We explore spacetime symmetries and topologies of the two metric sectors in Hassan-Rosen bimetric theory. We show that, in vacuum, the two sectors can either share or have separate spacetime symmetries. If stress-energy tensors are present, a third case can arise, with different spacetime symmetries within the same sector. This raises the question of the best definition of spacetime symmetry in Hassan-Rosen bimetric theory. We emphasize the possibility of imposing ansatzes and looking for solutions having different Killing vector fields or different isometries in the two sectors, which has gained little attention so far. We also point out that the topology of spacetime imposes a constraint on possible metric combinations.

We consider the Hassan-Rosen bimetric field equations in vacuum when the two metrics share a single common null direction in a spherically symmetric configuration. By solving these equations, we obtain a class of exact solutions of the generalized Vaidya type parametrized by an arbitrary function. Besides not being asymptotically flat, the found solutions are nonstationary admitting only three global spacelike Killing vector fields which are the generators of spatial rotations. Hence, these are spherically symmetric bimetric vacuum solutions with the minimal number of isometries. The absence of staticity formally disproves an analogue statement to Birkhoff's theorem in the ghost-free bimetric theory which would state that a spherically symmetric solution is necessarily static in empty space.

We study general properties of static and spherically symmetric bidiagonal black holes in Hassan-Rosen bimetric theory by means of a new method. In particular, we explore the behavior of the black hole solutions both at the common Killing horizon and at the large radii. The former study was never done before and leads to a new classification for black holes within the bidiagonal ansatz. The latter study shows that, among the great variety of the black hole solutions, the only solutions converging to Minkowski, anti-de Sitter, and de Sitter spacetimes at large radii are those of general relativity, i.e., the Schwarzschild, Schwarzschild-anti-de Sitter and Schwarzschild-de Sitter solutions. Moreover, we present a proposition, whose validity is not limited to black hole solutions, which establishes the relation between the curvature singularities of the two metrics and the invertibility of their interaction potential.