We hire the hall out. Is it our duty or the hirer's?

Yours, in almost every case. The duty sits with the person who has control of the premises, and for a hired hall that is normally the trustee body rather than the person who booked it for an afternoon. You cannot transfer the duty by putting a clause in the hire agreement.

We are all volunteers. Does the law still apply?

Yes. The Act does not distinguish between paid and unpaid. It does expect proportionality though — what is reasonable for a volunteer-run hall is not what is reasonable for a commercial venue, and the guidance says so.

Our hall holds 200 but we usually have 40 people. Are we in scope?

Probably yes. The test is the greatest number who could reasonably be expected at once, not the typical number. If your fire safety occupancy figure is 200 or more, or your Christmas fair regularly pushes past it, you are in scope.

Do we need to tell every hirer about the procedures?

It is the sensible reading of the duty. The Act requires that people working at the premises are aware of the procedures and can follow them, and on a hire day the people running the event are the people present. A short summary in the hire pack, acknowledged on booking, is proportionate.

Who is the responsible person for a hall run by a trust?

The trustee body has control of the premises, so the duty sits with it. Name one trustee to lead on it and minute that decision — not because the Act demands a named individual at standard tier, but because 'the trustees' collectively is how tasks end up undone.

What does this cost us?

For a standard tier hall, essentially nothing beyond time. There is no requirement to purchase equipment. The Home Office estimates the ongoing cost to a standard tier venue at around £330 a year, almost all of it staff or volunteer time.

Martyn's Law for village halls and community centres

Village halls, community centres, scout huts and parish rooms are among the most common premises caught by Martyn's Law — and among the least well served by guidance written for security professionals.

This guide is written for the trustee or committee member who has been handed the job.

Are you in scope?

If 200 or more people could reasonably be expected to be present at the same time, yes.

Most halls find the answer in their fire risk assessment. If your fire safety occupancy figure is 200 or more, that is a number you already rely on for another legal duty and it is the natural evidence here too.

Remember to count everyone: visitors, volunteers, stallholders, caterers and the people setting out chairs. On fair day this routinely adds twenty or thirty to the number people first think of. How to count your venue capacity sets out the six methods the Home Office accepts.

If you are in scope, you are standard tier unless you can hold 800 or more, which very few halls can.

The hire problem

This is the question every hall asks, and the answer is not what most committees hope.

The duty sits with whoever has control of the premises. For a hall that hires out its main room by the hour, that is the trustee body — not the person who booked it for a birthday party, and not the yoga teacher who runs a weekly class.

You cannot transfer the duty by adding a clause to the hire agreement. What you can do, and should:

Put a one-page summary of the procedures in the hire pack, and ask the hirer to confirm they have read it as part of booking.
Display the essentials in the building — the alternative exit, where the invacuation room is, who to call.
Keep the hire agreement clause anyway, because it makes the expectation explicit even though it does not move the legal duty.

A hall that has briefed its regular hirers is in a substantially better position than one that has a document in a filing cabinet.

Capacity counting for a hall

Two things that trip halls up.

More than one room. If the main hall and the committee room could reasonably be full at the same time — a wedding reception with an overflow, a fair using both — the figure to consider is the total for the premises, not each room separately.

The outdoor bit. A field or car park attached to the hall does not usually count as part of the premises for capacity purposes if it is open land without a controlled boundary. But if you fence it, ticket it and run an event on it, the event provisions of the Act may apply separately. If you run a village fête at that scale, check it specifically.

What you actually have to do

Two duties. Neither requires spending money.

Notify the SIA that you are the responsible person, when the portal opens in spring 2027.

Put four written procedures in place — evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication — and make sure the people running the building know them. The four procedures explained covers what each one means.

There is no requirement to buy equipment. No bollards, no shutters, no door staff. The statutory guidance is explicit that standard tier measures are expected to be simple and low cost.

The three things halls get wrong

Assuming a fire plan is enough. It is not. A fire plan sends everyone out of the front door to the car park, which is the wrong instinct if the problem is in the car park. Your evacuation procedure needs a second route and a second assembly point.

Nobody actually being responsible. "The trustees" is a body, and a body does not remember to do things. Name one trustee to lead on it and minute it. At standard tier the Act does not require a designated individual — but halls where nobody was named are the halls where nothing happened.

Writing it and stopping. The procedures are a one-time job. Keeping volunteers aware of them is not. Volunteer turnover in a hall is high, and an unbriefed volunteer rota is the most likely gap an inspector would find.

A realistic first afternoon

Find your fire safety occupancy figure and write it down with its source.
Decide, in the committee, whether you are over 200. Minute it either way.
Name the responsible person and minute that too.
Walk the building and answer four questions: where is the second way out, which room do we move people into, which doors lock from the inside, and who has the key.
Write the four procedures around those answers.
Put a summary in the hire pack.

That is a genuinely achievable afternoon's work, and it is most of the duty.

If you would rather not start from a blank page, the scope checker will confirm whether you are in scope in about two minutes, and VenueCompliant will produce the four procedures written around your building's actual answers.

Common questions

We hire the hall out. Is it our duty or the hirer's?: Yours, in almost every case. The duty sits with the person who has control of the premises, and for a hired hall that is normally the trustee body rather than the person who booked it for an afternoon. You cannot transfer the duty by putting a clause in the hire agreement.
We are all volunteers. Does the law still apply?: Yes. The Act does not distinguish between paid and unpaid. It does expect proportionality though — what is reasonable for a volunteer-run hall is not what is reasonable for a commercial venue, and the guidance says so.
Our hall holds 200 but we usually have 40 people. Are we in scope?: Probably yes. The test is the greatest number who could reasonably be expected at once, not the typical number. If your fire safety occupancy figure is 200 or more, or your Christmas fair regularly pushes past it, you are in scope.
Do we need to tell every hirer about the procedures?: It is the sensible reading of the duty. The Act requires that people working at the premises are aware of the procedures and can follow them, and on a hire day the people running the event are the people present. A short summary in the hire pack, acknowledged on booking, is proportionate.
Who is the responsible person for a hall run by a trust?: The trustee body has control of the premises, so the duty sits with it. Name one trustee to lead on it and minute that decision — not because the Act demands a named individual at standard tier, but because 'the trustees' collectively is how tasks end up undone.
What does this cost us?: For a standard tier hall, essentially nothing beyond time. There is no requirement to purchase equipment. The Home Office estimates the ongoing cost to a standard tier venue at around £330 a year, almost all of it staff or volunteer time.

Official sources

Not sure whether this applies to you?

Seven plain-English questions, about two minutes, and no email address needed. You will get a written answer for your specific venue.

Check if we're in scope

Related guides

VenueCompliant is an independent guidance tool, not legal advice, and is not affiliated with the Home Office, the SIA or ProtectUK. The law was designed so venues can comply themselves — we make that faster and easier to evidence.