Smoke Alarm Compliance for Your Home, Investment Property or Rental

WA requires working smoke alarms in all residential properties. The type, number and placement depend on when the home was built and whether it’s owner occupied or rented. Newer builds and rentals have stricter requirements, generally mains powered alarms with battery backup in hallways, bedrooms and living areas.

The rules have changed a few times over the years so what was compliant when the house was built might not be now. We assess the property against current smoke alarm compliance WA legislation and tell you exactly what’s needed. No guesswork.

For rental properties in WA, yes. The legislation requires mains powered smoke alarms with battery backup. Battery-only alarms don’t meet the standard for rentals, regardless of when the property was built.

For owner-occupied homes, the requirements vary depending on when the house was built and whether any renovations have triggered an upgrade. Either way, hard wired alarms are more reliable. Batteries go flat, people pull them out when they chirp at 3am and then forget to put them back. Mains powered alarms with backup don’t have that problem.

Every smoke alarm has an expiry date, usually ten years from manufacture, stamped on the back of the unit. Once it’s past that date, it needs replacing even if it still beeps when you press the test button. The sensors degrade over time and an expired alarm may not actually detect smoke when it matters.

We check the manufacture date on every alarm during a smoke alarm compliance job. If any are expired or close to it, we flag them and include replacements in the quote.

For hard wired smoke alarms, yes, the wiring work has to be done by a licensed electrician. You can technically stick a battery-only alarm on the ceiling yourself, but if your property requires hard wired alarms for compliance (which most rentals do), that’s electrical work and it needs a licence.

We install the alarms, wire them into the mains, test them and issue compliance documentation the same day. The whole thing is usually done in a couple of hours depending on how many alarms the property needs.

Depends on the property. A small unit that just needs a couple of alarms swapped out is the cheaper end. A larger home that needs new alarms wired in from scratch across multiple rooms costs more.

Fixed quote upfront. No call-out fee. Tell us about the property, such as how many bedrooms, what alarms are currently installed, whether it’s a rental or owner occupied, and we’ll send through a price. Usually within 24 hours.