Martyn's Law for landlords and property owners

The short answer

Martyn's Law, the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, places its duties on the responsible person. For qualifying premises, that is the person with control of the premises for their use as a shop, pub, venue or other use listed in Schedule 1 to the Act. It is not the owner simply because they own the freehold.

In most let property, the tenant or operator runs the premises day to day, decides who can come in and who must leave, and is therefore the responsible person. The landlord is usually not. But landlords still have a part to play. They often control shared areas, exits and structural changes, and section 8 of the Act requires anyone with some control over enhanced tier premises or a qualifying event to co-operate with the responsible person.

Premises are in scope if 200 or more people, including staff, can reasonably be expected to be present at the same time, from time to time. The standard tier covers 200 to 799 and the enhanced tier 800 or more. The duties are not yet in force and are expected to start in spring 2027.

The control test: owner, tenant or operator?

The Home Office statutory guidance says a person in control will ordinarily have physical possession of the premises at the relevant time, with the right and ability to make decisions about their management and use, particularly about who may or may not remain on site. Control does not require ownership or exclusive rights, and can be held by a leaseholder or licence holder. The guidance also says identifying the responsible person is defined by the Act and is not a matter of choice.

The guidance gives three examples that matter to landlords:

• A company leases a building and runs it as a shop. The company is responsible, not the building owner.
• A pension fund owns a retail park as an investment and uses a property management company to let the units. Each retailer controls its own unit and is the responsible person for it.
• A brewery or pub company owns a pub and holds the licence, but a tenant runs it. The tenant is responsible because the tenant is in control. The original guidance said the brewery was responsible. A correction slip published on 6 August 2026 reversed this.

Arrangements such as management agreements, franchises and operating contracts can blur the picture. The guidance does not give an example for every structure. Ask who actually has possession and makes the day-to-day decisions about running the premises and admitting people. Where more than one party genuinely shares control, each can be a responsible person, and section 8 then requires them to co-ordinate. Our guide on who the responsible person is covers the test in more depth.

What a lease does and does not change

A lease cannot simply assign the legal duty. Who is responsible depends on control, and the guidance says the responsible person cannot delegate legal responsibility to a contracted service provider, although tasks can be delegated. A clause saying "the tenant is responsible for Martyn's Law" does not make the tenant responsible if, in practice, the landlord runs the premises.

What a lease can do is shape the practical relationship. It can set out who looks after shared exits, who can approve changes to doors and locks, how key holders are contacted out of hours, and how the parties will share information. The guidance expressly recognises lease terms as one way that larger premises can secure co-operation from occupiers inside them, and it compares hire contracts with the arrangements that already cover health and safety and fire safety.

Watch for changes in control during the life of a lease. When a tenant leaves and you take premises back, re-let them, or run them yourself for a period, the responsible person can change. Section 9 of the Act requires a person who becomes, or ceases to be, responsible for qualifying premises to notify the Security Industry Authority (SIA). The notification regulations (SI 2026/793) require notification per premises, and changes within 28 days. Make sure handovers include this step on both sides. See our guide to notifying the SIA.

Multi-let buildings and common parts

In a multi-let building, the landlord or its managing agent often controls the lobbies, malls, service corridors, stair cores and shared fire exits. Whether that makes the landlord a responsible person depends on whether those areas form qualifying premises in their own right.

• Shopping centres, market halls and food halls run by the landlord: the guidance treats the operator as responsible for the centre, because it controls the common areas, entrances and exits. The centre's headcount includes everyone in its units, so many centres will be enhanced tier.
• Mixed-use buildings: a block of flats or offices with a ground floor café is not, as a whole, used wholly or mainly for a listed use. The café is assessed on its own, and the landlord is not responsible for it.
• Retail parks with separate buildings: the guidance's own example says each retailer controls its unit and is responsible for it, even though a pension fund owns the park and a property manager lets it.

Even where you are not a responsible person, your tenants' procedures may depend on parts of the building you control. A lockdown that relies on a shared door, or an evacuation route through a service yard, only works if you know about it. The guidance encourages neighbouring premises to work together on communication and run-throughs, even where there is no legal duty. Our guide to shopping centres and shared buildings goes further on counting and co-ordination inside centres.

