Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms mandatory from October 2022

Dear all,

Firstly, I would like to thank those of you who have already taken steps to keep your residents safe by installing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their homes.

I wrote to you on 9 March to outline the Government’s proposals to mandate smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in social homes and I promised to write to you again once the regulations had been laid to provide clarity on the proposed date they will come into force.

Today, The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022 were laid in draft before Parliament. The House of Commons and the House of Lords will now debate the regulations, and if both Houses approve them, they will come into force on 1 October 2022.

The amendment regulations will mean:

• Social landlords will be required to provide a smoke alarm on every storey of their properties where there is a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation.
• Both social and private landlords will be required to provide carbon monoxide alarms in any room of their properties used wholly or partly as living accommodation where a fixed combustion appliance is present (excluding gas cookers).
• There will be a new obligation on all landlords to repair or replace any alarm which is found to be faulty during the period of a tenancy, and landlords will be required to repair or replace alarms as soon as reasonably practicable.

This is a really important step to ensuring better quality, safer homes. I am keen to make sure residents are protected as soon as possible, and I welcome the action that many landlords have already taken to install alarms but strongly recommend that all landlords begin to take immediate action to install alarms. As explained in my previous letter, should the legislation be approved by Parliament, any landlord found to be in breach could be fined up to £5,000. As such, it is vital that your organisation prepares for these changes right away.

More detail on the changes and what you will need to do can be found alongside our consultation response here.

A new burdens assessment will be carried out to assess the impact of enforcing these measures on local authorities, and before these regulations come into force, my department will publish guidance to further support you.

If you have any questions, you can contact the team of officials overseeing the review at smokeandcarbonmonoxide@levellingup.gov.uk.

I trust this information is helpful and thank you for your engagement on this important matter.

Yours ever,
EDDIE HUGHES MP