Support for smoke alarm rule

The Fire Service wants photoelectric smoke alarm in every bedroom, one in the hallway between living areas and bedrooms and one on each level of every rented house.

Firefighters said smoke alarms were not installed or not working in 80% of the house fires they attended.

NZPIF executive officer Andrew King said his organisation agreed with the call, because it would be relatively cheap and the benefit would be far in excess of the cost and should not push rents up.

“However there is a proviso – we don’t believe that the landlord or rental property owner should be responsible for the maintenance of the smoke alarm or if the battery is taken out. The tenant  has to be responsible for making sure it actually goes.”

The Department of Building and Housing said landlords who had smoke alarms installed in their properties should inspect the property regularly and check they were working.  It said tenants had a responsibility not to damage the property and must notify the landlord if something needed repairs, including smoke alarms.

King said the federation was concerned that there could be a fire in a rental property where the alarm had been rendered inoperable by the tenant but the landlord could be found liable.