Must a landlord put smoke/CO alarms in their apartments?

Answer: Yes, a landlord must have hard-wired fire alarms in the common areas, and also, smoke detectors inside individual dwelling units.

smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector

Proof:

The state sanitary code says "see the fire regulations":

410.482: Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

(A) Owners shall provide, install, and maintain in operable condition smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in every dwelling that is required to be equipped with smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in accordance with any provision of the Massachusetts General Laws and any applicable regulations of the State Board of Fire Prevention (527 CMR), State Board of Building Regulations and Standards (780 CMR), or the Board of Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters (248 CMR).

The fire regulations are split into multiple parts.

Carbon monoxide detectors are required if there's gas burned in the building or if there's indoor parking, see section 31.04:

Smoke detectors are required in all the locations written out here, see 24.07(2). This includes protecting bedrooms inside each dwelling unit.

The only exception seems to be for studios, where you can put a detector in the stairwell for some reason.

Extra:

Landlords can require tenants to maintain the smoke detectors if it's written in the rental agreement. There are new smoke detectors with tamper-proof ten year batteries. These should be installed anywhere tenants are not reliable when it comes to replacing batteries. Many tenants will remove the batteries from a beeping detector and just operate without this life-saving equipment.

As a landlord you want to protect tenants who don't know better by making smoke detector sweeps (always give notice) or installing these tamper-proof or hardwired devices.

What Kind of Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Detectors do Landlords need to Provide?

what-kind-of-smoke-detectors

New Mass fire code effective December 1, 2016 requires landlords to update their units.

Landlords need to know what kind of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors to install in their units. Remember that just because they were legal yesterday doesn’t mean they’re legal today! Here is part of the new Mass fire code effective December 1, 2016:

13.7.5.1.1 Nonrechargeable, Nonreplaceable Battery Power Alarms/Detectors
(1) Photoelectric technology shall be required for smoke alarms and detectors
(2) A silence button shall be required on each alarm and detector device within its control panel
(3) Each smoke alarm and detector device shall be equipped with a nonrechargeable battery
(4) Each smoke alarm and detector device shall be equipped with a nonreplaceable battery
(5) All power requirements for all smoke alarms and detectors are met for at least 10 years of
battery life, including weekly testing.
(6) All power requirements for combination alarms with smoke/carbon monoxide shall be
capable of powering the unit for its service life, including testing.

In plain English: anywhere you have smoke detectors or a carbon monoxide detector, they must have a 10-year permanent battery. Also, note that ionization smoke detectors are no longer counted. Smoke detectors must use “photoelectric technology.”

On the one hand, this is bad news, because photoelectric smoke detectors are expensive, and the sudden change in Mass fire code might mean they’re going to be expensive for a while.

On the other hand, ten year batteries are good for landlords. How many times have we cleaned up after a tenant move-out only to find one or all of the smoke detectors batteryless and thrown into a closet? Chirping detectors are an annoyance, especially in the middle of the night.  Ten year batteries help us all stay a little safer with a little less work and nuisance.

So pay attention to the new Mass fire code for smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors! The lives of your customers depend on it!

Smoke Alarms vs. Fire Detectors: Which do you need, and why?

As you may have guessed, smoke alarms and fire detectors are two different things that serve two different functions. What you need depends on whether your rental unit is a single family home or a multi-unit operation.

Smoke alarms are what most people think of when they think about fire safety. The classic design is a white circular object with a red light that mounts to the ceiling. Though a smoke detector may look different from that (an increasing number of design options are available for purchase), all of them perform the same function: A smoke detector senses smoke and sounds an alarm. A smoke detector may operate on its own or may be integrated into a larger safety system that includes a fire alarm.

A fire alarm is triggered by a smoke detector going off. It sounds an alarm that alerts everyone in the building to evacuate. Each smoke detector in the building is wired into this system, and may or may not sound its own alarm as it activates the fire alarm.

What you need in your rental unit depends on its size and the year it was built. For one- and two-family units that received their building permit after 1975, smoke detectors must be hardwired to each other (if one goes off, they all go off), among other requirements. Homes built later in the twentieth century (for example, after 1997) through 2011 have even more stringent requirements for smoke and heat alarms.

Related Pages:

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16 Responses to Must a landlord put smoke/CO alarms in their apartments?

