What are the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm rules for landlords, and how do you prove you tested them?

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are the cheapest safety measure a landlord will ever buy and, oddly, one of the most commonly undocumented. The alarms get fitted, the tenant moves in, and two years later nobody can say whether they were working on the day the tenancy began. That gap matters, because the duty in the law is not simply to own alarms, it is to make sure they work at a specific moment, and a specific moment is something you can only prove with a record.

What do the alarm rules require of landlords in England?

The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 set the rules for private rented homes, and they were widened from 1 October 2022 so that carbon monoxide alarms are required far more often than before. The duty falls on the landlord, not the tenant, and it applies to every tenancy in the private rented sector, with a small number of exceptions such as long leases and some shared lodging arrangements. If you let in Wales or Scotland the rules are different, so treat this as an England guide.

In plain terms there are three duties. A smoke alarm must be fitted on every storey of the property that is used as living accommodation. A carbon monoxide alarm must be fitted in any room used as living space that contains a fixed combustion appliance. And the landlord must make sure that each alarm is in working order on the first day of the tenancy, then repair or replace it once a tenant reports it faulty.

Which alarms go where?

People often get the carbon monoxide side wrong because the 2022 change was easy to miss. Before it, only rooms with a solid fuel appliance such as a wood burner or coal fire needed an alarm. Now it covers any fixed combustion appliance, which brings in gas and oil boilers and gas fires, with gas cookers the one thing left out.

What does testing on the first day of the tenancy actually mean?

The wording in the regulations is that the landlord must make sure each alarm is in proper working order on the day the tenancy begins. That means a person pressing the test button, hearing it sound, and being able to say when they did it. It does not mean the alarm was working when you bought it, or when the last tenant left, or when it was fitted three years ago.

A new tenancy restarts the duty. If the same tenant moves from a fixed term into a periodic tenancy under the same agreement, that is generally the same tenancy, but a fresh agreement with a new or different tenant is a fresh start and needs a fresh test. The sensible habit is to test at every changeover and at every inspection, whether or not the strict duty applies, because it costs a minute and produces a dated entry you will be glad to have.

Who is responsible once the tenant has moved in?

After the first day, the practical position is shared. The tenant is expected to test the alarms from time to time, replace a flat battery in a battery powered unit, and tell you if something stops working. The landlord must then repair or replace a faulty alarm, and should do it quickly, because a known fault that sits unfixed is difficult to defend.

This is where a good record earns its keep. If a tenant says they reported a dead alarm in March and nothing happened, the question is who can show what. A dated message from the tenant and a dated entry showing the replacement settles it in your favour. A vague memory of a phone call does not.

What happens if you get it wrong?

Enforcement sits with the local housing authority. If a council believes a landlord has not complied it serves a remedial notice, and the landlord then has 28 days to take the steps it sets out. If the landlord does not, the council can impose a civil penalty of up to £5,000 and can arrange for the alarms to be fitted itself.

The fine is rarely the real cost, because in a fire or an insurance claim the first question is whether you can show the alarms were there and working. For the wider idea, our guide on how to prove landlord compliance explains why the record matters as much as the work.

What proof should you keep for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms?

A trail that would stand up to a council officer, an insurer or an adjudicator holds a short list of things for each property.

1. The type and location of every alarm, with the date it was fitted and its replacement date.
2. A dated test on day one of each tenancy, with a photo of the alarm in place.
3. Any fault reported by the tenant, in their own words, with the date it arrived.
4. The repair or replacement, with a dated photo and the name of whoever did it.
5. The tenancy start date, so the test can be matched to the right tenancy.

How does Lodgic keep that record without the paperwork?

Most landlords do not skip the alarm test because they are careless. They skip the record because writing it down feels like a second job after the first one is finished. Lodgic removes that step. At a changeover or an inspection, the check is done through the same WhatsApp number used for repairs, and the alarm test is logged against the property with its date and photos. If a tenant messages to say an alarm is chirping, that message becomes the start of a job, the contractor signs it off with before and after photos, and the replacement is recorded in order.

The result is that the file builds itself while you get on with the actual work. When a council asks, or a claim lands, you open the property and the sequence is already there: tested on day one, fault reported, fault fixed, all with dates.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. The rules change and some properties, such as licensed houses in multiple occupation, carry extra requirements, so check the current position for your own property on GOV.UK or with your local council.