Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in 2026: what every landlord must fit
Every rented home in England needs working smoke alarms, and in the right rooms, a carbon monoxide alarm too - and it remains one of the most commonly missed basic duties landlords have. This guide covers the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, as amended in 2022, not the Renters' Rights Act. Unlike gas safety and EICR rules, nothing about this duty changed on 1 May 2026, and the £5,000 penalty did not rise with the wider increase in housing civil penalties either. It is still worth getting right: these are the cheapest compliance items on any landlord's list, and one of the easiest to be caught out on.
What the regulations actually require
Two separate duties sit inside the same regulations, and they do not cover the same rooms.
- Smoke alarms. At least one working smoke alarm on every storey of the property that has a room used as living accommodation. A hall or landing counts as a room for this purpose, so a typical two-storey house needs at least two alarms.
- Carbon monoxide alarms. One in every room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance - a gas or oil boiler, a log-burning stove, an open solid-fuel fire. Gas cookers are specifically excluded. This rule expanded on 1 October 2022; before that date it only applied to solid fuel appliances.
- Bathrooms and lavatories count as living accommodation for both rules, which surprises most landlords, who assume the duty only applies to bedrooms and living rooms.
| Alarm | Where it is required | In force since |
|---|---|---|
| Smoke alarm | Every storey with a room used as living accommodation | 1 October 2015 |
| Carbon monoxide alarm | Every room with a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers) | 1 October 2022 |
If your tenant will not let you in to fit or repair one
You are expected to take reasonable steps, not to force entry or go to court. Write to the tenant explaining that fitting or repairing the alarm is a legal requirement and is for their own safety, offer to arrange a time that suits them, and keep a dated record of every attempt. If a tenant reports a fault themselves, the first step is usually a battery change - if that does not fix it, the repair or replacement responsibility sits with you, not the tenant.
What happens if you get it wrong
Enforcement sits with the local housing authority, not the police or HSE. If an inspection finds you are not compliant, the council serves a remedial notice requiring you to install, repair or check the alarm, typically within 28 days. Ignore it and you can be fined up to £5,000, applied per breach rather than per landlord or property, so more than one missing alarm can mean more than one fine. You can appeal a penalty notice to the First-tier Tribunal. For licensed HMOs, the same alarm requirement is folded into the HMO licence conditions instead, so it is enforced there rather than under these regulations directly - but there is no version of a licensed HMO that is exempt from having working alarms.
Testing at the start of every new tenancy
The day-one test duty applies each time a fresh tenancy begins, not once per property for the life of the let. In practice, the easiest way to prove you did it is to test every alarm on move-in day and get the tenant to sign and date an inventory or checklist confirming they were working - the same document you should already be using to record meter readings and condition. Keep that record with the rest of your pre-move-in paperwork, alongside the compliance checklist, since a council investigating one gap will often ask about the others at the same time.
Build alarm testing into your move-in routine
The Complete Landlord Pack includes a Landlord Compliance Calendar and move-in checklist that covers alarm testing alongside your gas safety, EICR and EPC dates, so nothing gets missed on day one.
See the packs →Frequently asked questions
Do the alarms have to be mains-wired, or is battery fine? The regulations do not specify a type. Battery alarms are allowed, though official guidance recommends sealed-for-life battery units over ones with replaceable batteries, and alarms that meet British Standard BS 5839-6 for smoke or BS 50291 for carbon monoxide.
Does every bedroom need a carbon monoxide alarm? No. A CO alarm is only required in a room that actually contains a fixed combustion appliance. A bedroom with no boiler, fire or flue in it does not need one, even though it counts as living accommodation for the smoke alarm rule.
What if my rental has no gas, oil or solid fuel appliances at all? Then there is no carbon monoxide alarm duty, because there is no fixed combustion appliance to trigger it. The smoke alarm duty still applies regardless.
Does a decorative fireplace that is never used need a carbon monoxide alarm? Government guidance treats a genuinely non-functioning, purely decorative fireplace as outside the definition of a fixed combustion appliance - but if there is any doubt about whether it works, fit the alarm anyway.
This guide is general information for landlords in England, not legal advice for your specific circumstances. Check current guidance at gov.uk before relying on it for a specific property.