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You are here: Home / Maintenance & Common Property / Maintenance NSW / NSW: Q&A Smoke Alarms in Strata Units

NSW: Q&A Smoke Alarms in Strata Units

Published June 13, 2017 By The LookUpStrata Team 18 Comments Last Updated November 3, 2020

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We received the following questions about smoke alarms in NSW strata units. Peter Berney, Solutions in Engineering and Chris Chatham, Linkfire have provided the following responses.

Jump directly to the QUESTION you are after:

  • QUESTION: Annual fire inspections were just carried out. Who is financially responsible for replacement of smoke alarms in a strata building? Owners Corp or individual owners?
  • QUESTION: Each apartment has a heat & smoke detector wired to our fire system panel, plus a smoke detector installed and paid for by owners. Our fire safety inspector insists on inspecting lot owner’s smoke detectors. Is this necessary since the smoke detectors are owned by the lot owners.
  • QUESTION: We have been told we need to install extra smoke alarms and all alarms must be hard-wired. Can a local council impose stricter requirements for smoke alarms in strata than the NSW Fire Legislation?
  • QUESTION: In NSW, who is responsible to ensure the smoke alarms in strata units are operational? Who’s responsibility is the cost of replacement and installation of new smoke detectors?

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Question: Annual fire inspections were just carried out. Who is financially responsible for replacement of smoke alarms in a strata building? Owners Corp or individual owners?

Answer: Realistically this will come down to the agreement you have with your Strata and Building Management; the following is the most common scenario that we see.

Realistically this will come down to the agreement you have with your Strata and Building Management; the following is the most common scenario that we see.

When Smoke alarms are at the end of their 10-year life span, this is reported back to the Strata / Owners Corp, generally, a large number of these will require replacement at the same time, due to the installation at the build of the apartments.

The replacement of the alarms is then coordinated through the Owners Corp (best like for like to try to keep all alarms the same), rather than allowing them to be replaced by the individual owners where there could be further issues going forward.

The costs for these works are then invoiced to the individual owners through the Strata or Owners Corp.

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
P: 0476 233 109
E: [email protected]

This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.

This post appears in Strata News #399.

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Question: Each apartment has a heat & smoke detector wired to our fire system panel, plus a smoke detector installed and paid for by owners. Our fire safety inspector insists on inspecting lot owner’s smoke detectors. Is this necessary since the smoke detectors are owned by the lot owners.

We have been with the same Fire service company since our apartments were built 16 years ago.

We are paying an excessive amount to our fire company for inspections. I am site manager of our building and also an owner on the committee.

We have two fire detectors in all apartments one is a heat & smoke detector wired to our fire system panel, the other is a smoke detector installed and paid for by owners. The owners smoke detectors have just been replaced by all owners.

I was aware that the Heat/Smoke detectors need to be check for fire safety. Our fire safety inspector now insists on inspecting lot owner’s smoke detectors. Why has this changed? Is this necessary since the smoke detectors are owned by the lot owners.

Answer: If a building has SOU smoke alarms the performance of these smoke alarms needs to be maintained.

Certainly, detectors connected to a fire detection system (i.e. fire panel) should be appropriately maintained. For stand-alone smoke alarms in Sole-Occupancy Units (SOUs) though, it is a little more complicated.

Smoke alarms (including any in SOUs) may already be listed in the FSS for a building, or they may otherwise be considered an essential FSM due to clause 186E of the Regs if they were installed after the FSS was issued. Therefore, either way, if a building has SOU smoke alarms the performance of these smoke alarms needs to be maintained.

This is the difficult part. If the building owner has engaged an Accredited Practitioner-Fire Safety (AP-FS) to complete and sign off the required assessment for the Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS), as they now have to do by law, then it may be the opinion of that AP-FS that they cannot verify the performance of smoke alarms inside SOUs without undertaking a suitable inspection and/or having access to appropriate service records.

As for why you have recently seen a change of process, this may well be due to this performance aspect described above. Recent changes in NSW legislation have in effect ‘raised the bar’ in relation to the assessments undertaken for signing off the AFSS, with practitioners now requiring specific accreditation that they could in practice lose if they are not doing the job properly. As the entire industry tries to come to terms with the changes and restructures their business models accordingly, significant changes (and cost increases) are not entirely unexpected, unfortunately.

