Who maintains smoke alarms in a rental property?

Smoke alarm obligations in rentals have been tightened across Australia over the last decade, and the direction has consistently been to move responsibility onto the lessor rather than the tenant.

The usual division

• The landlord installs alarms that comply with the state's requirements, which increasingly means interconnected photoelectric alarms.
• The landlord tests and cleans them at defined points, commonly at the start of each tenancy and annually.
• The landlord replaces alarms at end of life and replaces batteries in most states.
• The tenant must not remove, disable or tamper with an alarm, and must report a fault promptly.

Queensland is the strictest

Queensland has legislated the most extensive requirements in the country, including interconnected photoelectric alarms in all dwellings with staged compliance dates tied to sale, lease and new builds. If you own or rent a Queensland property, check the current position with the state rather than assuming an older arrangement still complies.

Every alarm carries a manufacture date and a service life, commonly ten years. An alarm that beeps when tested is not necessarily an alarm whose sensor still works, which is why replacement is on a date rather than on failure.