There is no smoke alarm on your landing. Or there is a wood burner in the living room and nothing on the wall to warn you if it leaks carbon monoxide. You mentioned it when you moved in. Nothing happened.
In England, this is not a grey area. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, tightened in October 2022, require your landlord to fit smoke alarms on every storey and carbon monoxide alarms in rooms with fuel-burning appliances. The alarms must be working on the first day of your tenancy, and faults must be fixed once you report them. A landlord who ignores the council over it faces a penalty of up to £5,000.
What smoke alarm rules apply to rented homes in England
Your landlord must install at least one smoke alarm on every storey that has a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation. A two-storey house needs at least two.
The landlord must also check that every alarm is in working order on the day a new tenancy begins. If you moved in, pressed the test button and heard nothing, the landlord was already in breach.
Battery-powered and mains-wired alarms both count. The regulations do not specify a type, though government guidance recommends sealed long-life batteries.
Since 1 October 2022 the rules cover housing associations and council landlords too. They apply in England only. Wales has its own requirements, covered in the FAQ below.
Which rooms need a carbon monoxide alarm in a rented house
Since 1 October 2022, your landlord must fit a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance. In plain terms, any room where something installed burns fuel.
A gas boiler in the kitchen, a wood burner in the living room, a gas fire in a bedroom, an oil-fired boiler in a utility room. Each of those rooms needs its own alarm.
There is one exception. A gas cooker on its own does not trigger the requirement, so a kitchen where the hob and oven are the only fuel-burning appliances does not need one.
Before October 2022 the duty only covered solid fuel appliances like log burners. The amendment extended it to gas and oil, so a tenancy that was compliant in 2021 may not be now. A gas boiler in a room you live in, with no alarm near it, is a breach today.
Who is responsible for fixing a broken smoke alarm
During the tenancy, testing the alarms falls to you. Government guidance suggests pressing the test button monthly and swapping replaceable batteries yourself if you can.
If the alarm still fails after a battery change, or you cannot reach it safely, report it to your landlord in writing, even a short text, so there is a record of the date.
From that point the duty shifts. Since 1 October 2022, once a tenant reports a faulty alarm, the landlord must check it and repair or replace it as soon as reasonably practicable. That does not mean at the next inspection. For a job that takes ten minutes and costs under £30, a delay of weeks is hard to defend.
How to report a landlord with no smoke alarms to the council
If your landlord will not install or fix the alarms, contact the environmental health or private housing team at your local council. The council enforces the regulations, and the process has teeth.
Where the council has reasonable grounds to believe a landlord is in breach, it must serve a remedial notice within 21 days of forming that view. The landlord then has 28 days from the notice to put things right. Miss that deadline and the council can fine the landlord up to £5,000 per breach and arrange the work itself with your consent.
Keep your written report and any reply. The council will want to see that the landlord had a chance to act first. Our guide on how to report a landlord to the council walks through the process step by step.
Can you claim compensation for missing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
The honest answer first. The £5,000 penalty goes to the council, and the alarm regulations do not create a standalone right to compensation. On their own, missing alarms put no money in your pocket.
But missing alarms rarely travel alone, and they matter to claims you can bring. Fire and carbon monoxide are both hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System in the Housing Act 2004, the framework councils use to assess homes. And under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, you can sue a landlord whose property is not fit to live in, with fire safety among the factors a court considers.
A landlord who never fitted alarms has often skipped other duties too. No gas safety certificate, no electrical safety report, unresolved damp or a broken boiler. Each documented failure strengthens your position, and the disrepair issues themselves can be worth a percentage of your rent in compensation.
The 5-minute alarm audit every renter should do
You can check your own home tonight.
- Count the storeys you live on. Each one should have a smoke alarm, usually on the hall or landing ceiling.
- Note any room with something fixed that burns fuel. Boiler, wood burner, gas fire, open fireplace in use. Each needs a carbon monoxide alarm. A gas cooker alone does not count.
- Press the test button on every alarm you find.
- Photograph anything missing or dead, with a timestamp.
- Report faults or gaps to your landlord in writing and keep a copy.
Anything failing that list is a breach you can take to the council, and evidence worth keeping if you have wider problems with the property.
If the alarms are one item on a longer list of things your landlord has not dealt with, Remedy can review your tenancy, spot the safety and disrepair breaches together, and tell you what a claim could be worth.
