Carbon monoxide and smoke alarms to become law for landlords
Update October 2015:
- This is now law from the 1st October
- A property must have a smoke alarm on each habitable floor. it can be battery operated and does not have to be mains wired.
- A property must have a carbon monoxide alarm where there are solid fuel burning appliances i.e log burners and open fires. Not where Gas boilers are fitted but we do recommend they are. it can be battery operated and does not have to be mains wired.
The housing minister has announced this week that later this year it will be a requirement for all landlords to install not only smoke alarms but also carbon monoxide alarms where there is SOLID FUEL heating in their rental properties. This was the requirement when the legislation was announced in March which would mean open fires, log burners and aga’s that are wood and coal burning. At the moment the wording does not cover gas applances such as gas boilers, gas fires and gas hobs/cooker. We think this is an oversight and might be amended to include these before October.. We have discussed this before and the article can be found here Smoke Alarms in rented property
It is believed that a smoke alarm will be required on each floor of a property and it is claimed that these measures will help to prevent up to 36 deaths and 1,375 injuries every year. Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms will require checking before each new tenancy.
Failure to follow these guidelines would lead to a £5,000 civil penalty.
Belvoir Dunstable will always install at least one smoke alarm if the landlord has failed to do so after we have advised that they should be fitted.
It is and will be the responsibility of the tenant to test regularly and replace batteries when required although an agent should also check them during their regular visits/inspections.
Needless to say that Fire Chiefs have welcomed this new legislation and have been requesting this for a number of years.
