In Queensland every existing private home, townhouse and unit needs interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms by 1 January 2027, and the Queensland Fire Department says a seller may need to provide proof that the home complies. In New South Wales the rules set out here are a landlord’s duties, which apply to a home that is rented while it is on the market.
General information, not legal or fire safety advice. Queensland’s rules are from the Queensland Fire Department; NSW’s from NSW Fair Trading. A lawyer or licensed conveyancer can say what proof a particular contract calls for. Western Australia is not covered here.
3AQueensland in three dates
- July 1997Hardwired smoke alarms became a Building Code of Australia requirement, though with alarm locations that differ from today’s legislation.
- 1 January 2017New legislation required every smoke alarm to comply with Australian Standard 3786-2014. It also required existing alarms to be replaced with interconnected ones when an alarm has expired or stopped working, or when the home is converted into a rental property.
- 1 January 2027All existing private homes, townhouses, units and manufactured homes need interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms.
3BQueensland: what a seller may be asked to show
QLDThere is no need to tell the Queensland Fire Department that a home’s alarms comply. When selling a home, though, the seller may need to provide proof of compliance with the legislation.
Two of this guide’s other complications meet the alarm rules in Queensland. A home being converted into a rental property is one of the events that triggers replacement with interconnected alarms, which matters to an owner who lets the home before selling it; the sheet on selling with tenants covers the rest of a tenanted sale. And a unit falls under the same 1 January 2027 requirement as a house.
What form that proof takes, and whether a home must comply earlier because it is being sold, is not covered here; a lawyer or licensed conveyancer can say what a particular sale needs.
3CNSW: if the home is rented while it is being sold
NSWBoth landlords and tenants have duties for keeping smoke alarms working in a rental property. Landlords must make sure smoke alarms, heat alarms included, are working, and cannot hand that responsibility to the tenant in the tenancy agreement. At least one alarm must be installed on each storey, in a hallway outside a bedroom or another suitable place, and alarms cannot be removed or disabled.
Among the things NSW Fair Trading lists that landlords must do:
- repair or replace an alarm within two business days of finding out it is not working, which includes replacing a removable battery
- check smoke alarms every year to make sure they work
- replace alarms within 10 years of manufacture, or sooner if the manufacturer says so
- give at least two business days’ notice before inspecting an alarm or assessing a repair, and at least one hour’s notice before doing the work
- use a licensed electrician to repair or replace a hard-wired alarm
On the tenant’s side, tenants must tell the landlord or agent when an alarm is not working, even if only the battery needs changing. A tenant who is not a social housing tenant can choose to replace a removable battery, and then has to tell the landlord within 24 hours of doing so. If a hard-wired alarm is not fixed within 2 business days, the tenant can have it repaired or replaced by a licensed electrician. A battery-operated alarm should not be repaired unless the repair is changing its battery.
3DNSW units in a strata scheme
NSWA landlord with a property in a strata scheme must still make sure the smoke alarms installed in it are working. Tenancy agreements that started on or after 23 March 2020 have a smoke alarm section, where the landlord or agent notes whether the owners corporation is responsible for repairing and replacing the alarms.
Where the owners corporation is not responsible, the tenant can arrange a replacement alarm unit if the landlord or agent has not replaced it within 2 business days of being told it is not working, and must tell the landlord or agent within 24 hours of the work being done. The sheet on selling a strata unit covers the records a unit seller supplies.
3EThe other states
A seller in NSW whose home is not rented will not find their smoke alarm duties on this sheet: the NSW pages behind it are written for rental properties, and nothing here should be read as the rule for an owner-occupied home.
Smoke alarm rules at sale are not covered here for Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT or the Northern Territory, nor for a NSW home that is not rented. Each state’s consumer body is the place to check, starting with Consumer Affairs Victoria: preparing to sell your property, SA.GOV.AU: selling your home and NT.GOV.AU: ways you can sell your property.