Who Is Responsible for Building Maintenance Compliance?

Who Is Actually Responsible?

A fire alarm inspection is overdue.

The lift maintenance certificate can't be found.

A contractor was supposed to carry out an inspection, but nobody has received confirmation that it was completed.

Who is responsible?

The building owner?

The landlord?

The facilities manager?

Or the contractor who was supposed to carry out the work?

In many commercial buildings, maintenance responsibilities are shared between several organisations and individuals.

But when something goes wrong, confusion about who was responsible can create serious problems.

Understanding who is accountable for building maintenance compliance is essential for keeping buildings safe, operational and properly maintained.

What Is Building Maintenance Compliance?

Building maintenance compliance involves ensuring that a building, its systems and its equipment are maintained in accordance with applicable legal requirements, safety standards and other relevant obligations.

Depending on the building and its use, this can involve:

• Fire alarm testing and maintenance
• Emergency lighting inspections
• Lift examinations and maintenance
• Gas safety checks
• Electrical inspections and testing
• Water hygiene and legionella risk management
• Asbestos management
• Ventilation and mechanical system maintenance
• Maintaining appropriate inspection and maintenance records

Not every requirement applies to every building.

The obligations depend on factors including the type of premises, how it is occupied, the equipment installed and who has control of particular areas or systems.

This is where identifying responsibilities becomes particularly important.

The Building Owner's Responsibilities

Building owners often have significant responsibilities for maintaining their properties.

However, the extent of those responsibilities can depend on the ownership arrangements, lease agreements and applicable legislation.

For example, an owner of a commercial building may be responsible for maintaining communal areas, shared services and structural elements.

In other cases, some responsibilities may be assigned to tenants through their lease agreements.

Owners also need to understand where legal duties remain with them, regardless of whether another organisation has been appointed to manage the building.

Appointing a facilities management company does not automatically transfer every legal responsibility to that company.

A clear understanding of the building's ownership, management arrangements and applicable duties is therefore essential.

What About Landlords?

Landlords can have responsibilities for maintaining buildings and ensuring that relevant safety requirements are met.

For commercial premises, many repair and maintenance responsibilities are determined by the lease.

A landlord might retain responsibility for shared systems, communal areas or particular building elements.

Meanwhile, tenants may be responsible for equipment and maintenance within the areas they occupy.

However, contractual arrangements do not necessarily remove statutory duties imposed on a person who controls premises or particular systems.

For landlords managing multiple properties, this can become particularly complicated.

Different buildings may have different lease arrangements, maintenance contracts and compliance requirements.

Without a clear system for identifying and managing those obligations, important tasks can be overlooked.

The Role of the Facilities Manager

Facilities managers are often responsible for coordinating the day-to-day maintenance of a building.

Their work can include:

• Planning preventative maintenance
• Arranging inspections
• Managing maintenance contractors
• Monitoring outstanding tasks
• Maintaining records
• Reporting defects
• Coordinating repairs
• Reviewing maintenance performance

In practice, the facilities manager may be the person ensuring that inspections are booked, contractors attend and supporting documentation is collected.

However, being responsible for organising maintenance is not necessarily the same as holding every legal duty associated with the building.

A facilities manager's responsibilities will depend on their role, their authority, their contract and the extent of their control over the premises.

This distinction matters.

Why Responsibilities Can Become Confusing

Consider a multi-occupied commercial building.

The landlord manages the communal areas.

Individual tenants manage their own offices.

A facilities management company coordinates maintenance.

Several specialist contractors maintain different systems.

One contractor services the lifts.

Another manages the fire alarms.

A third carries out water hygiene checks.

Now imagine that an inspection is missed.

Who was supposed to arrange it?

Who was responsible for confirming it had been completed?

Who should have received the certificate?

Who was supposed to act on any defects?

If those responsibilities haven't been clearly established, it becomes easy for everyone to assume somebody else is dealing with the issue.

Fire Safety: Understanding the Responsible Person

Fire safety provides a particularly important example.

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Responsible Person has specific duties relating to fire safety in premises covered by the legislation in England and Wales.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include an employer, building owner or another person with control of the premises.

In buildings with multiple occupiers, there may be several Responsible Persons with different areas of responsibility.

They must cooperate and coordinate their fire safety arrangements.

This includes ensuring that appropriate fire precautions are maintained and that fire risk assessments are carried out and reviewed.

The important point is that responsibility is determined by the legislation and the circumstances of the premises, not simply by who has been given the title of building manager.

Water Hygiene and Legionella Responsibilities

Water hygiene is another area where clear responsibilities are essential.

Employers and people in control of premises must take appropriate precautions to manage the risk of exposure to legionella bacteria.

