LOLER for Property and Facilities Managers

LOLER compliance guide for property managers covering lift inspections, legal duties, and thorough examination requirements.

LOLER Compliance for Property and Facilities Managers

If you manage commercial, residential, or mixed-use buildings, you are almost certainly a duty holder under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER). This means you are legally responsible for ensuring that all lifting equipment in your buildings receives regular thorough examination by an independent competent person.

This guide explains what property and facilities managers need to know about LOLER compliance.

What Lifting Equipment Exists in Your Buildings?

Many property managers underestimate the amount of lifting equipment present in their portfolio. Common items include:

• Passenger lifts — the most obvious item, present in virtually every multi-storey building
• Goods lifts and service lifts — used for deliveries, waste removal, and back-of-house operations
• Platform lifts — providing step-free access under the Equality Act 2010 reasonable adjustments duty (which superseded the Disability Discrimination Act 1995) in public and commercial buildings
• Dumbwaiters — food service lifts in hotels, restaurants, and care facilities
• Stairlifts — in commercial premises where they serve a work function
• Loading bay equipment — dock levellers and powered loading platforms

All of these are lifting equipment under LOLER and require thorough examination at prescribed intervals.

Inspection Intervals for Property Managers

The required frequency depends on what the equipment lifts:

• Every 6 months — passenger lifts, platform lifts, stairlifts, and any equipment that carries people
• Every 12 months — goods-only lifts, dumbwaiters, dock levellers, and equipment that only lifts loads

Missing an examination deadline means the equipment must be taken out of service until a valid examination has been completed. For a passenger lift in a residential tower block, this can cause significant disruption to tenants.

Who Is the Duty Holder?

In property management, the duty holder is typically:

• The building owner or freeholder for common parts
• The managing agent if contractually responsible for maintenance and compliance
• The facilities management company if they have operational control of the building

In multi-tenanted buildings, responsibility usually falls on whoever controls the common parts — including the lift. The duty holder cannot delegate legal responsibility to the lift maintenance company.

Thorough Examination vs Maintenance

A common source of confusion is the difference between a maintenance contract and a thorough examination:

Maintenance focuses on keeping the lift running smoothly — adjusting door mechanisms, lubricating guides, replacing worn parts. It is carried out by the lift maintenance company.

Thorough examination is a statutory safety inspection carried out by an independent competent person. It specifically looks for defects that could lead to dangerous failure — structural deterioration, safety device malfunction, suspension rope wear. It must be independent of the maintenance provider.

You need both. One does not replace the other.

What Happens When Defects Are Found

If the competent person identifies a defect during thorough examination:

• Immediate danger — the lift must be taken out of service until the defect is rectified. The competent person must notify the duty holder immediately and may report to the HSE under LOLER Regulation 10.
• Non-immediate defect — noted in the report with a recommended timeframe for remedial action. The duty holder must arrange repair before the defect worsens.

Failing to act on a defect report is a breach of LOLER and can result in HSE enforcement action.

Wider Regulatory Context for Managing Agents

LOLER is the primary regime for lift compliance, but it sits alongside several other regulatory frameworks that managing agents need to navigate in 2026. Each affects how lift inspection is procured, evidenced, and recovered through service charges.

Building Safety Act 2022

The Building Safety Act 2022 created a new regulatory regime for higher-risk buildings — broadly, residential buildings at least 18 metres high or with at least seven storeys and at least two residential units. For these buildings, an Accountable Person (and, where multiple are involved, a Principal Accountable Person) carries ongoing duties around the building safety case, which the Building Safety Regulator can call in for review.

Lifts in higher-risk buildings sit inside the building safety case. The LOLER thorough examination evidence is what the Accountable Person will use to demonstrate the lift element of that case. Managing agents acting for clients with HRBs in the portfolio need to ensure the LOLER reporting integrates into the wider safety case documentation, not just the standard service charge compliance file.

The BSA 2022 does not replace LOLER for HRBs — both regimes apply. For buildings below the higher-risk threshold, BSA 2022 doesn’t apply but LOLER still does.

Section 20 consultation (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985)

Lift compliance work often crosses the Section 20 consultation thresholds for leasehold residential properties:

• Qualifying long-term agreements (over 12 months) trigger consultation at £100 per leaseholder per year
• Qualifying works trigger consultation at £250 per leaseholder for any individual works contract

A multi-year LOLER inspection contract covering a residential block can easily cross the long-term agreement threshold, particularly if the contract bundles inspection with other services. A failed Section 20 consultation caps recoverable cost at the contribution limits — meaning the freeholder or managing agent absorbs the difference. Plan the contract structure accordingly.

The Property Institute (TPI)

Since 2023, professional accreditation for managing agents in England and Wales has run through The Property Institute — the body formed from the merger of ARMA (Association of Residential Managing Agents) and IRPM (Institute of Residential Property Management). TPI sets professional standards for managing agents and expects members to demonstrate competence around statutory compliance including lift safety.

RICS service charge guidance

The RICS Service Charge Residential Management Code (4th edition) governs how compliance costs are recovered through service charges in residential blocks. Lift inspection contracts and the costs they generate need to be procured, documented, and disclosed in line with the Code’s transparency requirements.

For commercial premises, the RICS Service Charges in Commercial Property professional statement covers the equivalent ground for commercial service charges.

Planning Your Compliance Schedule

For a property portfolio, maintaining compliance means:

1. Maintaining a register of all lifting equipment across your buildings
2. Recording examination due dates for each item
3. Scheduling examinations before the due date (not after)
4. Retaining all examination reports for HSE inspection
5. Acting on defect reports within the specified timeframe

Looking for someone to actually inspect your equipment?

This guide covers the regulatory framework. If you’re ready to commission inspections across a block management portfolio, our property managers sector page covers what we do operationally — equipment in scope, multi-block contract pricing, Section 20-compatible contracts, RICS-aligned reporting.

For the structural case on inspector independence — what LOLER Reg 9 actually requires of a competent person, and the four common conflicts that compromise most of the UK inspection market — see our positioning page on why independence matters in statutory inspection.

Related Services

We provide thorough examinations for property and facilities managers across the South East:

• Passenger and Goods Lift Inspections — our core service for building managers
• Firefighting and Evacuation Lift Inspections — for high-rise buildings
• Lifting Equipment Inspections — dock levellers, hoists, platform lifts

Coverage areas: Kent, London, Essex.