Smoke & CO Alarms, and the Information You Have to Give on Day One of a Tenancy

The short answer

In England you must fit at least one smoke alarm on every storey of your rental that has a room used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance (a wood burner, a gas boiler, an open fire — but not a gas cooker). You must check every alarm is working on the first day of a new tenancy, and repair or replace one once a tenant tells you it's faulty. Fail on any of this and the council can impose a penalty of up to £5,000. Separately, when you set up a tenancy you now have to give tenants the required prescribed information — which, since the Renters' Rights Act, has changed from the old "How to Rent" arrangement.

The alarm rules, precisely

The duties come from the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, as strengthened by the 2022 amendment that took effect on 1 October 2022. As a landlord you must:

• Fit at least one smoke alarm on each storey of the property where there's a room used as living accommodation (this includes a bathroom or toilet used as living space, and a hall or landing counts as part of the storey);
• Fit a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation that contains a fixed combustion appliance — for example a solid-fuel stove, a gas boiler or a gas fire. Gas cookers are excluded;
• Make sure each alarm is in working order at the start of each new tenancy — literally test them on day one; and
• Repair or replace a faulty alarm as soon as reasonably practicable after a tenant reports it.

(Source: GOV.UK, "Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: explanatory booklet for landlords"; verified July 2026.)

The day-one check is the bit people forget. Fitting the alarms once isn't enough — the law requires them to be tested and working at the start of every new tenancy. Do the test with the incoming tenant present and make a dated note.

The penalty

Smoke and CO alarm duties are enforced by the local authority. If you don't comply with a remedial notice, the council can impose a penalty of up to £5,000. It can also arrange for the work to be carried out itself. (Source: GOV.UK, "Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: explanatory booklet for landlords"; verified July 2026.)

The tenancy information you must give — what changed

For years the routine was simple: at the start of an assured shorthold tenancy you served the government's "How to Rent" checklist, the gas safety record, the EPC and the deposit prescribed information — and serving How to Rent was one of the conditions of a valid Section 21 notice. The Renters' Rights Act has reshaped this.

• Section 21 has been abolished (from 1 May 2026), so the "serve How to Rent to keep your Section 21 valid" logic no longer applies.
• For new tenancies created on or after 1 May 2026, landlords must provide the required written information about the tenancy before it is agreed.
• For most existing tenancies, the government asked landlords to give tenants a copy of the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet (digitally or on paper) by 31 May 2026.

The safety documents haven't gone anywhere — you still provide the gas safety record, the EICR and the EPC, and you still protect the deposit and serve its prescribed information. What's changed is the checklist step: check the current GOV.UK guidance for the exact document required for the tenancy in front of you, because the position is different before and after 1 May 2026. (Source: GOV.UK, "Renters' Rights Act: an overview for landlords" and "The Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet 2026"; verified July 2026.)

Getting the alarms right in practice

The rules set a minimum; a few practical points help you meet them cleanly:

• Count storeys, not rooms. A two-storey house needs at least one smoke alarm upstairs and one down. A loft conversion or a basement used as living space is its own storey and needs its own alarm.
• Position matters. Smoke alarms are generally best on the ceiling of hallways and landings — the escape routes — so a fire is detected wherever it starts.
• Know your combustion appliances. A gas boiler, a gas fire, a solid-fuel stove or an open fire all trigger the CO-alarm requirement in that room. A gas cooker does not under these Regulations — though a CO alarm near one is still sensible.
• Faults are on the tenant to report and you to fix. Once a tenant tells you an alarm isn't working, replacing or repairing it promptly is your legal duty. Give tenants a clear way to report it.

None of this requires expensive kit — the point of the law is simply that every let has working detection where it's needed, tested at the moment a new tenant takes on the property.

Why the day-one evidence matters

If a dispute or a council inspection ever arises, the question will be whether the alarms were working at the start of the tenancy. A short dated note — "smoke alarms on both storeys and CO alarm in the boiler cupboard tested and working, [date], in the presence of the tenant" — signed on the inventory or check-in form is the simplest way to show you met the duty. It costs nothing and settles the point.

Your day-one checklist

1. Test every smoke and CO alarm with the tenant present; note the date.
2. Provide the gas safety record and a current EICR.
3. Provide the EPC.
4. Protect the deposit and serve the deposit prescribed information within 30 days.
5. Give the required tenancy information for the current rules (check GOV.UK for the correct document).

These day-one steps sit alongside the bigger changes brought in by the Renters' Rights Act and the possession rules under the revised Section 8 grounds.

Information, not legal advice. Dates and figures verified July 2026 against GOV.UK. England.