Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms save lives. In rented homes, landlords carry clear legal duties to fit and keep them. Here is what the law requires. Here is
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Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms save lives. In rented homes, landlords carry clear legal duties to fit and keep them. Here is what the law requires. Here is what happens when a landlord fails, and what to do about alarms missing or dead.
The legal requirement for smoke alarms
The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022, updating the 2015 rules, make landlords in England:
- Fit a smoke alarm on every storey used as living space
- Fit a carbon monoxide alarm in any living room or bedroom holding a fixed fuel-burning appliance: a boiler, log burner, or gas fire. Gas cookers sit outside the rule.
- Test every alarm on the first day of each new tenancy, confirming it works
- Repair or replace an alarm as soon as they hear it has failed
The rules cover all residential tenancies: assured and regulated alike.
Who is responsible for alarms?
The landlord fits and tests the alarms at the tenancy's start. During the tenancy, testing shifts to you in practice. Press the test button now and then. Report any failure straight away.
Once a dead alarm gets reported, the burden shifts back. The landlord must repair or replace it fast. A landlord told of a broken alarm who does nothing breaks the rules.
What happens if a landlord fails to comply?
The council's environmental health team can serve a remedial notice on a failing landlord. No action within 28 days lets the council do the work itself, and bill the landlord.
Councils can also fine a landlord up to £5,000 for breaking the alarm rules.
Your rights as a tenant
No smoke alarms, or alarms that fail?
- Report it in writing. Keep a copy. Texting or emailing means keeping the record.
- Report it to the council's environmental health team where the landlord sits still. They can force compliance.
- Never assume someone else reported it. An alarm missing or dead means acting.
Reporting a missing or broken alarm can evict nobody. Revenge eviction over a safety complaint is unlawful.
Smoke alarms and disrepair
A missing or dead smoke alarm counts as a safety issue under the HHSRS, the system environmental health uses to rate hazards. A home lacking the required alarms may rate as hazardous. Enforcement against the landlord can follow.
A wider failure to keep the home safe, required safety kit unfitted included, can also join a bigger disrepair or fitness claim.
When should I contact Support for Tenants?
Serious disrepair beyond the alarms? We can tell you your options.
Call us on 0800 030 4669. No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.
Sources
- Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk)
Related articles
- Carbon monoxide and your landlord's duties
- Fire safety and your landlord's duties
- Gas safety and your landlord's duties
- Electrical safety and your landlord's duties
- How to request an HHSRS inspection
We review every guide at least twice a year and update it when the law changes. If you spot something out of date or wrong, email help@supportfortenants.co.uk.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 15 June 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only, not a promise; every case is different.
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