Under new rules that come into effect from October 2015, landlords will have a legal obligation to install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties.
If landlords fail to comply they could face fines of up to £5,000, so they are being urged to implement the changes now, ahead of the deadline.
Carbon monoxide is a highly poisonous gas that cannot be seen, smelled or tasted, and as a result it is very difficult to discover its presence before it has poisoned people, unless a detector is in place.
26 people die and 670 are injured every year by smoke and carbon monoxide poisoning, as indicated by the latest Government figures.
Stephen Williams, minister for communities, said: “People are at least four times more likely to die in a fire in the home if there’s no working smoke alarm.
“That’s why we are proposing changes to the law that would require landlords to install working smoke alarms in their properties so tenants can give their families and those they care about a better chance of escaping a fire.”
Once the new rule has been implemented, landlords will have to install a smoke alarm on every floor of their property where a room is used as living accommodation, and they will also have to test them at the start of every new tenancy.
However, it remains a tenant’s responsibility to ensure that the alarms are maintained and regularly tested while they are living in the property.
A tenant is not required to check the property’s alarms by law; however, the legal stance makes it clear that it is not a landlord’s responsibility to check alarms throughout a tenancy.
From October, landlords will also have to install a carbon monoxide alarm in any room that is used as a living space and also contains a solid fuel heating system.
There are a few exemptions to the rules, such as when lodgers live in a landlord’s private home.
It is hoped that the legislation change will mean that private rented properties will meet the same standard as new-build properties, which have hard-wired smoke alarms installed as standard, to fulfil building regulations.
The new law will be enforced by local authorities.
If authority representatives have reason to believe that the appropriate alarms have not been installed, or if they have not been tested, the landlord will be served with a warning to make the necessary changes within 28 days.
The local authority will have the right to obtain a tenant’s permission to enter a property in order to install smoke or carbon monoxide alarms, if a landlord fails to act on the warning.
In this eventuality, the landlord would also be given a penalty fine up to the value of £5,000, though an appeal can be lodged during the process.