Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations for Landlords 2026: Requirements, Fines and Best Practice

What the law requires

The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022 set out the legal requirements for alarms in private rented properties in England. These regulations updated the original 2015 rules and significantly expanded the scope of what landlords must provide.

Since 1 October 2022, every landlord must:

• Install at least one smoke alarm on each storey of the property that is used as living accommodation
• Install a carbon monoxide alarm in any room that contains a fixed combustion appliance (except gas cookers)
• Test every alarm on the day a new tenancy begins and ensure it is in proper working order

This applies to all tenancies — not just new ones. If you have a long-standing tenant who moved in years ago, the property still needs to meet these requirements.

What changed in 2022

The original 2015 regulations only required carbon monoxide alarms in rooms with a solid fuel appliance (wood burner, coal fire, etc.). The 2022 amendment extended this to all fixed combustion appliances, which now includes:

• Gas boilers (including combi boilers)
• Gas fires
• Oil boilers
• Wood burners and multi-fuel stoves
• Open fires

The only exception is gas cookers — no carbon monoxide alarm is required in a kitchen solely because it has a gas cooker.

This was a significant change. Most rental properties in England have a gas boiler, which means most rental properties now need at least one carbon monoxide alarm that they may not have needed before 2022.

Where exactly do alarms need to go?

Smoke alarms

One smoke alarm is required on each storey used as living accommodation. This includes:

• Ground floor
• First floor
• Any additional floors including loft conversions used as bedrooms
• Basements used as living space

"Living accommodation" means any area used for sleeping, cooking, or living. A storey used only for storage does not count.

The regulations do not specify exactly where on each storey the alarm must be placed, but best practice is:

• Hallways and landings — the most common and effective location
• Outside bedrooms — so occupants are alerted while sleeping
• Away from kitchens and bathrooms — to avoid false alarms from steam and cooking

Carbon monoxide alarms

One carbon monoxide alarm is required in any room containing a fixed combustion appliance. This means:

• If the gas boiler is in the kitchen — CO alarm in the kitchen
• If the gas boiler is in a utility room — CO alarm in the utility room
• If there is a gas fire in the living room — CO alarm in the living room
• If there is a wood burner in a bedroom — CO alarm in that bedroom

If the boiler is in an airing cupboard or enclosed space within a room, the alarm goes in the room that the cupboard opens into.

Fines and enforcement

Enforcement sits with the local housing authority (your local council). The process works like this:

1. 1The council identifies non-compliance — usually through a tenant complaint, a routine inspection, or an HMO licensing check
2. 2A remedial notice is issued — giving you 28 days to install the required alarms
3. 3If you fail to comply — the council can enter the property, fit the alarms themselves, and issue a fine of up to £5,000

The fine is per offence. If you have multiple properties without compliant alarms, each property is a separate breach.

It is worth noting that the fine is for failing to comply with a remedial notice — not for the initial absence of alarms. In practice, this means you get one chance to fix it. But relying on that grace period is risky: if a fire or CO incident occurs in a property without compliant alarms, the legal and insurance consequences are severe regardless of whether a notice was issued.

Insurance implications

Most landlord insurance policies require you to maintain the property in compliance with all applicable regulations. If a fire or carbon monoxide incident occurs in a property without the required alarms:

• Your buildings and contents claim can be refused
• Your public liability cover may be voided
• You could be left personally liable for tenant injury or death

This is the risk that makes the £20–£50 cost of a few alarms look trivial.

What type of alarm should you install?

The regulations do not mandate a specific type of alarm, only that smoke and CO alarms are installed and working. However, the type you choose matters for reliability, maintenance, and future-proofing.

Smoke alarms

Recommendation: For existing rental properties, sealed 10-year lithium battery alarms are the practical sweet spot — no annual battery changes, tamper-resistant, and affordable. For refurbishments or new additions, go hard-wired interlinked. The Decent Homes Standard (coming under the Renters' Rights Act) will push the sector toward hard-wired interlinked alarms, so fitting them now is future-proofing.

Carbon monoxide alarms

Important: All CO alarms have a limited sensor life, typically 7–10 years. Even hard-wired units need replacing when the sensor expires. The expiry date is printed on the alarm — this is the date you need to track, not the installation date.

Testing requirements

You must test every smoke and carbon monoxide alarm on the day the tenancy starts (known as the "check-in" date). This means:

• Press the test button on each alarm
• Confirm it sounds correctly
• Document that the test was carried out

The regulations do not require you to test alarms during an ongoing tenancy — that responsibility passes to the tenant once they have moved in. However, you remain responsible for ensuring the alarms are installed and were working at the start of the tenancy.

Best practice for agencies: Test alarms during every routine inspection, not just at tenancy start. Document it with a photo or a note in your compliance records. If a dispute arises later, you want evidence that the alarms were present and working at every touchpoint.

How this fits into the bigger compliance picture

Smoke and CO alarms sit alongside 10+ other compliance obligations that letting agencies must track across their portfolio. Gas safety certificates expire annually. EICRs every 5 years. EPCs every 10 years. Smoke and CO alarms have their own replacement cycle based on the sensor or battery expiry date.

The challenge is not any single obligation — it is tracking all of them across dozens or hundreds of properties, each on different timelines.

Tools like Proplio track smoke and CO alarm compliance alongside every other certificate type in your portfolio. Every property is colour-coded red, amber, or green based on its compliance status, and you get automatic email reminders at 90, 60, 30, 14, and 7 days before anything expires. When an alarm is approaching its replacement date, you know about it well in advance — not when a tenant reports a beeping alarm or a council inspector flags it.

The Decent Homes Standard and what is coming next

The Renters' Rights Act 2026 will apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. While the exact requirements are still being finalised, the direction is clear:

• Hard-wired interlinked smoke alarms are likely to become the minimum standard
• Properties that currently rely on battery-only alarms may need upgrading
• The standard will be enforced through the PRS Database and local authority inspections

If you are fitting or replacing alarms now, choosing hard-wired interlinked systems avoids having to upgrade again in the near future.

Key takeaways

• Every rental property needs a smoke alarm on each storey and a CO alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance (except gas cookers)
• This has applied to all tenancies since October 2022 — not just new ones
• Alarms must be tested on the day the tenancy starts
• Fines of up to £5,000 for failing to comply with a remedial notice
• CO alarm sensors expire after 7–10 years regardless of power source — track the expiry date, not the install date
• Sealed 10-year lithium alarms are the practical choice for most properties today
• Hard-wired interlinked alarms are the future — the Decent Homes Standard will likely require them

*This article is for general guidance and applies to England. Regulations may differ in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Always check current requirements with your local authority or a qualified adviser.*