Commercial Lease Advice – New Kitchen Fire Suppression Requirement

Botyb9220 · Aug 25, 2026

Need advice , commercial lease / fire safety requirement

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate some advice from other UK business owners, especially anyone with experience of commercial leases, landlords and insurance requirements.

I run a restaurant and have a 10-year commercial lease (2025–2035). My landlord has recently contacted me saying that their insurers have sent a form for tenants with a functioning kitchen. They are asking me to complete it and also provide our Fire Strategy and Fire Risk Assessment.

The insurer has also identified a requirement for a fixed kitchen fire suppression system, including automatic fuel/gas shut-off, to be installed within a specified timeframe.

I understand that we need to comply with reasonable fire safety and insurance requirements. However, my concern is who is actually responsible for paying for a completely new system installation.

I have checked my lease, including the repair, insurance and compliance clauses and Schedule 6. The lease says that the landlord insures the building, while the tenant pays Insurance Rent and must comply with insurers’ requirements. However, I cannot find a clear clause saying that the tenant must pay for the installation of a new fire suppression system required by the landlord’s insurer.

My questions are:

Can the landlord require the tenant to install and pay for this system simply because their insurer has introduced this requirement?
Should I ask the landlord to identify the specific clause in the lease that makes the tenant responsible for the installation cost?
Would you recommend getting a solicitor specialising in commercial leases to review this before I agree to any works or costs?
Has anyone else been in a similar situation, and roughly how much did a compliant kitchen suppression system cost?

I obviously want to cooperate and make sure the premises remain properly insured and compliant, but I also don’t want to agree to a significant expense if the lease doesn’t actually make me responsible for it.
Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Frank the Insurance guy · Aug 25, 2026

Hi @Botyb9220

Its a difficult one. Can you have a chat with the landlord and see if they will agree to reduced rent to cover the cost of the fire suppression system.

I have client's that have had to install an Ansul fire suppression system and the cost has varied from about £4k to £12k, depending on the size of the system.

From your post, it is clear that under the terms of the lease you must comply with the landlords Insurer's requirements. Whether this includes the costs of complying is the question! Do you have business insurance? If so, check the policy as most include free legal advice - give them a call and see what they say.

If you are liable for the costs, I would ask for written confirmation from the landlords insurers as to what system is required - some insurers only need it on deep fat frying ranges, which might help reduce costs.

Nathanto · Aug 25, 2026

"The lease says that the landlord insures the building, while the tenant pays Insurance Rent and must comply with insurers’ requirements. "

With the caveat that no-one here except you has seen the actual lease wording, based on the above it seems clear that you are responsible for paying for the fire suppression system.

Is there another clause in the lease regarding the tenant not doing anything that would make any insurance policy void? If so that pretty much nails it that you have no choice but to pay or be in breach of your lease. (Or will the insurer just massively raise the premiums if you don't install the system which you'll end up paying for anyway?)

The only glimmer of hope is if you can negotiate with the landlord along the lines of the alterations improve the building itself so will they share the costs.

TaxBix · Aug 25, 2026

Separate to who pays, the spend isn't lost either way. Fire suppression sits in List C of the capital allowances rules, so it counts as plant rather than part of the building, and you can put the whole lot through annual investment allowance in year one. If the landlord won't budge, that softens it a fair bit.

Chris Ashdown · Aug 25, 2026

As stated above before doing anything find out exactly what is required, no use spending money on a rolls royce if a mini will meet the requirements, Talking to landlord makes sense although on a ten year lease who knows what may be required at the end, so possibly limited value to landlord

Jprandss · Aug 25, 2026

As the lease only began last year, might the LL have known about this requirement before you signed?

Was this a shell or fully fitted already? I don't know about legally in your lease but in my experience, if you lease it with equipment in place, that equipment being compliant would generally be LL responsibility.

If it's through your own fitout that has raised this requirement, then likely your problem.

