Smoke alarm requirements for rental properties (transcript)

Transcript:
Smoke alarms save lives.

As a landlord, it is your responsibility to make sure there are working smoke alarms in the right places in your rental property.

Working smoke alarms are compulsory in all rental homes, boarding houses, rental caravans and self contained sleep outs.

There must be a smoke alarm in every room where someone sleeps, or within 3 meters of each bedroom door.

In multi storey or multi level homes, you must install a smoke alarm on each level or storey.

Smoke alarms installed after July 1st 2016 must be long life photoelectric alarms that meet the required international standard. You can purchase these from most hardware stores. [visual shows online purchase screen]

If you have a smoke alarm that was installed before this date, it must be replaced by one that meets the standard once it reaches its expiry date. [visual shows a hand removing old smoke alarm and replacing with new photoelectric alarm]

If you don't comply with the regulations, you can be fined [visual shows a penalty notice being removed from an envelope] and the consequences of not having working smoke alarms in your rental home could be far worse. [visual shows a phone screen with a phone call being made to Emergency 111, and a house on fire with flames in windows and smoke rising]

So do the right thing. Make sure your rental property is properly equipped with smoke alarms and check your smoke alarms regularly to make sure they are still operational. [visual shows a hand installing a smoke alarm, then testing the alarm by pressing button, then a thumbs up gesture]

If you have a hardwired smoke alarm system in your property, make sure it is maintained per the manufacturer's requirements. [visual displays a hard wired smoke alarm and a sheet of paper titled "photoelectric smoke alarm instructions"]

For more information on how to install and test smoke alarms properly, head to tenancy.govt.nz.