What are the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm rules for landlords?

Landlords in England must fit a smoke alarm on every storey with living space. Since 1 October 2022, any room used as living accommodation with a fixed fuel-burning appliance, except a gas cooker, also needs a carbon monoxide alarm.

The rules are in the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, in force since 1 October 2015 and widened on 1 October 2022. They cover private and social rented homes, and local councils enforce them. The details below follow the regulations on legislation.gov.uk and the government's Q&A booklet, as checked on 17 October 2026.

The four duties

A few definitions matter. A bathroom or lavatory counts as living accommodation, and a hall or landing counts as a room. A fixed combustion appliance is anything fixed that burns fuel to make heat: a gas or oil boiler or a log-burning stove, for example. The booklet says a purely decorative fireplace that does not work is not one. A mezzanine floor is not a storey.

HSE's gas safety guidance repeats the carbon monoxide rule.

Which lets are covered

Regulation 2 says the rules cover a tenancy of a home in England that lets the tenant live there as their only or main residence and charges rent, whether or not it is a market rent. The booklet lists these exclusions:

• living with the landlord or the landlord's family, sharing a kitchen or living room
• long leases
• student halls of residence
• hotels and refuges
• care homes, hospitals and hospices
• low-cost home ownership, and other accommodation linked to health care

Licensed HMOs are outside these regulations, because HMO licence conditions impose similar requirements.

What counts as a new tenancy

The day-one check is needed for each new tenancy granted on or after 1 October 2022. A tenancy does not count as new if it was granted under an agreement made before that date, or if it follows straight on from an earlier one between the same landlord and tenant, for the same or substantially the same premises. The tenancy begins on the day the tenant is entitled to possession, usually move-in day, so the check must be done on that day.

The booklet says it is your responsibility to keep a record of when alarms are tested, and the council decides whether your evidence is enough. It suggests one way: go through the inventory with the tenant on the first day and have them sign to confirm the alarms were tested and work.

What this means for you

Picture a two-storey house with a gas boiler in the kitchen, a wood-burning stove in the lounge and a gas hob. You need a smoke alarm on each floor, a carbon monoxide alarm in the kitchen for the boiler and one in the lounge for the stove. The hob needs none. If a new tenant moves in on 1 February 2027, test every alarm that day and keep a record, such as a signed inventory.

If a council has reasonable grounds to think you are in breach, it must serve a remedial notice. You then have 28 days from when it is served to do the work, and you can make written representations in the same 28 days. If you fail to comply, the council can charge up to £5,000. You are not treated as failing to comply with the notice if you can show you took all reasonable steps, and if a tenant will not let you in, you are not expected to go to court to get access. Write to the tenant, offer convenient times and keep a record of every attempt.

Steps to check your alarms

1. Walk each property and list every storey with a room used as living accommodation. A bathroom or lavatory counts.
2. Fit a smoke alarm on each of those storeys, usually on the ceiling of a hall or landing.
3. List every fixed appliance that burns fuel, apart from gas cookers, and fit a carbon monoxide alarm in each room that has one.
4. Choose alarm types that suit the tenants, such as flashing or vibrating alarms for someone who is deaf.
5. Test every alarm on the first day of each new tenancy and keep a record, for example a tenant-signed inventory.
6. Consider showing the tenant how to test the alarms, and fix any reported fault as soon as reasonably practicable.

Rent from your lets may also bring you into Making Tax Digital; the free MTD check shows when. The landlords section has guides on the other safety duties, including the yearly gas safety check.