New smoke and carbon monoxide rules for renting properties in Wales
The Welsh Government have announced that fire safety changes to the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 will come into force on 15th July 2022.
Fires cause damage to property and countless tragedies every year, Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are a simple precaution that prevents fires from starting in the first place and escalating into a devastation fire.
Landlords in Wales must comply with the renting homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) regulations 2022 section 5 which states:
Rented properties Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms
5.(1) The landlord must ensure that, during each period of occupation, on each storey of the dwelling there is a smoke alarm which is
(a) in repair and proper working order,
(b) connected to the dwelling’s electrical supply, and
(c) linked to every other smoke alarm in the dwelling which is connected to the electrical supply.
(2) The landlord must ensure that, during each period of occupation, a carbon monoxide alarm which is in repair and proper working order is in each room of the dwelling which contains a gas appliance, an oil-fired combustion appliance or a solid fuel burning combustion appliance.
(3) A dwelling is to be treated as unfit for human habitation at a time when the landlord is not in compliance with a requirement imposed by paragraph (1) or (2).
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), a landlord who has not complied with
(a)paragraph (1) is to be treated as in compliance with that paragraph from the time the landlord ensures that a smoke alarm is (or smoke alarms are) present in the dwelling as described in that paragraph.
(b)paragraph (2) is to be treated as in compliance with that paragraph from the time the landlord ensures that a carbon monoxide alarm is (or carbon monoxide alarms are) present in the dwelling as described in that paragraph.
(5) In this regulation
“gas” (“nwy”) has the meaning given by section 48(1) of the Gas Act 1986(4);“gas appliance” (“cyfarpar nwy”) means an appliance designed for use by a consumer of gas for heating, lighting, cooking, or other purposes for which gas can be used, but it does not include
(a) a portable or mobile appliance supplied with gas from a cylinder, or the cylinder, pipes and other fittings used for supplying gas to that appliance, or
(b) an appliance which the contract-holder is entitled to remove from the dwelling under the terms of the occupation contract;
“room” (“ystafell”) includes a hall, landing or corridor.
What does this CO2 and smoke alarm Wales rule mean for landlords?
The new rules state that landlords must ensure that their property is suitable for people to live in from the beginning of the tenancy and throughout and that smoke and carbon monoxide alarms must be fitted within rental properties.
The landlord additionally should investigate installing a heat alarm in the kitchen, and additional smoke alarms for better coverage and home safety in larger properties, but it is not compulsory.
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