Smoke alarms - how many in a house?

[smartysleek]

I'm renting out my house - it's to be an AST to a single tenant (not HMO).

I have installed a smoke alarm downstairs - do I need one upstairs as well?

Any thoughts on this would be great!

Cheers!

[crazywoman]

hi we had the fire brigade in recently to have smoke alarms fitted and if the property is a basic 2 up 2 down you have to have one at the bottom of the stairs and one at the top of the stairs on the landing where it can be heard

[smartysleek]

Did you have the electric/mains fitted in your house? My house was built in the early 70s, so I'm not sure if it's okay to have those battery operated ones?

Looks like I gotta get another one for the landing upstairs pronto :D

[crazywoman]

no the smoke alarms are only operated by batteries but the fire brigade do advise people to check them once a week and change the batteries every 3 months just to be on the safe side

[smartysleek]

Will you be getting your tenants to change the batteries or is that something you do for them. I've seen a 'Smoke Alarm letter' somewhere on the Internet some time ago which you sign & the tenant signs, in there it says that it's the tenant's obligations to change the batteries should it be 'dead'.

I can't remember what it says on my tenancy agreement - but I need to double check on that too. Good thing for this forum - I learn so much here!

[crazywoman]

im not a landlord but i was advised to check it once a week i think its the better to be safe than sorry option you dont have an obligation to change the batteries but just remind tenants to check and change the batteries to make sure it works not only for there piece of mind but yours to

[Energise]

Will you be getting your tenants to change the batteries or is that something you do for them. I've seen a 'Smoke Alarm letter' somewhere on the Internet some time ago which you sign & the tenant signs, in there it says that it's the tenant's obligations to change the batteries should it be 'dead'. !

You can get smoke alarms that plug into a light fitting under the lampshade, when the light is on they are automatically recharged.

[Ericthelobster]

Did you have the electric/mains fitted in your house? My house was built in the early 70s, so I'm not sure if it's okay to have those battery operated ones?

Looks like I gotta get another one for the landing upstairs pronto :D

There's actually no legal obligation to fit smoke alarms at all, whether your property is rented or not (I'm not talking about HMOs by the way); although of course you'd be a complete fool not to do so.

Current building regs specify mains powered alarms with battery back-up, and yes, they need to be on both floors (and there are other rules about positioning too. All in here if you're interested: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/pub/521/ApprovedDocumentBFiresafety2000editionconsolidated with2000and2002_id1161521.pdf)

I think in the current litigous climate anyone would be well advised to get their tenant to sign a release form in respect of the smoke alarm; a simple form stating that they acknowledge they have been shown that the alarms work, and that they will be responsible for weekly testing of the alarm and any replacement of batteries. Sadly, I suspect that in the event of a tenant being injured in a fire, the LL would be more vulnerable to being sued if there was a non-working alarm fitted than if there was no alarm present at all ("But your honour, I thought the landlord would check it and change the batteries...)

[smartysleek]

Wow auto recharge smoke alarms? That's a brilliant idea! I'll definitely look that up :)

[smartysleek]

Ahh..yes that's it - the smoke alarm release letter. My head is doing me in today - but thank you everyone for your replies. The replies are mega quick! Ericthelobster - thank you so much for the link, I'll bookmark that right now ;)

[Energise]

Wow auto recharge smoke alarms? That's a brilliant idea! I'll definitely look that up :)

http://www.fireangeldirect.co.uk/section.php?xSec=3&referrer=google&engine=adwords!5122&keyword=%2Aplug+in+smoke+alarm%2A&match_type=


Tesco, B&Q etc.