Responsibility for smoke detectors to transfer from occupant to building owner on 1 January 2026

The responsibility for smoke detectors will change on 1 January 2026, when the obligation to purchase and maintain smoke detectors will transfer from the possessor of the home, that is, the occupant, to the owner of the building. In accommodation and care facilities, the operator will remain responsible for the purchase and maintenance of smoke detectors. Future changes will affect housing companies and rental property companies, in particular. 

The amendment to the Rescue Act is aimed at achieving better fulfilment of the obligations concerning smoke detectors and clarification of the current regulation.  

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In the future, the building owner, such as the housing company, will be responsible for ensuring that each flat in a block of flats has a sufficient number of functioning smoke detectors. If all flats have identical smoke detectors of the same age, maintenance can most often be carried out in a proactive and planned manner. This will reduce, for example, night-time maintenance alarms caused by exhausted batteries. 

In the future, the occupant is obliged to immediately notify the owner of the building of any faults in the smoke detector, such as battery exhaustion, or if the occupant has otherwise noticed that the smoke detector is out of order.

It is advisable for building owners to take advantage of the two-year transitional period for regulatory changes by planning and implementing the practical measures required well before the beginning of 2026.  

Device requirements to remain unchanged

The legislative amendments on smoke detectors do not involve changes to the device requirements for smoke detectors or any extension to the obligation to purchase smoke detectors, for example for the general premises of residential buildings. 

Even after 2025, the obligation to purchase and maintain smoke detectors for homes can be fulfilled with conventional battery-powered smoke detectors or mains-powered smoke detectors in accordance with the building regulations. The Rescue Act does not require mains-powered smoke detectors or various remotely readable smoke detectors.