  1. Julia says:

    I’m in a 1200 sq. ft. apartment with a single smoke detector in the little space between both bedrooms/kitchen/dining room. Ju

  2. Mary Clohecy says:

    Am I responsible to pay for a faulty smoke detector that the landlord installed if it has to be replaced.

    • Doug Quattrochi says:

      Mary,

      I am not an attorney, and it sounds like there may be a real or potential disagreement between you and the landlord about whether the detector was faulty on install or somehow was tampered with or disabled afterwards. If it was faulty on install it should have been tested at install, found faulty right away, and replaced right away. Usually if they work on install they work until the battery runs out.

      Smoke detectors are a life saving matter. Do not let a debate over cost delay the replacement of the detector. Get the detector back by any means, and afterwards, decide with your landlord and/or consult with an attorney about the money and who should pay.

  3. Sara says:

    W just moved in to a managed building in Chelsea, MA and 11/03/2018 and just realized there is no Smoke/CO Alarm in any room in the apartment,
    we have checked with the manger and said “we are working on them to have them installed in December!
    What can we do since we just moved there and we already feel unsafe!
    Thank you

  4. Laura says:

    My son is in an apt on Beacon Hill. They heard a commotion in the hallway and found firemen there. An alarm went off somewhere but no alarm sounded in their apartment. Apparently there are no hardwired alarms in the building. I thought it was a law to have hardwired smoke dectectors in apartment buildings. What should they do about this? They are getting the run-around from the fire department. This is very concerning!

    • Doug Quattrochi says:

      The law is complicated, and I am not an attorney. I wouldn’t automatically assume there should have been an alarm going off in your son’s apartment. Given that it’s in Boston and Boston units must be inspected, you should contact the owner or manager, express your concerns, and ask whether they have had their unit inspected by the city; ask if you can have a copy of the occupancy certificate.

  5. Franklin White says:

    I had no idea that smoke and carbon monoxide detectors need to have a 10-year permanent battery. This is great because you never know when you’ll need them. If the battery were to die after a year or two then you could easily forget about it and nothing would warn you of carbon monoxide or smoke.

  6. Mpreet says:

    I bought the multi family house last year and before the closing they update all fire system and they install in staircase hardwire combo detector but now the fire guy said you have to change your all staircase detector and fix new photoelectric smoke detectors.why they want change..???

  7. Erin Chorlton says:

    I m Deaf and my other 3 Rommates are Deaf too and we are rent the house and we need special Deaf light flashing stobe for fire alarm we wasn’t sure who s take care of that landlord or us ?? I can’t find any by law or ADA law please let me know we are from mass

  8. Mark Lucia says:

    Who is responsible to pay for wired smoke alarms in my apartment and outside porch light? The landlord or tennant?

  9. Massachusetts needs to get its act together. says:

    Massachusetts Law Contradicts itself – in that all must be wired together to same circuit breaker — but — only one meter can be associated to one circuit breaker – meaning the other Massachusetts Law states – tenants must not pay for electricity used in other units only in their own unit – therefore all alarms in all units to one breaker to one meter – contradicts itself. two seperate state laws to seperate inspectors when fire inspector is present wire it one way, then he leaves and other inspectors for health housing show up re wire the other way — Massachusetts needs to get its act together.

  10. Massachusetts needs to get its act together. says:

    Massachusetts Law Contradicts itself — it induces a known fire hazzard into everyones home in multiple places along ceiling.

    In that the 10 year battery requirement in the smoke detector means a “ Lithium Ion Battery” for each and every detector & those batteries are highy explosive causing fires all over the country in every device they are in. If one wishes to feel safe with ordinary batteries and just change them they can not the law saya you must endanger yourself , and all the children in the housing complex.

  11. Kerrie May says:

    Erin Chorlton says: August 20, 2020 at 12:49 pm
    Your landlord is required to install Dead alarms under ADA laws.
    Many landlords don’t know where to get them
    Have the landlord (or you can do it as well) contact the MCDHH, Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for help.
    You can do that, or you can contact Deaf Inc in Brighton and ask to be signed up ASAP for Dead alert fire alarms
    Each bedroom should have a light flashing/ bed shaker fire and CO alarm kit and at least one wall alarm for common area, or one alarm for each common area on each floor if you live in a mult floor home.
    Good luck and if the landlord balks at getting the alarms, contact MCDHH and if needed, contact DLC, Disability Law Center in Boston for help.

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