Tag: NSW short term rental fire safety standard

Environmental Planning And Assessment Amendment

(Smoke Alarms) Regulation 2006

On 1 May 2006, the NSW Government introduced new legislation following a series of fatal house fires. Division 7A of the NSW ‘Environmental Planning and Assessment (Smoke Alarms) Regulation 2006’ calls out minimum requirements for smoke alarm installation in existing residential buildings.

The NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Smoke Alarms) Regulation 2006 says that;

– Smoke alarms must comply to Australian Standard 3786:2014 and can be powered either by a 10-year non-removeable battery, or hard wired to the mains electricity supply.

– A minimum of one working smoke alarm should be installed on each level of a dwelling (even if there are no bedrooms on that level).

NSW Interconnected Smoke Alarms – Best Practice

Note that whilst this is the minimum standard required by NSW law, Fire and Rescue NSW recommends best practice by installing interconnected smoke alarms in all bedrooms and living spaces (including hallways and stairways) on every level of the property.

NSW interconnected smoke alarms recommended installation – image courtesy Fire and Rescue NSW

Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019

A new section (64A) relating to smoke alarms has also been added to the NSW Residential Tenancies Act 2010. This new section came into effect on March 2020 and placed extra obligations for smoke alarms on landlords and tenants in accordance with the NSW Rental Tenancies Regulation 2019.

NSW Smoke Alarm Requirements For Landlords

  • Ensure smoke alarms are installed as per NSW Regulations.
  • Conduct an annual check to ensure all smoke alarms are functioning.
  • Repair or replace a smoke alarm within 2 business days of becoming aware that the smoke alarm is not working.
  • Engage an authorised electrician to repair or replace a hardwired smoke alarm.
  • Replace removeable batteries in smoke alarms annually.

NSW Smoke Alarm Requirements For Tenants

  • Inform the landlord if a repair or a replacement of a smoke alarm is required, including replacing a battery.
  • Only replace a battery in a battery-operated smoke alarm, or a back-up battery in a hardwired smoke alarm, if the smoke alarm has a removable battery.
  • Give the landlord written notice, as soon as practicable if the tenant will carry out and has carried out a smoke alarm repair or replacement, or engages a person to carry out a repair or replacement.

Both landlord and tenant must not remove or interfere with the operation of a smoke alarm installed on the residential premises unless they have a reasonable excuse to do so.

Direct links to the NSW Government website are posted below if you would like to read the legislative documents for yourself.

NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Smoke Alarms) Regulation 2006

NSW Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019 (current as at 03/08/2023)

Want to know more? Watch our ZEN quick start video or call us on 0478 596 402 today

We love talking smoke alarms!

ZEN Photoelectric Smoke Alarms

New Farm, QLD, 4005

What Is A Heat Alarm And What Does It Do?

As the name suggests, heat alarms (also called heat detectors) are designed to emit a visual and audible alarm when a change is detected in the ambient room temperature. Our Emerald Planet heat alarms will activate when the temperature reaches and exceeds 55°C due to a fire.

Which Is Better – Smoke Alarm Or Heat Alarm?

We recommend installing heat alarms in your home to compliment an existing interconnected smoke alarm system (not as a substitute for it). The main benefit of a heat alarm is that they are not susceptible to dust, cooking smoke, humidity or other fumes which are often the cause of nuisance alarms in a conventional photoelectric smoke alarm. For this reason, it may be beneficial to install a heat alarm in kitchens (cooking smoke), garages (car exhaust fumes), laundry rooms (humidity), workshops or attics (dust) where these external environmental conditions could trigger false alarming.

Can Heat Alarms Be Interconnected Too?

Yes, our Emerald Planet heat alarms are designed to be interconnected with other Emerald heat/smoke alarms, so if one heat alarm activates it will automatically trigger all the other interconnected heat alarms and/or smoke alarms within the same  group. The heat alarm that we sell is the fully wireless Emerald Planet heat alarm model EP-HA-RF-10. This heat alarm is powered by a 10 year long life lithium battery and can be interconnected wirelessly with other Emerald Planet smoke alarms and heat alarms.

Are Your Heat Alarms Suitable For Compliance With The NSW Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) Fire Safety Standard?

Yes, our heat alarms (and smoke alarms for that matter) are compliant with the NSW Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) Fire Safety Standard. This standard applies to holiday rentals, Airbnb and other similar short term accommodation properties in NSW. Section 4.1.2 of the standard states that;

What the above passage means is that if there is a private locked garage on the same premises as the short term rental accommodation, then a heat alarm must be installed in that private garage (even if the garage is not accessible to the guest) . The heat alarm in the garage must interconnected with smoke alarms in the dwelling. The interconnection can be either hardwired, or wireless.

Our Emerald Planet heat alarms are fully compliant to Australian Standard 1603.3:2018 Automatic fire detection and alarm systems: Heat alarms, and are suitable for the NSW Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) Fire Safety Standard.

Want to know more? Call us on 0478 596 402 today

We love talking smoke alarms (and heat alarms!)

ZEN Photoelectric Smoke Alarms

New Farm, QLD, 4005