All properties should have working smoke alarms that are tested regularly. If you rent your home your landlord, whether a social landlord like a housing association or council, or a private landlord, is responisible for providing smoke alarms.

If your home is privately rented, provided through housing association or a council property, it may have a smoke alarm hard-wired into the building. If this begins bleeping the tenant should contact their landlord and ask them to fix, maintain or replace the alarm.

Private landlords with rented properties are legally obliged to have a working smoke alarm fitted on every floor of the building and you should contact them and ask them to replace any faulty ones. If they refuse to fit them or replace batteries contact our Fire Safety enforcement team on 01234 845000.

Your landlord has a number of other responsibilities to keep you safe in your rent home. These include:

• Ensuring all gas and any electrical appliances they provide are safe to use and in good working order;
• That gas appliances are checked by a registered Gas Safe engineer every year;
• All electrical appliances carry the British Safety Standard sign;
• Ensuring furnishings are fire resistant and meet safety regulations;
• Your landlord showing you safety certificates so that you can see when gas and electrical appliances were last checked
• Guaranteeing there are adequate escape routes in the property (Under the 2004 Housing Act);
• Providing working smoke alarms on every floor of a property;

Why not ask your landlord if they have:

• Checked the electrical wiring, sockets, switches, light fittings etc. recently;
• A regular maintenance programme for gas heaters and appliances;
• Cleaned and checked any chimneys and flues recently;
• Fitted and maintained a carbon monoxide detectors.

If you are worried your landlord isn’t doing enough to ensure your safety contact the environmental health officer at your local council.