Smoke alarm Maintenance
- Thread starter pep
- Start date
I agree with you. In NSW the owner needs to check in btw each tenant but the current tenant checks while they are in the property. Each time we do a periodic inspection (ave every 6 mths) we push the button and check all okay.
$99 is cheaper than your insurance excess I bet... For $99 your package should include smoke alarm check and test AND a safety switch check and test. I am hearing reports Some insurance companies "love" this independent check, as if incorrectly "complianced check" it falls back onto the certifier and their insurance.
In Queensland at least, there are regulations with positioning smoke alarms, incorrectly positioned smoke alarm and a death = Insurance nightmare? Food for thought.
In Queensland at least, there are regulations with positioning smoke alarms, incorrectly positioned smoke alarm and a death = Insurance nightmare? Food for thought.
This is why I now pay $79 per property. I had always thought "why pay when I can do it?" until we got Smoke Alarm Solutions in and found a couple of alarms had passed their expiry dates, some were in the wrong places, and in a couple of houses we needed more alarms than we had.
I also (by coincidence) had some contact from the chap who has been helping the push for the type of alarms that save lives (google smoke alarms and 60 minutes, check Smoke Alarms Solution site or the link in a recent thread about this) and Smoke Alarm Solutions uses these alarms, so I'm doubly happy we went with them. I have no link to them.
I wouldn't like to be arguing my case in the event of a catastrophic event, so I pay the money. I know I can do it for nothing, but I understand the risk more now of getting it wrong.
The other thing I like is not having to lug a ladder over each time we sign up a new tenant. Some houses have been checked three times in the first year. First time when we signed up, second time when that lease ended, another time when the next tenant broke his lease and we had another tenant, all within the year.
This is one thing I'm happy to pay the professionals.
Of course, I still have to diarise to ensure it is done. I think I get a reminder, but because I diarise it, I get in first anyway and organise the checks.
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And, as wylie highlighted, advice on adequacy of the number, type, and positioning of alarms by a suitably qualified person.
Fire Protection Group
May I recommend this mob (not a relative, no commission on referrals):
www.fireprotectiongroup.com.au
May I recommend this mob (not a relative, no commission on referrals):
www.fireprotectiongroup.com.au
I would also recommend a company such as smoke alarm solutions. For the annual fee, not only will they test the alarms annually and between each tenancy, but will also attend to the alarms any time they are faulty. Sometimes tenants will just pull a faulty smoke alarm out and not tell the owner/agent about it, leaving themselves unprotected. If you can stress to the tenant that the fee is already paid and that it's no trouble to have it fixed, perhaps more alarms will remain functioning properly and not left dangling from the ceiling.
I do ours ourself. Make sure there is one near each bedroom door, new battery every year, manufactured less than 10 years ago, and i take them off the wall and test over a jiffy fire lighter.
I also quickly do a visual inspection of any gas appliance, clean any accessable filters, and run a basic gas vapour tester.
I also quickly do a visual inspection of any gas appliance, clean any accessable filters, and run a basic gas vapour tester.
I pay $60 - $80 depending on location. As long as you are in the above range it's reasonable. There is value in being able to show a statement / invoice from a professional firm and say "See... I did everything I could to ensure it was maintained".
If you can't say this, make it so you can.
Other than the replacement/installation of hardwired alarms and safety switches, which must be performed by an electrical contractor, there is no such thing as a "suitably qualified professional" for testing smoke alarms. The "certificates of compliance" that are issued have no value other than as proof at some later date that you had an inspection done. The legislation, at least in Queensland, is very clear about where smoke alarms need to be placed and how they are to be tested, and was designed to be able to be carried out by non-qualified people. I have this straight from the compliance section in the Queensland public service.
That said, I think $75/annum for someone like Smoke Alarm Solutions to do as many inspections as are required under the law and also replace alarms that are found to be faulty is not too bad, and it gives you the third-party ***-coverage you just might need at some time. You should get the safety switch and blind cords checked as well.
If I were self-managing I would certainly be doing my own testing and replacement, and I would have the tenant sign acknowledgement that the alarms were tested on the day of move-in in the condition report.
Tenants are legally required not to tamper with or disable or remove smoke alarms and should certainly be breached if they do so, if only to cover your butt. If the thing was keeping them awake and they notified me/the pm ASAP I would cut slack of course.
Quite apart from *** coverage, smoke alarms really do save lives.
That said, I think $75/annum for someone like Smoke Alarm Solutions to do as many inspections as are required under the law and also replace alarms that are found to be faulty is not too bad, and it gives you the third-party ***-coverage you just might need at some time. You should get the safety switch and blind cords checked as well.
If I were self-managing I would certainly be doing my own testing and replacement, and I would have the tenant sign acknowledgement that the alarms were tested on the day of move-in in the condition report.
Tenants are legally required not to tamper with or disable or remove smoke alarms and should certainly be breached if they do so, if only to cover your butt. If the thing was keeping them awake and they notified me/the pm ASAP I would cut slack of course.
Quite apart from *** coverage, smoke alarms really do save lives.
Too right. Early in the game I fell victim to clowns from a cowboy outfit who replaced alarms that I knew were perfectly good 2 weeks before and charged for the privilege, *and* they got the legislation wrong about where alarms needed and did not need to be (OK. It was a complicated premises I do admit.) The final straw was when they lied about the reason they conveniently couldn't give us the "replaced" smoke alarms back.
I think most of those kinds of outfits are long gone though.
I also had some issues with another outfit that billed for the annual fee 2 months earlier each year. you gotta watch them.
