple safety offences being committed in that case.

Prevention and responsibility

Most e-bikes and e-scooters are powered by lithium-ion batteries. These take large amounts of electricity to fully charge, but overcharging can cause internal heating. This can lead to a “thermal runaway” effect, which is accelerated by the internal systems breaking down and expanding.

E-bike owners are therefore encouraged to carefully monitor how long their vehicles are on charge, and to never leave them charging overnight.

Licenced e-bike sellers and manufacturers should have protective circuits in their products to minimise the risks of thermal runaways.

However, e-bikes made by counterfeit manufacturers or sold by second-hand dealers may have poorer protective circuits in place, or none at all, which drastically increases the risks of fires. 

There is also a growing culture around e-bikes with modifications to increase their top speed – sometimes beyond the legal or recommended limits.

Lastly, problems can arise from tenants using incompatible chargers, or ones that do not meet UK safety standards.

In reality, landlords cannot have 24-hour surveillance of what their tenants are doing or storing in their properties. 

As such, landlords can only encourage tenants to share responsibility for how they manage e-bikes and other high-risk electrical compliances kept in their properties. 

Guidance on how e-bikes can be properly stored and charges can be found on the UK government website. It encourages e-bike owners to charge their vehicles in safe locations, i.e. out of the way of fire exits or escape routes, as well as other key pieces of advice.