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
P: 0476 233 109
E: [email protected]

This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.

This post on appears in Strata News #387

Question: We have been told we need to install extra smoke alarms and all alarms must be hard-wired. Can a local council impose stricter requirements for smoke alarms in strata than the NSW Fire Legislation?

smoke-alarms-in-strata-units-NSW I live in an apartment in a strata scheme with three buildings and fourteen apartments.

After our latest fire safety inspection, we were notified that we were not compliant. Namely, we need to install extra smoke alarms in each apartment and all of the alarms must be hard-wired. Apparently, the Council (Ku-ring-gai) have stated to the fire safety inspectors that this has to be done.

All the bedrooms in the apartments are “clustered” and all have an alarm between the cluster and the living area. Most alarms are battery only. As far as I can see, the requirement for NSW strata is one alarm if the bedrooms are in a cluster and battery alarms are permitted.

Have I understood correctly? Can a local council impose stricter requirements for smoke alarms in strata than the NSW Fire Legislation?

Answer: Yes – a local council could potentially impose stricter requirements if they believe it is necessary for the safety of occupants.

This is a hard one to get across without all of the information at hand as there are a lot of variables that would play a part in those questions, however, we can address the last point directly:

Under Part 2, Schedule 5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, a relevant enforcement authority (e.g. a local council), can issue a Fire Safety Order requiring the recipient to do or stop doing anything if they believe it is necessary to “…ensure or promote the safety of persons in the event of fire…”. So in relation to that part of your question, effectively yes – a local council could potentially impose stricter requirements if they believe it is necessary for the safety of occupants.

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
P: 0476 233 109
E: [email protected]

This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.

This post on appears in Strata News #379

Question: In NSW, who is responsible to ensure the smoke alarms in strata units are operational? Who’s responsibility is the cost of replacement and installation of new smoke detectors?

Our strata committee regularly checks all our unit’s smoke detectors to ensure that they are still operative. I understand that this is a requirement under fire prevention legislation in NSW, and could also have a bearing on our strata’s property insurance.

I have recently discovered that smoke detectors have an effective ‘use by date’ and although 6 monthly checks have led to backup battery replacements over time, the entire unit is supposed to be replaced after 10 years.

As our installed units have a replacement date of 2014 is our strata in breach of any NSW fire prevention guidelines, or is the strata’s fire insurance cover compromised?

Answer: The Owners Corporation would not be in breach.

smoke alarms in strata units NSW There are provisions in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation that require existing buildings to install smoke alarms, but they are only limited. There are specific requirements for each classification of a building, including the locations of the alarms, however, there is no requirement for photo-electric alarms, unlike that has been introduced as of the 1st January 2017 in Queensland.

The responsibility for the replacement of the smoke alarm is that of the owner and any smoke alarms in the common property would be that of the Owners Corporation. The smoke alarms need to have supply from mains electricity or a non-removable battery with a minimum life expectancy of 10 years that is connected to the alarm.

The Owners Corporation would not be in breach of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation if an individual lot had not replaced their smoke alarm if it has passed its use-by date and this would not affect the Owners Corporation’s strata Insurance.

What would happen if an owner didn’t replace the batteries? I imagine the mother of all personal injury lawsuits! We need only to look at the drivers for change elsewhere e.g. The Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire 23rd June 2000 where 15 people lost their lives forced the Queensland Government to introduce the toughest and ‘best practice’ Fire Safety requirements in the country. The timber hostel did not have working smoke detectors or fire alarms.

Another example of what happens when smoke alarms are not maintained or tampered with is the Slacks Creek Fire in 2011 south of Brisbane. 11 people died in the worst residential house fire in Australia. When the fire started, no smoke alarms were functioning. The alarms had been disabled because they caused too many false alarms. Less than 15 minutes later, the house was a shell and eleven people had died. Had working smoke alarms been fitted, most lives would have been saved.

