Smoke alarms in your rental: a renter's guide

Smoke alarm duties in a Victorian rental are split. Consumer Affairs Victoria says rental providers must make sure every smoke alarm is correctly installed and working, is fitted with batteries or replacement batteries, and is tested at least once every 12 months according to the manufacturer's instructions. Since 25 November 2025, every rental has needed that annual check.

Renters have a shorter list. CAV says renters must tell the rental provider if a smoke alarm is faulty or not working, and must not deactivate, remove or interfere with one in any way. On or before the start of the agreement, the rental provider must give you written information on how each alarm works, how to test it and those two obligations.

Between those two lists sits the sensible stuff any household should do anyway: testing regularly and knowing what a chirp means.

Fire Rescue Victoria's advice is to test smoke alarm batteries every month by pressing and holding the test button until the alarm beeps three times. Use a sturdy step ladder or a broom handle on the button rather than standing on a chair, and warn the household first.

If you have interconnected alarms, pressing one test button should set off all of them. If some stay silent, report it. FRV's summary of Victorian requirements says homes built, largely renovated or extended after 1 May 2014 need interconnected, hardwired alarms, so in a newer rental the whole set should sound together.

Check each alarm's date while you're there, if you can read it without taking it down. The Building and Plumbing Commission advises replacing smoke alarms generally after ten years, and newer alarms have an expiry date under the battery. An alarm that looks yellowed and has no readable date is worth mentioning to your agent.

A short chirp every minute or so usually means a low battery, though on some models it signals the alarm has reached the end of its life. CAV says anyone can change a smoke alarm battery, so if it's a battery alarm or a hardwired alarm with an easily reached backup battery, swapping it is fine. Let your agent know you've done it, and that the chirp stopped.

If the chirp keeps going with a new battery, or you'd have to pull a hardwired alarm off its base to reach it, stop and report it. A hardwired smoke alarm must be installed by a qualified electrician, and the base carries mains wiring.

Nuisance alarms from toast, steam or a shower are common, especially in small units where the alarm sits near the kitchen or bathroom. Dust and insects inside the sensor can set an alarm off too, and a gentle clean as the manufacturer suggests often helps. Don't remove the battery, cover the alarm or take it down; renters must not interfere with alarms. Open a window, fan the air near it, and if it keeps happening, ask the rental provider to have its position checked.

A smoke alarm that isn't working is on CAV's list of urgent repairs. CAV says that if notified, rental providers must immediately arrange for it to be repaired or replaced. Ring the agent's urgent repairs number, then follow up in writing so the time is on record.

Say which alarm, what it's doing, and what you've tried: a new battery, a test press, whether others in the house still work. That helps the agent send the right person, and for hardwired alarms that means an electrician.

If the rental provider can't be contacted or doesn't fix it immediately, CAV says the renter can authorise and pay for the urgent repair, up to the cost limit on CAV's repairs page, and must be repaid within 7 days. Use a qualified electrician for anything hardwired, and keep the invoice.

The Building and Plumbing Commission says alarms must be on or near the ceiling of every storey, and between each bedroom area and the rest of the house. Count yours against that. A double storey with no alarm upstairs, or a long single-storey home with one alarm at the front and the bedrooms out the back, may not be covered.

The type depends on when the building went up. Consumer Affairs Victoria says buildings constructed after 1 August 1997 must have hardwired alarms with battery backup, while older buildings can have battery-powered alarms. All smoke alarms must meet AS 3786. If something looks wrong, raise it in writing and ask when the last annual check was done.

Expect the annual check once a year. Whoever does it should press each test button, check that linked alarms sound together, look at dates and positions, and replace flat batteries or expired alarms. Ask for the result, and if an alarm is replaced, note its new expiry date.

When you move in, test every alarm and note the results in the condition report. When you move out, CAV says renters should leave the batteries in the smoke alarms.

If an alarm sounds and there's smoke, fire or immediate danger, get everyone out and stay out. Fire Rescue Victoria reports 21 preventable residential fire deaths in Victoria in 2025, with the most in winter, when heaters and closed-up houses come together.