New Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Requirements for Social Housing

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In November 2020, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) confirmed plans to introduce new rules to ensure social rented homes are fitted with smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. The proposed changes, subject to parliamentary approval, will mean all social landlords must:

  • Install at least one smoke alarm on every storey of their homes; and
  • Install carbon monoxide alarms in every room which contains a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers)

It is expected that the cost of these new requirements to install and maintain alarms will fall to social landlords.

This announcement followed commitments for wide-ranging regulatory changes outlined in the Social Housing White Paper, including the launch of a consultation to extend requirements for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in social housing. DLUHC’s consultation response can be found here, for more information. The changes will bring these new requirements for social landlords in line with requirements in the private rented sector, where they have been mandated since 2015.

The proposed changes do not require legislative changes – they can be introduced through regulations, which can receive parliamentary approval much faster than legislation.

Eddie Hughes MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Rough Sleeping and Housing at DLUHC, has recently notified us his intention is to lay these regulations in coming months, and that the resulting changes could come into force as soon as Autumn 2022. He strongly encourages social landlords begin the installation of alarms without delay. We know many of our members already conform with these requirements, or were acting on this following the Government’s announcements in November, but the message from Government is clear that they will be bringing forward these changes as soon as practicable.

DLUHC have provided a specific email address in case you have any questions directly for the DLUHC team working on this: smokeandcarbonmonoxide@levellingup.gov.uk