This includes identifying and assessing risks, implementing suitable controls and maintaining appropriate records.

A competent person should be appointed to help manage the identified risks.

Specialist contractors may carry out testing, treatment and other work, but appointing them does not remove the need for appropriate oversight.

Those managing the building need to know what is required, who is carrying out the work and whether any identified risks are being properly controlled.

What About Lifts and Other Equipment?

Lifts and other work equipment may be subject to specific inspection, examination and maintenance requirements.

For example, passenger lifts used at work can fall within the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, commonly known as LOLER.

Where applicable, these regulations require thorough examinations by a competent person at appropriate intervals.

Routine servicing and statutory thorough examination are not necessarily the same thing.

A building might have a maintenance contract in place but still need to ensure that the appropriate statutory examinations are being arranged and documented.

This is why understanding the exact requirements for each building system is so important.

The Difference Between Maintenance and Compliance

Maintenance and compliance are closely connected, but they aren't identical.

Maintenance is about keeping building systems and equipment operating safely and effectively.

Compliance is about meeting the legal and other applicable requirements relating to those systems and activities.

A boiler might receive regular maintenance.

But are all required inspections and checks being completed?

A fire alarm might be working.

But are the appropriate testing and maintenance records available?

A lift might be serviced.

But has its required thorough examination been carried out?

Simply having a maintenance contract does not guarantee that every relevant compliance obligation has been met.

Why Good Records Matter

Imagine an inspector asks for evidence that a particular building system has been maintained.

The work may have been completed.

The contractor may have attended.

The equipment may be operating perfectly.

But nobody can find the inspection record.

This creates an unnecessary problem.

Accurate maintenance records help demonstrate what work has been completed, when it took place, who carried it out and whether any issues were identified.

Depending on the activity, useful records might include:

• Inspection and examination reports
• Maintenance certificates
• Contractor service reports
• Risk assessments
• Records of identified defects
• Evidence of corrective actions
• Maintenance schedules
• Equipment and asset histories

The exact records required and how long they must be retained will depend on the relevant legal and operational requirements.

Keeping everything organised makes it easier to demonstrate that responsibilities are being managed.

How to Make Building Maintenance Responsibilities Clearer

One of the most effective ways to reduce confusion is to create a clear record of responsibilities.

For each relevant system or activity, establish:

1. What maintenance, inspection or examination is required?
2. Who holds the relevant legal duty?
3. Who is responsible for arranging the work?
4. Which contractor or competent person will complete it?
5. Who will review the results and act on any defects?
6. Where will the supporting records be stored?
7. When is the next inspection or maintenance activity due?

This creates a clearer picture of what needs to happen and who is responsible for making sure it does.

It is also important to review these arrangements when tenants change, contracts are renewed or building systems are modified.

Why a Maintenance Schedule Is Only Part of the Solution

A planned preventative maintenance schedule is a useful starting point.

It helps teams identify what work needs to be completed and when.

However, a schedule alone doesn't necessarily demonstrate that the work has been carried out.

There also needs to be a process for recording completion, reviewing the results and addressing outstanding issues.

For example, if an inspection identifies a defect, somebody needs to take responsibility for ensuring that the necessary corrective work is completed.

Otherwise, the original maintenance task may appear finished while an important issue remains unresolved.

Good maintenance management therefore involves more than scheduling activities.

It requires visibility of the entire process.

How Liaison Maintain and View Can Help

Liaison's Maintain platform helps organisations manage planned preventative maintenance and reactive maintenance activities.

Maintenance jobs can be scheduled, assigned and tracked, helping facilities teams maintain visibility of the work being carried out across their buildings.

This can support clearer coordination between building managers and maintenance contractors while providing a more organised approach to maintenance records and outstanding work.

Liaison View complements this by providing a central environment for building information, including O&M documentation, drawings and asset records.

Together, the platforms can help organisations connect the information they hold about their buildings with the activities required to maintain them.

Technology does not determine who holds a legal responsibility.

However, it can make it easier for the people involved to understand what needs doing, track progress and access relevant information.

Conclusion

So, who is responsible for building maintenance compliance?

The answer depends on the building, the activity and the legal and contractual responsibilities involved.

Building owners, landlords, employers, facilities managers and contractors can all have important roles to play.

The problem arises when those responsibilities are unclear.

A missed inspection, an unresolved defect or a missing certificate can quickly expose gaps in how maintenance is being managed.

By clearly identifying responsibilities, maintaining accurate records and keeping maintenance activities organised, building teams can reduce confusion and manage their obligations more effectively.

Because when it comes to building compliance, assuming somebody else is responsible is rarely a good approach.