This is why Queensland introduced a requirement for Photoelectric smoke alarms to be fitted so that this type of preventable disaster would not happen again. Ionization alarms are not good at detecting fires. They ‘feel’ for the fire, whereas Photoelectric fire alarms ‘see’ the fire by detecting visible combustion particles. They won’t sound an alarm when the toast is burnt or shower steam escapes but they will sound an alarm where there is a dangerous, smouldering fire!

Research shows that both have comparable response times in “fast flame” fires, but photoelectric alarms respond over 15 minutes faster to a smouldering fire. In one study, the only time the ionization alarm was quickest was in detecting burning toast!

Smoke alarms are a really important warning device because unfortunately, there are too many ways in which a fire can start in a household. This includes:

  • Kitchen stoves / cooking equipment
  • Electric blankets
  • Faulty wiring
  • Smoking
  • Overheated lighting
  • Candles
  • Heating (e.g. Portable heaters)

Most fires happen in the middle of the night when you’re sleeping – you may only have a few minutes to wake up and get you and your family outside. Most fire deaths are the result of smoke inhalation rather than from burns, another good reason to make sure this life-saving device is working.

This post on appears in Strata News #146.

Peter Berney
Solutions in Engineering
T: 1300 136 036
E: [email protected]

This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.

Share your thoughts about smoke alarms in NSW. Have a question or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.

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Read next:

  • NSW: Q&A Apartment fire regulations – Installing a Security Door
  • NSW: Key changes to smoke alarm requirements for rented homes
  • NSW: Smoke Alarms in Residential Accommodation

Are you interested in more information about smoke alarms in NSW strata units or information particular to strata legislation in your state or territory? Visit Maintenance and Common Property OR NSW Strata Legislation.

Looking for strata information concerning your state? For state-specific strata information, try here.

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Comments

  1. AvatarFrustrated with strata saying it's not their responsibility says

    February 19, 2021 at 8:30 am

    Hello, I have purchased a top floor unit in Kogarah NSW and noticed that there is no smoke alarm at all.
    The unit is in a building built in 1974.
    I emailed strata asking them to have a smoke alarm installed and their response was:

    “As this is a requirement for within your own lot, you will need to organise to have the smoke alarms installed as soon as possible. Unfortunately this is not a strata cost and one that you will need to cover.”

    Is it just me or is this response not helpful?

    What is the requirement being referred to, how did the previous owner get away with not having one if the managing agent conducted annual smoke alarm checks, AND the owner of my unit was on the body corporate?

    Can someone please guide me to what legislation is required in NSW as to what is needed in a strata title and what is the legal obligation of strata to conduct regular checks?

    Reply
    • Liza Admin Liza Admin says

      February 26, 2021 at 1:32 pm

      Hi

      The following response has been provided by Chris Chatham, Linkfire:

      Under Division 7A of Part 9 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000, smoke alarms must be installed in all buildings in NSW where people sleep. The smoke alarms must meet the requirements of Australian Standard AS 3786, Smoke Alarms………

      The Owners Corporation is only responsible for common property, shared services etc. they are not responsible for the installation of smoke alarms in privately owned units unless they are connected to a shared service such as a fire panel. This extends to the OC also not being responsible to maintain a standalone smoke alarm in a privately owned lot / unit.

      Reply
  2. AvatarNic says

    November 12, 2020 at 11:01 am

    Hi,

    I own and live in a strata controlled flat with a 240v installed smoke detector. I want to remove it to accommodate new fans in the flat and replace it with a battery powered smoke detector. Is this legal? We have regular fire inspections organised by our strata company.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • AvatarLVC says

      November 12, 2020 at 11:36 am

      As per article above: The responsibility for the replacement of the smoke alarm is that of the owner and any smoke alarms in the common property would be that of the Owners Corporation. The smoke alarms “need to have supply from mains electricity or a non-removable battery with a minimum life expectancy of 10 years that is connected to the alarm.”

      As long as it meets the above requirements, you should be able to move it.

      Reply
      • AvatarNic Morris says

        November 12, 2020 at 12:02 pm

        Thanks very much!

        Reply
        • AvatarLVC says

          November 13, 2020 at 7:40 am

          You’re welcome though your electrician will know the ins and outs.

