E-bike batteries, and the communal corridor they get charged in

London Fire Brigade attended 206 fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters in 2025, the highest number it has recorded and an average of 17 a month. Of those, 171 were e-bikes and 35 were e-scooters, up from 171 fires in total in 2024. Two people died, bringing the number of deaths in London since 2023 to five, and the brigade notes that none of the five owned the e-bike involved. Lewisham and Southwark had the most fires of any borough, with 16 each.

That last detail matters to anyone who manages a block. The people most at risk from a battery fire are often the neighbours, not the rider.

Why this is a winter problem

In summer, bikes get left in sheds, on balconies and in bike stores. Once it is dark by five and raining most evenings, they come inside to be charged and kept dry. In a house that is the owner's business. In a block of flats, a bike that will not fit in the flat ends up in the corridor, the lobby, the space under the stairs or the bin store, and its charger ends up in whatever socket is nearest.

The brigade links most of these fires to batteries, chargers and conversion kits that are poorly made, damaged, bought second hand or online, or used with the wrong charger. When a lithium-ion battery fails it can go from smoke to a fierce fire in seconds, and it gives off toxic gas while it does.

Where the duty sits

The common parts of a block of flats fall under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The responsible person has to assess the fire risk in those areas and keep the escape routes clear. A charging e-bike in a stair core or a single escape corridor is a fuel load and an ignition source in exactly the place people need to get out through.

Most blocks follow one of the two approaches in the Local Government Association's guide to fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats: a zero tolerance policy, where nothing is kept in the common parts, or managed use, where some items are allowed in defined places that are checked. Either can work. What does not work is having no policy, or having one that nobody checks.

The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 gives the government powers to tighten the rules on e-bike batteries, chargers and conversion kits sold in the UK, but the detailed requirements are still to come. They will not change the batteries already sitting in your corridors.

What to do this month

Walk the common parts of each block in the evening, when the bikes are home. Note anything being stored or charged in corridors, lobbies, stairs, plant rooms and bin stores, with a photo and the location. Check the fire risk assessment says what the policy for the common parts is, and that it mentions e-bikes and e-scooters specifically. If it does not, ask your assessor to review it.

Then tell residents. A short letter or notice explaining where bikes can and cannot be kept, why, and what the safer charging habits are does more than a removal notice taped to a handlebar. The brigade's own advice is simple: buy from a reputable seller, use the right charger, do not charge overnight or while you are out, and never charge or store an e-bike on an escape route. If you can offer a secure, ventilated bike store away from the building, say so.

Keep repeating the walk round. One check in October does not tell you what the corridor looks like in January.

Where SAMRISK puts it

SAMRISK holds the building and the land it sits on across thirty connected systems, twenty for the building and ten for the land.

The evening walk round goes on the compliance calendar at a set interval, with a named owner and a pass or fail record for each block. E-bikes and lithium-ion batteries sit in the building's risk assessments and the fire safety register alongside the escape routes they affect. A bike found charging on a stair is logged as an incident, the letter to residents and the photos are filed in documents, and any new bike store or charging point raises a maintenance job.

Sources: London Fire Brigade, Record number of e-bike and e-scooter fires across London in 2025, January 2026; Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005; Local Government Association, Fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats; Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025.