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Smoke alarm compliance for Queensland rentals
Your deadline was 2022, not 2027 - and it repeats before every new tenancy. Inspected, documented, and scheduled across a whole rent roll.
Your deadline has already passed
Landlords do not get until 2027. Since 1 January 2022, any home being sold or leased has had to have compliant interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms. If you have signed a tenancy since then, the obligation applied at that point.
| From | Applies to |
|---|---|
| 1 Jan 2017 | New homes, and existing homes undergoing substantial renovation |
| 1 Jan 2022 | Any home when it is sold or leased |
| 1 Jan 2027 | Every remaining home in Queensland — including the one you live in |
The 30-day rule
A lessor must test and clean every smoke alarm within 30 days before the start of each tenancy. Not once at install — before each new tenancy agreement. Tenants then take over routine maintenance at least every 12 months.
That means the obligation recurs every time a property turns over, and it is the one most often missed on a busy rent roll — particularly on properties that change hands between agencies.
What compliant means for a rental
- Photoelectric, compliant with Australian Standard AS 3786:2014
- No ionisation sensor — the older type is no longer acceptable
- Less than 10 years old, which is why a compliant install still expires
- Interconnected, so when one sounds every alarm in the house sounds
- Either hardwired to 240V with a backup, or powered by a sealed 10-year battery
And the positions are fixed by regulation, not by preference:
- In every bedroom
- In hallways that connect bedrooms to the rest of the house
- Between the bedrooms and the rest of the house where there is no hallway
- On every storey, including storeys with no bedrooms — positioned on the likely path out
What you get on file
An inspection that cannot be evidenced is not much use when something goes wrong. Every property comes back with:
- A dated compliance report listing every alarm and where it is
- A photograph of each unit in place on the ceiling, with the expiry visible
- Expiry dates recorded, so you know which year each property comes up again
Whole rent rolls, scheduled together
Chasing one property at a time is what makes this expensive. If you manage a portfolio, send the addresses through and I will schedule them in runs by suburb — fewer trips, one invoice, and a single set of paperwork back.
Access is usually the constraint rather than the work. Tenanted properties need proper notice, so the earlier a batch is booked the fewer repeat visits are wasted on nobody being home.
Ten years, then again
Compliant alarms expire. A property fitted out in 2017 to meet the then-new rules is reaching the end of the ten-year limit now, which means a portfolio done once still needs a replacement cycle. Having the expiry dates on file is what turns that from a scramble into a schedule.
Not sure where you stand?
Ring or send a text with your address and how many bedrooms. I'll tell you straight what your place needs, what it costs, and whether it's worth doing before January.