Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations for Landlords in England

Your legal duty as a private landlord in England is straightforward in principle but easy to get wrong in practice. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 — tightened significantly by the 2022 amendments — set out exactly where alarms must go, when they must be tested, and what happens if they're missing.

The Two Core Rules Under SI 2015/1693

The regulations impose two separate obligations on every "relevant landlord" letting residential property in England under a specified tenancy:

Smoke alarms: At least one smoke alarm on every storey that contains a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation. That includes storeys with rooms such as converted lofts or habitable basements. The regulations do not specify the alarm's location; government guidance generally recommends placing it in a circulation space, such as a hallway or landing.

Carbon monoxide alarms: A CO alarm in every room containing a fixed combustion appliance — gas boilers, oil-fired boilers, wood-burning stoves, solid-fuel fires, pellet stoves. The one exception: rooms where the only fuel-burning appliance is a gas cooker do not require a CO alarm under these regulations (though it's still recommended practice under BS EN 50292).

What Changed in October 2022

The 2022 amendments expanded the original 2015 rules in three significant ways:

• Social housing inclusion. The alarm duties now apply to social landlords as well as private landlords — previously only the private rented sector was covered.
• CO alarms for all fuel types. Before October 2022, CO alarms were only mandatory in rooms with solid-fuel appliances. Now any fixed combustion appliance (gas, oil, or solid fuel) triggers the CO alarm duty. Gas cookers remain the sole statutory exemption.
• Duty to repair. A new Regulation 4(1)(c) requires landlords to repair or replace a faulty alarm "as soon as reasonably practicable" once notified by the tenant. This was good practice before — now it's a legal obligation.

Who Counts as a "Relevant Landlord"

Anyone who holds an interest in residential premises and lets all or part of them under a specified tenancy in England. That covers individual landlords, joint owners, trustees, and companies. A specified tenancy means any tenancy, licence, or sub-let granting the right to occupy as a main residence in return for rent.

Properties excluded from these regulations include premises for which a licence is required under Part 2 or Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004, shared accommodation with a resident landlord, long leases of seven years or more, purpose-built student halls, care homes, and NHS accommodation.

Testing and Documentation

You must ensure every required alarm is in proper working order on the first day a new tenancy begins — a physical push-button test, not just a visual check. This trigger applies to each new tenancy agreement. A statutory periodic tenancy continuing under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 does not create a fresh testing obligation, nor does a rent review with an existing tenant.

There is no official "alarm compliance certificate" form. To demonstrate what was in place if the council investigates, keep dated records: a signed check-in inventory noting each alarm's location, a push-button test result, and ideally a photograph with a timestamp.

The Penalty Framework

If your local housing authority has reasonable grounds to believe you're in breach, it serves a Remedial Notice giving you at least 28 days to fix the problem. If you fail to comply, the council may arrange remedial work and may impose a civil penalty of up to £5,000. For entry to occupied premises to carry out the work, the council must obtain the occupier's consent and give at least 48 hours' notice.

This is a civil penalty, not a criminal offence. The £5,000 cap applies per breach notice. Many councils operate tiered structures — North Tyneside starts at £1,000 for a first offence, escalating to the full £5,000 for repeat breaches.

Where This Sits Among Other Safety Obligations

These alarm regulations are one layer in a stack of landlord safety duties. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 require annual CP12 inspections by a Gas Safe engineer — but a CP12 does not replace your alarm obligations. The Electrical Safety Standards Regulations 2020 require five-yearly EICR inspections. For HMOs, local licensing conditions typically require interlinked mains-powered systems under BS 5839-6, which go well beyond the national baseline.

The alarm rules contain no cost cap and no exemption register. Unlike the MEES energy efficiency rules (which have a £3,500 spending cap), you cannot claim financial hardship to avoid fitting alarms.

Getting It Right

The practical steps are not complicated: fit the required alarms, test them on day one of each new tenancy, keep dated records, and respond promptly when a tenant reports a fault. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Rules for Landlords in England guide walks through every requirement with fillable compliance worksheets and a room-by-room mapping tool so nothing gets missed.

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