Internal doors - required?

[ExpatForLife]

So the house we've just bought has a door between the hall and kitchen/diner that blocks part of the diner when it's open (and we are unlikely to keep it closed. Ultimately we would like to replace it with a pocket door but in the meantime will probably just take it off the hinges. Does this violate any fire regs? I don't want to invalidate insurance.

Apologies that this a very specific question asked very generally! I tried to Google this but came up blank.

How many floors do you have?

If three storeys or more then you need a protected stairway which generally means there needs to be a fire door between kitchen and hall.

As a temp fix could you rehang the door to open into the hall or open on the other side?

Thanks - 3 stories including the loft, so I guess it's a no go.

Meant to add - opening into the hall would block the bathroom and opening the other way would block the kitchen (it's not a big house!).

Most fires seem to start in the kitchen, so I'd say very important to retain a door - shut that door and a) you deprive oxygen to the seat of the fire and b) you prevent/slow the speed of it spreading elsewhere. I'd suggest keep and replace asap with your pocket door, make it an early job.

But lots of houses are open plan kitchen/living room/dining area including most of the new builds we have viewed recently - so no doors. I would remove the door without a second thought. Just make sure you have smoke alarms.

I don’t have doors in my kitchen. I do have a an external door though. You can be open plan and that’s ok.

Mama4321 and Tizerorfizz

Open plan is fine if two storeys. Three storeys and you need either a protected stairway (ie kitchen separated from stairs by a fire door) or a sprinkler system. The new builds may have sprinklers?