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Carbon monoxide and smoke alarm rules for landlords
Carbon monoxide alarm regulations for landlords require a CO alarm in any room used as living accommodation with a fixed combustion appliance, gas cookers excluded, and a smoke alarm on each such storey, since 1 October 2022.
Most useful for: Private landlords, agents and tenants in tall or altered older houses
Compiled from the sources at the end. Updated .
Tall old houses need counting carefully. The New Town and Glisson Road appraisal records some three-storey houses with basements in that area, and the Riverside appraisal describes two or three storey terraces. In those houses the smoke alarm rule turns on each storey actually used as living accommodation, so a basement bedroom is likely to count where an empty cellar may not. Ask the council if a storey is unclear.
What the regulations ask
The government's booklet sets out three duties for private landlords in England:
- A smoke alarm on each storey used as living accommodation.
- A carbon monoxide alarm in any such room with a fixed combustion appliance, excluding gas cookers.
- Repair or replacement once told an alarm is faulty.
These regulations do not apply to student halls. Shared student houses are covered by the gas safety record rules too, and an HMO has licence conditions on top.
When a new boiler goes in
Approved Document J, paragraph 3.43, requires a carbon monoxide alarm in the room when a new or replacement fixed gas appliance goes into a dwelling, other than cooking appliances. Paragraph 2.34 is the solid fuel equivalent, so a new stove counts as well. Alarms should meet BS EN 50291-1:2018. Ask the Gas Safe registered engineer to confirm the position.
An alarm does not take the place of a check. HSE recommends alarms, but not as a substitute for servicing.
Everyone leaves the building, and someone calls 0800 111 999 from outside. Anyone with symptoms should ring NHS 111, or 999 if struggling to breathe, suddenly confused or unconscious. Do not go back in until told it is safe. The full steps are on the gas and carbon monoxide page.
Tenants should tell the landlord in writing as soon as an alarm fails, because the repair duty starts once the landlord is told.
Sources, read 4 November 2026: GOV.UK: smoke and carbon monoxide alarm booklet; Approved Document J; HSE: students and gas appliances; HSE: domestic gas questions; NHS: carbon monoxide poisoning; New Town and Glisson Road appraisal; Riverside and Stourbridge Common appraisal.