No access
Door not reached
Locked, occupied, refused or obstructed. Nothing is known about its condition.
Reading the report
“No Access” and Limited Findings in a Fire Door Report
Most fire door reports contain lines where a door was not reached, only seen from one side, or could not be fully assessed. Those lines are limitations, not results. This guide explains what each one means and how to close the gap without guessing.
A Limitation, Not A Result
A no-access entry tells you the inspector could not check that door. It is neither a pass nor a failure, and it should not be treated as either in a remedial programme or a fire safety file. Formal inspection reports come from the external specialist inspection contractor; Parsec Fire Doors does not issue them and does not convert unseen doors into findings.
Five Kinds Of Limited Entry
Not inspected
Outside the visit
Out of scope, missed or deferred. Check whether it should have been included.
Visual only
Limited inspection
Seen but not fully checked — for example closing or gaps not tested. Treat the result as partial.
Unknown specification
Evidence unavailable
No label, certificate or record to confirm what the doorset is. The door may still need investigation or a decision on replacement.
One face / component
Inaccessible part
One side, the head, a closer or a threshold could not be seen. Only part of the door has been assessed.
Build An Exceptions Register
Pull every limited entry into one list, keeping the report's door references exactly. For each door, record:
- Door reference and location, as in the report
- Type of limitation (from the five above)
- Reason given — locked, refused, occupied, obstructed
- Each notice and attempt made, with dates
- Constraints for the revisit — keys, escort, times, vulnerable occupier
- Planned revisit date and outcome
Separate Confirmed From Unverified
Keep confirmed defects and unverified doors in separate parts of the programme. Parsec can scope and price remedials for confirmed report lines straight away. For unverified doors, any figure should be a clearly labelled provisional allowance, not a priced remedy presented as fact — the door may need nothing, a repair or a replacement.
Our guide to what to do after a fire door inspection covers the wider remedial programme for confirmed findings.
Arrange A Targeted Revisit
Book a short, focused return visit with the external specialist inspection partner for the exceptions only, rather than repeating the whole survey. Prepare for it the same way as the first visit: notices, keys, escorts and a named contact.
The steps are set out in preparing a building for a fire door survey.
For residential buildings in England above 11 metres, the responsible person must use best endeavours to check flat entrance doors at least every 12 months and keep records of attempts where access is not granted (GOV.UK guidance, accessed 1 October 2026). Other buildings follow their own fire risk assessment. This is general information, not legal advice.
Hypothetical Example
This is an illustrative example only, not a Parsec project. A block has 40 scheduled doors. The report contains 34 inspected lines and 6 no-access entries: four flat entrance doors with no answer, one riser cupboard with no key, and one plant room door behind a locked compound.
The manager builds a six-line exceptions register, sends second notices to the four flats, obtains the riser key and arranges an escort for the plant room. The confirmed defects among the 34 inspected doors are scoped and priced as normal; the six exceptions carry no priced remedy. The partner revisits, five doors are inspected and added to the report, and one flat remains refused — recorded with every dated attempt and escalated through the management process.
Close The Gap In The Records
See fire door records and close-out for how works records are kept against door references.
- Every scheduled door reference has an outcome or a recorded exception
- Revisit results are issued by the inspection partner and filed with the report
- Completed remedials are recorded against the same references
- Outstanding refusals are dated, explained and escalated
- The register is kept with the fire safety file for the next survey
Sources
Home Office: Check your fire safety responsibilities under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 — accessed 1 October 2026.
Related Pages
Related pages for the stages before and after a report.
Frequently Asked Questions
Send Us The Confirmed Findings
Share the report and your exceptions register. We will scope and price the confirmed remedials and can arrange a revisit through our inspection partner.