Property 101: Possibility of New South Wales joining Queensland with new smoke alarm legislation

Current legislation in New South Wales requires at least one operational smoke alarm on each level of the occupancy which was the case in Queensland prior to new smoke alarm legislation that was announced a few months ago.

Julieanne Worchurst from Smoke Alarm Solutions said New South Wales home owners and landlords are concerned that they too will face the enormous and costly changes to become compliant.

"Following a tragic house fire where a number of people perished a few years ago, legislation has become much more stringent to provide a greater level of safety," she said.

“The additional measures include smoke alarms to be installed in every bedroom of a home by a qualified electrician. They also need to be interconnected with one another so that they all sound when smoke is detected.

"There are currently no plans in NSW for smoke alarm legislation changes, so landlords and home owners don’t need to be too concerned about future additional expense.

“A crucial part of the current NSW legislation forbids tenants to remove the battery or otherwise tamper with the smoke alarms.

"This is to prevent families inadvertently breaking them or forgetting to replace the smoke alarm battery and switch it on.

“Normally, there is no reason for a tenant to tamper with the smoke alarms, and they don’t, but sometimes the alarm starts to sound accidentally (eg when cooking) or it starts to beep, indicating the battery needs to be replaced.

“The only time this is a problem is when it occurs in the middle of the night, a public holiday or on a weekend, when the property manager is not working.  With few other options, families may attempt to stop the alarm sounding themselves. However, under no circumstances should this happen, because of the danger it places on the lives of those who live there.”

“On the other hand, families shouldn’t have to stay awake during the night by a beeping alarm, waiting for the property manager to start work so they can report it."