Fire Certificate Renewal

Under Section 20 of the Fire Safety Act in Singapore, the owner or occupier of any public building such as offices, hospitals, shopping complexes, industrial buildings and private residential buildings that fall within the following criteria is required to apply and obtain a Fire Certificate (FC).

 

Criteria:

Public Building:

  • Has an occupant load of more than 200 persons

Industrial Building:

  • Has an occupant load of at least 1, 000 persons;
  • Has a floor area2 or site area of at least 5, 000 square metres; or
  • Exceeds 24 metres in habitable height

Private Residential Building:

  •  Exceeds 24 metres in habitable height; and
  •  is, or is required to be installed with any of the following:
  •  a wet riser system;
  •  an automatic fire alarm system; or
  • a sprinkler system

 

The site inspection is conducted in three stages:

Stage 1
  • System operation test during a simulated fire alarm activation
Stage 2
  • System operation test under secondary power supply by generator.
Stage 3
  • Testing of individual installations or fire protection systems throughout the building.

 

Once the fire protection systems are in order, the FC will be issued to the applicant. If non-compliance were observed, SCDF will issue a written report which lists the fire protection systems that needs to be rectified prior to obtaining the FC.

The building owner or occupier needs to resolve the matter immediately, as they may cause themselves liable to prosecution for occupying a designated building without a valid fire certificate. A follow-up inspection may be arranged to confirm that all the outstanding defects have been rectified.

 

Application

The FC must be obtained within twelve (12) months from the issuance of the Fire Safety Certificate (FSC).

For new FC applications, owners or occupiers are required to first complete and email the “Information on Fire Certificate” form to SCDF. Please click here to download the form.

For premises which are renewing their FC, applications shall be made at least two months before the expiry of the existing FC. To download the FC-01 to FC-03 forms, please click here (under Fire Certificate) to access the downloads page.

 

Validity

 The FC is valid for a period of 12 months, unless otherwise stated.

   

Revocation

The Commissioner of SCDF may revoke any Fire Certificate where there is:

  • a breach of any of the terms and conditions of the certificate;
  • any misrepresentation of a material fact in the application for the fire certificate or accompanying plans or documents upon the basis of which the certificate was issued or renewed; or
  • knowledge that the fire hazards within the building or part thereof, for which the fire certificate was issued or renewed, have increased without adequate fire safety measures being taken to the satisfaction of the Commissioner.

 

Penalty

Under the Fire Safety (Building and Pipeline Fire Safety) Regulations, any person who

  • without lawful excuse refuses or neglects to do anything which he is required to do;
  • without lawful excuse fails to comply with the requirements of any notice served on him under these Regulations; or
  • without lawful excuse acts in contravention of any provision of these Regulations,
  • shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.