Following a consultation that ended back in January 2021, the government decided to make changes to the legislation around carbon monoxide and smoke alarms in England. These new laws come into force on October 1 2022.
If you’re a landlord you’re almost certainly aware of the new laws and may already have made the necessary changes to comply, but if you haven’t, you still have time. Here’s what the changes involve.
Social landlords need to install at least one smoke alarm on each storey
Private landlords have had to do this since 2015, but the government decided that there should be parity between the private and social rental sectors when it comes to safety.
All landlords must install a carbon monoxide alarm in rooms with a fixed combustion appliance
Fixed combustion appliances include gas fires and oil or gas boilers. The legislation doesn’t include gas hobs or ovens.
Any new fixed combustion appliance must be accompanied by a carbon monoxide alarm
This also excludes gas hobs and ovens, but any new boiler or burner installed must have an attendant carbon monoxide alarm installed at the same time.
Landlords must repair or replace faulty alarms once the tenant has informed them
Testing the alarms will remain the responsibility of the tenant, but once the landlord is told of a fault, they must replace or repair the alarm as soon as possible.
In addition to these legal changes, landlords must also be able to show – on the check in form – that the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms were tested on the day the tenancy started.
Other advice on alarms for landlords
It’s best practice, during the annual appliances and safety checks, to ask the contractor to test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms so that there’s an extra level of security and proof of these checks.
Although these new laws don’t advise landlords to use battery-powered or hard-wired alarms, it’s safest to use hard-wired alarms with battery backup. This is because hard-wired alarms may fail during a fire, so having the battery backup means they’ll still activate. Alarms that are solely battery-powered may simply run out of power and the tenant may forget to test, or someone may remove the batteries, so it’s easy to see how hard-wired with battery backup is the safest choice.
It’s also best of alarms are fitted to walls or ceiling so that they can’t go missing or end up moved to a location where they’re unable to detect smoke or carbon monoxide.
