Keeping your tenants safe and your property legal is all part and parcel of being a landlord.

The NSW legislation on smoke alarms is very clear – alarms must be installed in all buildings in NSW where people sleep. The smoke alarms must meet the requirements of Australian Standard AS 3786, Smoke Alarms.

While the NSW legislation provides for a minimum level of protection; the Fire and Rescue NSW recommends owners and occupants consider higher levels of protection.

Smoke alarms must be installed on every level of a home, including owner occupied homes, rental properties, relocatable homes, caravans and camper-vans or any other residential building where people sleep.

NSW legislation mandates it is the landlord’s responsibility for ensuring the property meets the minimum requirement of having at least one working smoke alarm installed on every level of the property.

Fitting the smoke alarm

As a landlord, you are responsible for the installation of smoke alarms in rented premises. Landlords do have the right of access to rented premises to fit smoke alarms after giving the tenant at least two days’ notice.

According to NSW legislation, neither the landlord nor the tenant are, except with reasonable excuse, permitted to remove or interfere with the operation of a smoke alarm fitted in the rented premises.

Replacing batteries

Where a smoke alarm has a replaceable battery, the landlord must put a new battery in at the commencement of a tenancy.

After the tenancy begins, the tenant is responsible for replacing the battery, if needed, in battery-operated smoke alarms. Hard-wired smoke alarm back-up batteries are to be replaced by the landlord.

If the tenant is physically unable to change the battery the tenant is required to notify the landlord as soon as practicable.

Tenancy agreement

The condition report section of the tenancy agreement must include a specific reference to smoke alarms so that tenants and landlords are able to note and comment on the presence of smoke alarms at the beginning and end of the tenancy.

Owners of residential properties who rent out their premises as holiday accommodation are responsible for installing smoke alarms and replacing batteries.

Maximum life span

The Australian Standard 3786 stipulates the maximum life span of ANY alarm, be it hard wired, lithium or 9v battery operated is 10 years. To ensure we have the best protection, we recommend the alarm should be changed every 8 to 10 years. If you have a hardwired smoke alarm aged 8-10 years old, we can arrange for our experienced electrician to replace them.

For battery-operated alarms, we also have a very reputable company who looks after these annually for only $99.

For more information about the legalities around smoke alarms visit https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/page.php?id=439 or call the Smoke Alarms Helpline on 1300 858 812 for more information.

Keeping your property legal and safe are just one of the many things we manage! If you want to know more about our services, give us a call on 02 4954 8833 or pop into our Cardiff office for a chat. Or send us an email to: mail@apnewcastle.com.au – we’d love to hear from you.

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