New alarms legislation for rented properties

Mark Oakes, from the Building & Engineering Services Association, said: “We welcome this new legislation as it will mean landlords will have to install smoke alarms on each storey of their property and carbon monoxide alarms in the rooms considered most at risk from high levels of carbon monoxide, and to check the alarms are in working order at the start of any new tenancy.

“We especially applaud the inclusion of carbon monoxide alarms in the legislation; the vast majority of landlords offer a good service and have installed smoke alarms in their properties but the same cannot be said of carbon monoxide alarms.

“Carbon monoxide is the most common cause of fatal poisoning in the UK, with 40 people each year being killed by it and hundreds more made seriously ill from ‘the silent killer’.”