Law on CO Alarms

The current legislation with regard to the installation of carbon monoxide alarms.

This is complicated and depends on whether Building Regulations are involved (e.g. when undertaking building work or adding an extension that require building regulations or installing or replacing appliances powered by carbon based fuel solid or other fuel) or whether the property is rented with a solid fuel appliance or is a house of multiple occupation or whether the building is owner occupied etc.

The whole situation is further complicated depending upon in which country the property is situated, England, Wales, N. Ireland or Scotland. There are also changes being made to each country’s legislation with regard to CO alarms and it’s important to know when such changes are coming into force.

We suggest you visit https://www.policyconnect.org.uk/news/carbon-monoxide-alarm-regulations-are-changing-are-you-ready which provides an updated version of the law applying to each country within the UK. Policy Connect provides administrative support to the All Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group.

However, if in doubt for your safety and the safety of any of your tenants, licensees (e.g. people you allow to stay without a formal agreement) or guests please visit https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/about-co/prevention/ and follow the steps set out. This includes installing at least one CO alarm to EN 50291 bought direct from a reputable supplier, not the Internet. We further suggest you install this CO alarm on each floor.

Note Smoke alarms are also vital for safety from fire but they are not the same as CO alarms, nor will CO alarms act as smoke alarms. Smoke alarms have their own regulations.’