Landlords letting residential property in England have specific alarm duties, and they are duties of provision and repair rather than of a particular technology. An alarm has to be provided on each storey of the premises used as living accommodation, a carbon monoxide alarm has to be provided in any room used as living accommodation containing a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker, and both have to be repaired or replaced when a tenant reports them faulty.
Where the alarms go
One smoke alarm on each storey of living accommodation, which in a flat means at least one and in a house means one per floor. The practical siting is the circulation space, ceiling mounted, away from the kitchen and bathroom. Building guidance for new and materially altered dwellings goes further and asks for interlinked alarms, and interlinking is worth doing whether or not it is required, because it is what warns somebody asleep on another floor.
Carbon monoxide
A carbon monoxide alarm is required in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance, excluding gas cookers. That captures gas boilers in bathrooms and kitchens where those rooms are living accommodation, solid fuel appliances and gas fires. It is a separate device from a smoke alarm and it is sited according to the manufacturer's instructions rather than on the ceiling in the middle of the room.
The repair duty
The landlord must repair or replace an alarm that a tenant reports as faulty. That makes the tenant's report the trigger and the landlord's record of acting on it the evidence, which is why a simple reporting route and a log of what was done is worth setting up at the start of a tenancy rather than after a dispute.
At the start of a tenancy
The alarms must be checked to be in working order on the first day of the tenancy. Recording that check, with the date and the alarms tested, is cheap at the time and is the only evidence available later. Fitting alarms with sealed long life batteries removes the argument about who was supposed to replace a battery.
Questions people ask about smoke alarm installation london
Does an HMO have different requirements?
HMOs carry additional duties under the management regulations and, where licensable, licence conditions that commonly specify a graded system rather than individual alarms.
Do alarms have to be mains powered?
The rented property duties are about provision and working order. Building regulations for new and materially altered dwellings ask for more, and sealed battery units satisfy the letting duties.
Who checks them during the tenancy?
The tenant tests them, and the landlord repairs or replaces on report. Setting the expectation in writing at the start avoids the common misunderstanding.