UK Landlord Forum / Life

This has probably been asked before, please excuse me if this is so but I'm new to being a Landlord & new to this forum. I appreciate that smoke alarms & carbon monoxide alarms will be required from later this year & I want them fitted in my property. Is is allright to install battery powered alarms in rental property or must they be ;hard wired'?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I read on another forum that it was just alarms that had to be installed.  No mention of how they are powered.

Quote from: Tobyzaphod on June 02, 2015, 09:33:08 AMI appreciate that smoke alarms & carbon monoxide alarms will be required from later this year...

Can you let us know what you're referring to here, please?

I always fit a relatively inexpensive carbon monoxide alarm... a Kidde CO5 I think... can be got for about £12 and last 7 years. When your provider does a GSC for you, they'll check this item works as well (I mean, anyone can do that... but they check it and they write it down).

I think carbon monoxide alarms are needed from Oct this year on all new lets.

Hard wired smoke detectors are only a requirement in HMO's and licensed places I think.

OK, can you let us know what you've seen on this, please?

I support the idea, and do it anyway, but I've not seen anything publicised about it... are we talking about England? I think Scotland is ahead of the game in this regard, although I can't be 100% sure as I don't pay that much attention to the laws of foreign countries.

This has come about because of this   https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tenants-safer-under-new-government-measures

I believe the requirement will be to fit smoke alarms (on each floor) which comply with building regulations so mains powered if built after 1992. For carbon monoxide detectors the above link refers to solid fuel appliances but almost certainly it will include gas appliances.

The lack of clarity given to agents and landlords is unbelievable - the same applies to legionella assessments which are obviously best practice but no one seems to want to simplify it by putting safety regulations in an easy to understand format. I am a member of ARLA and I can't even get a straight answer from them!

I feel its a moral responsibility to provide gas/smoke alarms anyway, regardless of the law. I must admit though, I've not seen anything on what kind to install.

I got our local fire department to install my fire alarms. Got a cheap carbon monoxide detector too.