It depends on your relationship with the LL, but I have many LL's and I would be happy to phone all of them directly and discuss who's responsibility this is, as its a surprise cost and hassle for your newly started business, at a time that you would least want that.
I always find discussion is best before doing anything legal. You are in a 10 year relationship with this person!

WaveJumper · Aug 25, 2026

Obviously as already suggested have a discussion with your landlord you might get lucky with some help towards the cost but I would not hold my breath. I am a little surprised some form of fire prevention equipment was not required at the time, but the landlords insurers may not have required this previously and its new to the LL as well.

As a matter of course I would have expected you to already have in place both a Fire Strategy and Fire Risk Assessment.

Insurers are really on the ball with this subject now, in my past life in the commercial property world if there was going to be an (a big) issue it was always with an onsite restaurant, from fires breaking out in ducting due to poor cleaning to blocking up the drains due to no fat guzzlers on the sinks.

Best of luck with the landlord and do let us know how you get on.

Paul Kelly ICHYB · Aug 26, 2026

Jprandss said:
As the lease only began last year, might the LL have known about this requirement before you signed?

That was my initial thought.

What has the solicitor who reviewed the lease before you signed it said?

Michael Loveridge · Aug 31, 2026

Is the kitchen equipment owned by the landlord as landlord's fixtures and fittings? Assuming it is then there may be an argument that maintaining / upgrading it is the responsibility of the landlord.

You also need to consider the exact wording of those clauses in the lease that relate not only to your insurance responsibilities but to liability for repairs generally. However, on a 10 year lease it's quite likely to be an FRI lease, meaning that you're responsible for all repairs. In that event, you may have an argument that it's not so much a repair but a renewal, for which you may not be responsible.

Bearing in mind the likely cost of the installation (which may be well into 4 figures from what Frank has said) it would probably be worth getting an opinion from a qualified lawyer that deals with commercial leases.

davidleo7557 · Friday at 12:29 PM

Botyb9220 said:
Need advice , commercial lease / fire safety requirement

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate some advice from other UK business owners, especially anyone with experience of commercial leases, landlords and insurance requirements.

I run a restaurant and have a 10-year commercial lease (2025–2035). My landlord has recently contacted me saying that their insurers have sent a form for tenants with a functioning kitchen. They are asking me to complete it and also provide our Fire Strategy and Fire Risk Assessment.

The insurer has also identified a requirement for a fixed kitchen fire suppression system, including automatic fuel/gas shut-off, to be installed within a specified timeframe.

I understand that we need to comply with reasonable fire safety and insurance requirements. However, my concern is who is actually responsible for paying for a completely new system installation.

I have checked my lease, including the repair, insurance and compliance clauses and Schedule 6. The lease says that the landlord insures the building, while the tenant pays Insurance Rent and must comply with insurers’ requirements. However, I cannot find a clear clause saying that the tenant must pay for the installation of a new fire suppression system required by the landlord’s insurer.

My questions are:

Can the landlord require the tenant to install and pay for this system simply because their insurer has introduced this requirement?

Should I ask the landlord to identify the specific clause in the lease that makes the tenant responsible for the installation cost?

Would you recommend getting a solicitor specialising in commercial leases to review this before I agree to any works or costs?

Has anyone else been in a similar situation, and roughly how much did a compliant kitchen suppression system cost?

I obviously want to cooperate and make sure the premises remain properly insured and compliant, but I also don’t want to agree to a significant expense if the lease doesn’t actually make me responsible for it.
Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I’d definitely ask the landlord to point to the specific lease clause that makes you responsible for the installation cost. Complying with requirements doesn’t always automatically mean you must pay for major new improvements. Given the potential expense, having a commercial lease solicitor review the lease before agreeing to anything sounds sensible.

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Commercial Lease Advice – New Kitchen Fire Suppression Requirement

Botyb9220

Frank the Insurance guy

Nathanto

TaxBix

Chris Ashdown

Jprandss

WaveJumper

Paul Kelly ICHYB

Michael Loveridge

davidleo7557

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