The section 8 duties: co-ordinate and co-operate

Section 8 of the Act contains two separate duties, and it helps to keep them apart.

Both duties apply so far as reasonably practicable. The guidance names "a building owner who has leased the premises to a separate operator" and "a landowner who has given permission for a qualifying event to take place on their land" as examples of people who must co-operate.

The guidance's main example involves an enhanced tier art gallery that wants concrete planters to protect against a vehicle attack. Its lease requires freeholder consent for structural alterations. The freeholder must co-operate with, and consider, the request so far as reasonably practicable. That does not mean agreeing to everything. What is reasonably practicable is weighed against cost, time and difficulty. But a landlord cannot ignore a reasonable request, or refuse without proper consideration.

Landlords who let land or buildings for large one-off events should note that a qualifying event can arise at premises that are otherwise out of scope. If you let a site to an organiser who takes control for an event of 800 or more with entry checks, the organiser is the responsible person for the event, and you must co-operate with them. See our guide to qualifying events.

What landlords should do now

1. List your buildings with a public-facing use: shops, restaurants, bars, venues, gyms, hotels, attractions and similar.
2. For each, note who has day-to-day control, and whether you control any shared areas, exits or access routes.
3. Flag premises likely to hold 200 or more people at their busiest, including staff. Your tenants are best placed to give you numbers, and our free tier checker gives a quick first view.
4. Identify premises that may be enhanced tier, and any where you let land or buildings for large events. These are where the co-operation duty bites.
5. Name a contact in your organisation or managing agent who will handle tenants' Martyn's Law requests, and keep a record of requests and responses.
6. Make sure out-of-hours key holder and site contacts for shared areas are up to date and shared with tenants who rely on them.
7. Review your template leases and handover checklists ahead of new lettings and renewals, with your solicitor.

If you operate any premises yourself, such as a shopping centre, a market or a building you manage directly, you may be a responsible person with your own duties to notify the SIA and put procedures in place. Our shops and retail page and the guide to standard and enhanced tier duties explain what that involves.

Lease points to discuss with your solicitor

There is no standard Martyn's Law lease clause, and the right wording depends on the property, the use and the tier. These are topics landlords and tenants may want to raise with their own solicitors. They are not legal advice or recommended drafting.

• Who is expected to be the responsible person for the premises, recorded as a statement of the parties' understanding, recognising that control in practice decides it.
• Information sharing: tenants telling the landlord whether the premises are in scope and their tier, and the landlord sharing details of shared areas and building-wide procedures.
• Co-operation with building-wide procedures, especially where the landlord operates enhanced tier premises around the unit, such as a shopping centre.
• A process and timescale for tenants to request consent for security-related alterations, such as changing locks or door hardware, and how costs are shared.
• Access to and use of common parts, shared exits and safer areas during an emergency.
• Out-of-hours contacts and key holding for shared doors and shutters.
• Confidentiality of security information, such as floor plans and procedures. The guidance warns against sharing these more widely than needed.
• Handover on assignment, surrender or expiry, including reminders about SIA notifications by the outgoing and incoming responsible person.

Our packs include a short co-ordination log and a template letter for exchanging procedure outlines between landlords and tenants, which may be a useful starting point for those conversations. See our packs.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the owner or licence holder is automatically responsible. The pub correction shows the Home Office means control.
• Assuming a lease clause moves the duty. It does not if control sits elsewhere.
• Forgetting that you may become responsible when you take premises back and run them.
• Ignoring requests from enhanced tier tenants. The co-operation duty requires real consideration.
• Sharing tenants' security procedures widely with contractors, agents or other occupiers who do not need them.
• Leaving shared doors and exits out of everyone's plans, so that nobody is clear who secures them in a lockdown.

For a wider view of who does what across a property portfolio, the guide to qualifying premises explains how premises, parts of buildings and groups of buildings are treated.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, section 8 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, Schedule 1 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Home Office statutory guidance, corrected August 2026 (GOV.UK PDF)
• The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) (Notification Requirements) Regulations 2026 (legislation.gov.uk)