Who owes smoke and CO alarm service
Testing and maintaining the alarms is the owner's job in a rental, not the tenant's. Health and Safety Code 13113.7 places responsibility for testing and maintaining alarms on the owner of a rented multifamily complex, and since 1 January 2014 on the owner of a rented single-family dwelling as well. The alarms have to be operable at the time a new tenancy is created, and entry to reach them takes twenty-four hours' written notice.
The device itself has to meet a specification before it counts. Alarms are approved and listed by the State Fire Marshal and installed to the maker's instructions. Section 13114 requires a battery-only alarm to carry a non-replaceable, non-removable battery capable of powering it for at least ten years, and requires alarms to display the date of manufacture, provide a place to write the installation date, and have a hush feature.
Carbon monoxide runs on a separate rule with a separate trigger. Section 17926 has the owner install a device listed by the State Fire Marshal in each existing dwelling unit that has a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, a fireplace, or an attached garage, with number and placement taken from the building standards for new construction or from the maker's instructions. The deadlines have passed in turn: single-family dwellings by 1 July 2011, all other dwelling units by 1 January 2013, and hotels and motels by 1 January 2017.
Maintaining the carbon monoxide devices is a continuing duty, and the tenant's report starts the correction. Section 17926.1 has the landlord maintain the devices, allows entry to install, repair, test and maintain them, and requires each to be operable when the tenant takes possession. An owner is not in violation over a deficiency that has not been reported, but corrects one that has.
What smoke and carbon monoxide alarm service includes
The units to be reached are listed with the manager, and occupied ones take written entry notice with the date, the approximate time and the purpose. Vacant units, common corridors and back-of-house areas are taken in the same pass, so a building is covered without a second set of notices going out.
Each device is identified by unit and position, with its type, its listing and the manufacture date printed on it written down.
Every alarm and carbon monoxide device is tested at the device, cleaned, and refitted to the maker's instructions.
Devices that fail, that cannot be tested or whose date has run are replaced with listed devices, and missing positions are made up.
Units with a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage are confirmed to have a device in place and working.
The result, the installation date written on the device and the manufacture date go on the file, unit by unit, into the client area.
An alarm is a dated object. The listing on it, the manufacture date printed on it and the installation date written on it are what a file can be built from. A test with no device record behind it proves nothing later.
Where alarm work is needed
Apartment complexes
Whole buildings taken floor by floor, with corridors and plant areas covered in the same visit as the units.
Condominium units
Separate interests reached through the owner or the manager, with the association's own areas handled apart from them.
Hotels and motels
Guest rooms worked around occupancy, where the carbon monoxide deadline for this class of building fell later than for housing.
Single-family rentals
Whole houses where an attached garage puts a carbon monoxide device on the list whether or not there is a gas appliance.
Duplexes and small blocks
One- and two-unit dwellings, which the statute names among the buildings it covers.
Units being re-let
Anything about to be occupied again, because the alarms have to be operable as the new tenancy is created.
Questions about smoke and carbon monoxide alarm service
The owner of a rented multifamily complex, and since 1 January 2014 the owner of a rented single-family dwelling. The landlord also maintains the carbon monoxide devices. A tenant reporting a deficiency is what puts the owner on notice to correct it.
A battery-only alarm has to hold a non-replaceable, non-removable battery good for at least ten years, and alarms display their date of manufacture, so a device whose life has run is replaced rather than re-tested.
Each existing dwelling unit with a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, a fireplace, or an attached garage. Number and placement follow the building standards for new construction or the maker's instructions.
No. This work is the single-station and multiple-station devices in dwellings. A panel-connected fire alarm system is a separate discipline and is not offered here.
Not to the park homes. The statute's definition of a dwelling excludes manufactured homes, mobilehomes and commercial coaches, so those sections are not applied to them.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm service by city
Alarm work is requested through the commercial property maintenance page for your city, which covers the rental stock and portfolios there.
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