Get up to speed with upcoming safety rules or face fine, landlords warned

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Landlords are being urged to prepare for changes to safety regulations that introduce an obligation to repair or replace any alarm which is found to be faulty during a tenancy.

Forthcoming changes to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations are expected as soon as Autumn 2022 when carbon monoxide alarms will be mandatory in rooms with a fixed combustion appliance in private rented homes and when installing any heating appliance – excluding gas cookers. Private landlords will be expected to repair or replace alarms once told by tenants that they are faulty.

Current rules

Since October 2015, landlords have had to ensure that a smoke alarm is fitted on every floor of their property where there is a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation. They also have to put a carbon monoxide alarm in any room where a solid fuel is burnt, such as wood, coal or biomass and includes open fires, apart from gas, oil or LPG. Landlords must also ensure that the alarms work at the start of each new tenancy.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is now urging all private landlords and registered providers of social housing who would not be compliant with the updated regulations to start installation and repair of these alarms immediately, as they risk being fined for breaching the rules as soon as they come into force.

Legislation imminent

A spokesperson tells LandlordZONE: “We will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows and the changes will come into effect once regulations are made, which could be as early as Autumn 2022.”

Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, says: “The current regulations only oblige landlords to check that alarms are in working order on the first day of a new tenancy. Ahead of implementation, agents and their landlords should start now to plan for the changes and the impact on management practices going forward.”  

More information and guidance can be found here.

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