The Building Regulations 2012 (the Regulations) require the owner of a dwelling to have compliant smoke alarms installed: • prior to the transfer of ownership; • where a dwelling is rented under a residential tenancy agreement or made available for such rent; • where a dwelling is made available for hire. What is a compliant smoke alarm? To comply with the Regulations, owners must ensure that the smoke alarm(s): (a) are in accordance with the Building Code of Australia (‘BCA’) that is applicable at the time of installation of the alarms. (Note: dwellings that were approved for construction prior to 1 May 2015 do not have to comply with the BCA requirement for interconnection of smoke alarms where there is more than one); and (b) are not more than 10 years old at the time of transfer of ownership or making the dwelling available for rent or hire; and (c) are in working order; and (d) are permanently connected to consumer mains power
