In England, a private landlord must fit at least one smoke alarm on every storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in every room used as living accommodation that has a fixed combustion appliance, such as a gas boiler or a wood burner. Gas cookers are excluded. You must check the alarms work on the day each new tenancy starts, and repair or replace an alarm once you are told it is faulty. This guide sets out the rules, what counts, which alarms to buy and a simple routine for testing and keeping a record. It is general information, not legal advice.
The rules in England
The government's question and answer booklet for landlords explains the regulations. The duties are short:
- Smoke alarms. At least one smoke alarm on every storey of the home that is used as living accommodation.
- Carbon monoxide alarms. A carbon monoxide alarm in every room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance. That covers gas, oil and solid fuel appliances such as boilers, fires and stoves. Gas cookers are not included.
- Start of each tenancy. Every alarm must be in proper working order on the day the tenancy begins.
- Faulty alarms. Once a tenant tells you an alarm is faulty, you are responsible for repairing or replacing it.
GOV.UK's list of landlord responsibilities puts it in one line: you must fit and test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. These duties sit alongside your other safety checks, set out in our landlord compliance checklist for 2026.
What counts as a storey, a room and an appliance
The booklet answers the questions landlords ask most often:
- Halls and landings count as rooms. The regulations say a hall or landing is a room for these purposes.
- Bathrooms and toilets count as living accommodation. So a bathroom with a boiler in it needs a carbon monoxide alarm.
- A mezzanine floor would not generally count as a separate storey.
- A purely decorative fireplace that does not work is not a fixed combustion appliance.
- Boilers in a cupboard or a garage. The test is whether the room is used as living accommodation and contains the appliance. If in doubt, fitting an alarm costs little and removes the question.
Which lets are covered
The rules apply to private and social rented homes in England, including HMOs that do not need a licence. Licensed HMOs are exempt from the main parts of the regulations, but the regulations add similar requirements to HMO licences, so in practice the duty is much the same.
The booklet lists the main exclusions: where you share the home with the tenant or your family lives there, long leases, student halls, hotels and refuges, care homes, hospitals and hospices, low-cost ownership homes and other health-care accommodation. Owner-occupied homes are not covered.
Which alarms to fit
The regulations do not say whether alarms must be mains-wired or battery-powered in England. The booklet makes three practical points:
- If you use battery alarms, models with sealed batteries that last the life of the alarm are the better option than alarms with replaceable batteries, because tenants cannot take the battery out.
- Smoke alarms should comply with British Standard BS 5839-6.
- Carbon monoxide alarms should comply with British Standard BS 50291.
Interlinked alarms go further than the English minimum. They are required in Wales, where they must be mains-wired, and in Scotland (see below), and many landlords fit them anyway, especially in larger homes and HMOs where a fire on one floor may not be heard on another.
The check on the first day of a tenancy
The duty is to make sure each alarm works on the day the tenancy begins. That means a new tenancy, not every rent payment or renewal of the same tenancy. A short routine works well:
- Press the test button on every smoke alarm and every carbon monoxide alarm, on every floor, on the day the tenant moves in.
- Note the expiry date printed on each alarm. Carbon monoxide alarms in particular have a limited life.
- Show the tenant where each alarm is, how to test it and how to report a fault. The booklet suggests giving tenants a demonstration and instructions on how and how often to test.
- Write down what you checked, the date and who did it. A dated check-in record signed by the tenant, or photos showing each alarm and its test light, is the simplest proof.
During the tenancy
Testing an alarm needs no specialist skill, and the tenant is normally the person best placed to test it regularly. Ask tenants to test monthly and to tell you at once if an alarm does not sound. If changing the battery does not fix it, or the tenant cannot change it, the alarm must be repaired or replaced.
Treat a faulty alarm report as an urgent repair. Log the date you were told, the date it was fixed and what you did. If you use a letting agent, agree who handles alarm faults and how quickly. See our guide to working with a letting agent for how responsibilities usually split.
What happens if the rules are not met
Councils enforce the regulations. Where a council believes alarms are missing or not working, it can serve a remedial notice requiring the landlord to put things right. If the landlord does not comply, the council can impose a civil penalty. The booklet says penalties are applied per breach, and landlords can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.
Councils can also inspect rented homes under the housing health and safety rating system, which scores the hazards an inspector finds, fire among them. See HHSRS in our glossary.
Wales and Scotland
The rules are stricter outside England:
- Wales. Welsh Government guidance on fitness for human habitation says each storey must have a smoke alarm in proper working order that is connected to the electrical supply and interlinked with the other smoke alarms. A carbon monoxide alarm must be present in any room with a gas, oil or solid fuel burning appliance.
- Scotland. mygov.scot's guidance for private landlords says the property must have interlinked smoke alarms in the living room and every hallway and landing, a heat alarm in the kitchen, and a carbon monoxide detector in all spaces with a carbon fuelled appliance, such as a heater or boiler.
Keeping a record you can find later
Alarms are cheap. The hard part is proving, months later, that every alarm worked on the day a tenancy started and that a fault report was dealt with. Keep, for each property:
- a list of alarms by room and floor, with the type and expiry date;
- the dated check from the first day of each tenancy;
- each fault report and the date it was fixed;
- receipts for replacement alarms.
Alarms are one row in a longer list. Gas safety records, EICRs and EPCs come round on their own cycles: see gas safety certificate rules, EICR requirements and our landlord compliance checker for a list tailored to your property. For the quick answers, see are landlords responsible for smoke alarms? and do landlords have to provide carbon monoxide alarms?
How VoxaMTD helps
VoxaMTD's paid plans keep each property's safety duties in one place, remind you before something lapses, and keep a sealed, dated record of what was done and when. See how VoxaMTD tracks each property's certificates and checks.
Sources
All read on 2 November 2026.
- GOV.UK: The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations, Q&A booklet for the private rented sector
- GOV.UK: Renting out a property, landlord responsibilities
- Welsh Government: fitness of homes for human habitation, guidance for landlords
- mygov.scot: repairs and maintenance as a private landlord
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check your council's licensing conditions as well, as they can add requirements.