A new block hands over with a manual saying the fire doors comply, and the first independent inspection twelve months later finds a list anyway. That is not usually a builder cutting corners. It is that a fire door is a set of components certificated as an assembly, and the assembly gets adjusted by everybody who works on the building after the door is hung. Watford's town centre stock is new enough that this is the common question there, and the handover pack is where the answer starts.
What the handover pack must actually contain
A schedule naming every fire door by location with its rating, the certification evidence for the doorset and for the ironmongery fitted to it, the installer's declaration that it was fitted to the manufacturer's instructions, and the maintenance requirements. A manual that says the doors are compliant without a door by door schedule cannot be checked, and it is the document the building has to hand the next managing agent.
What changes between certification and the first inspection
Ironmongery swapped for something visually similar and not tested with that door. Intumescent strips painted over during a decoration snag. A closer adjusted until it stops slamming and then no longer closes from the latch. Floor finishes laid after the door was hung, so the threshold gap is wrong. A number on the back of a door does not survive any of those, which is why the schedule and the inspection are two different things.
Who owns the door once the developer has gone
The communal doors are the building's. The flat entrance doors are usually the leaseholder's leaf inside the freeholder's compartment wall, which is why the lease and the inspection programme have to be read together before the first round rather than during it. Get the position written down while the developer is still answering emails, because a defect found in year one may be a warranty claim and in year three is simply a cost.
The regime that then applies
In a building containing two or more sets of domestic premises above 11 metres in height the 2022 Regulations set the check regime for common part doors and flat entrance doors. Below that height the interval comes from the building's own fire risk assessment, and the article 17 duty to keep the doors in efficient working order applies whatever the height is. New does not suspend any of it; it only means the first cycle starts from a known position, if the pack is good enough to give you one.
Questions people ask about fire doors Watford
What should I ask the developer for at handover?
A door by door schedule with locations and ratings, certification evidence for the doorsets and the ironmongery actually fitted, the installer's declaration and the maintenance requirements. Ask while the development team is still contactable.
Why did an inspection fail doors that were signed off as new?
Because the assembly is what is certificated, and the assembly is altered afterwards: swapped ironmongery, painted seals, an adjusted closer, a raised floor finish. Sign off records the door as hung, not as it stands today.
Are flat entrance doors the leaseholder's or the building's?
It depends on the lease, which is why the position should be established in writing before the first inspection round rather than argued during it. The compartment the door protects is the building's either way.
How often do the doors have to be checked?
Above 11 metres in a building with two or more sets of domestic premises the 2022 Regulations set the regime. Below that the fire risk assessment sets the interval, and the doors must be kept in efficient working order regardless.