Smoke alarm responsibility

jmason

The house that I'm renting has sealed smoke alarms and one of them is now dead.

I presumed it was the landlords responsibility but they want me to replace it. I asked them to send me the clause in the rental agreement and they sent me this:

Be responsible for maintenance of the burglar alarm and the smoke alarms including checking the smoke alarms every week and replacing non rechargeable batteries every year if applicable.

Does anyone know who's responsibility it is in this case as it doesn't mention replacing the whole unit? They're only about £15 but i pay enough for rent already!

foxy-stoat

If £15 is too much for you to safe guard you and your family against possible fires then you are in trouble.

Just buy some cheap smoke alarms if you cant get the landlord to replace them, you can buy smoke alarms from £7.19.

theartfullodger

foxy-stoat wrote: »

If £15 is too much for you to safe guard you and your family against possible fires then you are in trouble.

Just buy some cheap smoke alarms if you cant get the landlord to replace them, you can buy smoke alarms from £7.19.

And write to landlord, copy agent, keep copy, copy council, noting your sadness and disappointment at finding the landlord unwilling to replace a failed detector and asking for a copy of his landlord insurance policy.


Bet his insurance policy requires working detectors & may well not pay out if they ain't there. Stupid, stupid landlord!

flashg67

Agree with the above - what kind of LL skimps on a £10 fire alarm, As a LL myself, I wouldn't dream of it - what else are they skimping on?

Trouble is it's your peace of mind so do get one but I'd be pushing the LL/agent as the clause you quote doesn't mean you should cover replacement of sealed units. What a meanie the LL sounds

Slinky

We inherited sealed ones with our house we now rent out. When the tenant reported they had stopped working and he couldn't replace the batteries we sent in our electrician who put up new ones with batteries that can be replaced.

sevenhills

jmason wrote: »

The house that I'm renting has sealed smoke alarms and one of them is now dead.

I presumed it was the landlords responsibility but they want me to replace it. I asked them to send me the clause in the rental agreement and they sent me this:

Be responsible for maintenance of the burglar alarm and the smoke alarms including checking the smoke alarms every week and replacing non rechargeable batteries every year if applicable.

The Landlord is a muppet, its not your responsibility since it does not have replaceable batteries.

baldelectrician

The landlord seems a muppet.

If this is in Scotland he is legally required to maintain, service and repair all electrics (belonging to the property) at the start of the tenancy and throughout
The landlord is also required to have a satisfactory EICR (Electrical Report) as well as mains interlinked smoke detectors amongst other things

Doozergirl

The contract is clear. You should check they're working and replace the batteries when they run out, if appropriate. That's it.

The landlord had to provide the smoke alarm in the first place. Just because it is silent in who provides it doesn't mean there's an argument, it's presumed that the landlord provides it as part of the property. No one would be having this conversation about who is responsible for providing a front door, for example.

If they can't replace a smoke alarm, good luck for the rest of your tenancy.