Smoke alarm responsibilities for landlords
Val Chisolm
One of the most important responsibilities as a landlord is to ensure your tenants safety throughout the duration of their tenancy. There are many different ways you can do this, but today's focus will be on smoke alarms. It is now required that a landlord is to make sure each apartment or house has a smoke alarm, and that is what we will be talking about today. As well as smoke alarms, from 1 December 2015, landlords were required to have carbon monoxide alarms installed where there was a fixed combustion appliance. This is an add on to the requirement to have smoke alarms.
Smoke alarms are required in each property, and there must be at least one on each floor of the property. It is also required that if there is more than one floor, the smoke alarms are interlinked. If as a landlord, you do not comply with this enforcement, then it is a criminal offence. If you have been served with a repairing enforcement order then you can't enter into any tenancy or occupancy with a potential tenant.
Here is a summary of what you need to do with regards to fitting alarms in your rented property
A Carbon Monoxide Alarm must be fitted in every room that has a fixed combustion appliance
At the start of each tenancy an alarm must be fitted, tested and be in full working order
There are penalties for those that do not comply with the rules. This can be anything up to £5,000.
The smoke alarms were effective from December 2015, although there is no particular smoke alarm recommended, it is suggested in the regulations that landlords should choose the best alarms for their tenants. Landlords are also encouraged to place carbon monoxide alarms in each room where there are gas appliances. As you can imagine, a smoke alarm can save lives and are an important part of a landlords responsibilities in making sure their tenants are safe. It is best practice that each smoke alarm is one which complies with British Standards – BS 5839-6:2013.
Need more advice on fitting a smoke alarm?
If you think you'd like more advice and guidance on smoke alarms, the type you need and installation, then get in touch with us here at VC Electrical and one of our team will be happy to help you. It's better to be safe than sorry, and your tenants will thank you for it. You will also avoid heavy fines and prosecution. There is too much news about tragic accidents involving tenants who've not been fitted with a smoke alarm. Don't be one of the landlords that ends up in court due to your own negligence.
Landlords Smoke Alarm Regulations
The smoke alarm regulations are there for a reason, to protect the safety of all occupants of rented accommodation, by abiding by the regulations you play your part in your duty of care towards your tenants – and that 's as it should be.