Smoke Alarms - What is the law in Qld?

I am confused by what I have read about smoke alarms in Queensland.

If I rent out a unit in 2020, is it mandatory for the unit to be fitted with smoke alarms?

I had been reading various government websites and formed the view that I could forget about smoke alarms for the time being, as long as I get them done before the deadline 31/12/2021.......but my agent said that is not the case, and I need to fit smoke alarms now.

 

Smoke alarms have been mandatory for over 20 years in all states.

There is a requirement for additional detectors as per the agent's advice.

 

Thanks. I had read this and several other government sources. I just formed the wrong impression from reading the stuff. I took away the idea that I had until 2022 to get compliant.

My PM plans to get Smoke Alarm Solutions out for a quote. The unit is a 1 bedroom studio loft - so I was expecting it to be 2 alarms, but when I ran an online quote it came back with 3 alarms. They seem to have a vested interest in jacking up the number of alarms you need.

 

Yeah, saving lives or minimising the risk of death.

 

Smoke alarms are mandatory and have been for some time, however I have been through multiple properties that do not have them installed, I raised this with a seller last year on one IP I purchased which had existing tenants, no alarms at all

The new legislation brings in more specific requirements in regard to placement and being interconnected (which is good) the link Wylie posted has all the information

 

In Queensland the new smoke alarm legislation comes in three stages. The first affects rental properties. Before 1st January 2022, all rental properties have to have:

Photoelectric smoke alarms
Only 240v alarms or 10 year battery alarms with a non-removeable battery
They must be inside every bedroom as well as between the bedrooms and the rest of the property
At least one on every level of the property
All alarms must be interconnected so that if one goes off, they all go off
Existing 240v (hard wired) smoke alarms must be replaced with 240v smoke alarms, all the rest can be 10 year battery powered or hard wired

After 1st January 2022, if the rental property hasn't met these new rules, it cannot be rented out, or rent collected after the next tenancy change or lease renewal. So if not done, you stand to lose your rental income and face a fine for non-compliance.

The next stage is every Queensland property that is sold after 1st January 2022 - they have to meet the same rules or the property cannot be settled. The third stage affects all other homes in Queensland (owner occupied for instance) and by 1st January 2027, all other homes have to meet the same rules.

In regards to smoke alarm companies saying more alarms are required than are really required - I see a lot of that and it's usually the same culprits that do this, and it's not right. All I can say is to be careful on who you choose - I can't name names in an open forum!

As for when to do it, Property Managers are rightly asking landlords to do it now, because next year it is going to be bedlam. There are 500,000 properties still to be upgraded and only 365 working days left before the deadline. Only 10% of rental properties have so far been upgraded. As an industry, more than 1,300 rental properties should be being upgraded every day now if the whole rental industry is to achieve compliance by the deadline. And that's simply not happening.

Next year two things will happen. The demand for upgrades will outstrip the number of electricians and technicians to do all the work, so many properties won't get upgraded. Secondly, the prices will rise, particularly towards the deadline. When demand outstrips supply, price rises always occur.

None of us like spending money before we have to, but my strong advice is to do this sooner rather than later. Prices are the lowest they will be, and if you leave it too late, you simply might not be able to get it done. And as well as price, I have posted before about the importance of using the right brand of smoke alarms, as some brands have a failure rate of up to 40%.

I hope the above helps clarifies the new smoke alarm legislation in Queensland. As always, happy to answer any further questions or provide any further advice.

 

Thank you for your detailed response. My problem was that everything I read was focused on the new 2022 standards. Nothing I read told me what the current standards were, and so I formed the incorrect view that I didn't have to worry about smoke alarms until 1 Jan 2022. This forum corrected that view. My PM is unsure if the unit has smoke alarms. I am just going to push on with installation of 2022 compliant alarms now. My PM is recommending Smoke Alarm Solutions (SAS), but I hope to source a second quote from Safe Home Services.

If your looking to move to a cheaper provider, how easy is it to terminate these contracts with smoke alarm contractors? I am guessing you enter into a 12 month contract, pay the fee upfront for the 12 months and it is set on auto-renew unless you terminate at least one month before the end of the term? About right?

 

Two answers required here Owl. Firstly I assume you are talking about cancelling the smoke alarm servicing contract? If so, yes you would have paid up front, but the way it happens in real life is that if you want to change smoke alarm service providers, virtually every company taking over your property will do so at no cost until the anniversary date of your current contract, and then only charge you from them. This way you are not paying twice. Also remember that whoever you use for your smoke alarm servicing, this doesn't mean than you have to use the same company for your upgrades - you can use whoever you like.

So if your are using SAS or anyone else for your servicing, you can leave that in place and choose a different company to do the upgrades. All you have to do is to tell your property manager who you want to use for your upgrades.

Smoke Alarm Solutions provide two options at different prices - the lower price is when they use PSA alarms and a higher price using Brooks alarms. If you are also getting a quote from Safe Home Services be sure to ask them what brand of smoke alarms they use. I have said before about the failure rates of some brands of smoke alarms, and I would hate you to end up with one of those brands. And there are cheaper options out there than the ones you are considering.If you want my recommendations on which brands are good and which are bad, message me directly.

I hope this helps.

 

Can you please share.....who is doing the upgrade? and what specific alarms did you upgrade to? and what was the cost?

 

I'm not a fan of SAS, unreliable and overpriced in my experience.

Check out Detect Elec. They're a smaller local mob, fabulous service and cheap as chips. We're currently getting them to install Clipsal alarms for $99 per alarm, but I'm not sure if your current PM would get the same offer. That'd only cost $366 for the whole house, including a years subscription ($69p.a.).

 

Did Detect Elec merge with Detector Inspector? Just got an invoice from Detector Inspector for a 12 month service contract ($129.00 inc GST)- more than double the price Detect Elec charged?

 

No, Detect Elec sold to Detector Inspector... VERY different companies.

We were merged into Detector Inspector, who sold us the world, then failed to deliver on countless grounds, so we ended up changing again three months later. They may have improved since then?

I was lucky enough to be chatting to another agency who had been using Detector Inspector and jumped ship a while before we did, and they recommended a company called Waveline Electrical- who have been BRILLIANT.