          Reply
  3. Avatarmary says

    August 12, 2020 at 8:36 am

    Annual fire inspections just carried out.
    Who is financially responsible for replacement of smoke alarms in a strata building – Owners Corp or individual owners?

    Reply
    • Liza Admin Liza Admin says

      August 14, 2020 at 7:15 am

      Chris Chatham from Linkfire has replied to this question in the article above.

      Reply
  4. Avatarfrits van groll says

    May 26, 2020 at 11:58 am

    26/05/2020
    just stumbled onto this website and have signed up,
    important question from me:

    any information re rules and regulations of company titles buildings??

    thanks
    frits

    Reply
    • AvatarPeter Berney says

      May 28, 2020 at 1:58 pm

      Hi Frits,
      Thank you for your query in relation to Company Titled Schemes.
      As you’ve responded to an article on smoke alarms I’m going to assume you’re referring to fire safety requirements.
      That said, fire safety relates to the use of the building rather than the ownership structure e.g. Strata Titled, Company Titled, etc.
      Cheers Pete

      Reply
  5. AvatarSandra Chen says

    October 19, 2018 at 10:51 am

    Hi Peter,

    The strata fire services contractor did the annual fire safety inspection and test. My smoke alarm is over 10 years old so needs replacement. I understand I must hire and pay a licensed electrician to replace the smoke alarm with a new one, and provide the strata with a compliance certificate. Do I need to hire and pay a fire services to assess the new smoke alarm, and complete AFSS?

    Reply
    • AvatarVincent Graham says

      October 19, 2018 at 12:23 pm

      Hi Sandra,

      Firstly, there is actually no requirement to replace smoke alarms if they are over 10 years old. This is a requirement under AS1851, which is not a requirement (in NSW – if you are not in NSW, then it may be required).

      Secondly, if you undertake the replacement, it should be completed by a ‘competent’ person as defined in the EP&A Regulations 2000. This will avoid having another person go to test the smoke alarm. This certificate will need to be issued to your maintenance contractor and/or Strata Manager as it is required for the AFSS.

      Hope this helps.

      Vince Graham
      Project Guides Pty Ltd

      Reply
    • AvatarNikki Jovicic says

      October 29, 2018 at 12:08 pm

      Hi Sandra

      We received the following reply to your question from Peter Berney:

      AS 1851 -2012 details the requirements for the replacement of the Smoke Alarm where the service life is exceeded. Whilst the Standard is best practice it is not mandatory in NSW, however, if required a suitability qualified fire service contractor should be able to replace the Smoke Alarm and provide documentary proof of compliance.

      Reply
  6. AvatarPaul Camphuis says

    March 22, 2018 at 6:24 am

    Hi Peter , I am a building manager for a complex in NSW.
    We have interconnected fire alarms in each unit monitored by a fire panel in each block. I have been informed that due to the fact they are interconnected that it is the owners corporation responsability to pay for their replacement … furthermore our fire certifiers have said it is now compulsory in NSW to replace these fire alarms after 10years regardless of whether they are working or not … is this the case?
    I woul;d appreciate any feedback as I have varied ideas about what has to be done to get this years compliance certificate…… Thank you

    Reply
    • AvatarNikki Jovicic says

      March 22, 2018 at 9:49 am

      Hi Paul

      We have received the following reply back from Peter Berney, Solutions In Engineering:

      The answer is Yes it would be the Owners Corporation who pays for the replacement as they are part of an interconnected system. Yes these must be replaced every 10 yrs regardless if they are working or not.

      Reply
      • AvatarVincent Graham says

        October 19, 2018 at 12:36 pm

        Hi Nikki,

        Just a quick note about the replacement of smoke alarms if over 10 years, this is a requirement under AS1851, which is not a requirement in NSW.

        I still recommend replacing it, but the Owners should be made aware that it is their choice.

        Cheers

        Vince Graham
        Project Guides Pty Ltd

        Reply
        • AvatarNikki Jovicic says

          October 19, 2018 at 3:24 pm

          Hi Vince

          Thanks so much for this information.

          Reply
  7. AvatarMIchele Hemmings says

    June 21, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    Succinct and valuable article Peter. Most topical. Thank you.

    Reply

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