From January 01 2017 there are important changes to Queensland’s Smoke Alarm Legislation which ALL Queensland property owners need to be aware of; compliance is mandatory. All Queensland dwellings will be legally required to have interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms in all bedrooms and in hallways that connect bedrooms with the rest of the dwelling.
This is a 10-year phased roll-out of interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms will happen over three specific periods starting from 1 January 2017. This means interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms are required for compliance:
- From 1 January 2017: in all new dwellings and substantially renovated dwellings (this applies to building applications submitted from 1 January 2017).
- From 1 January 2022: in all domestic dwellings leased and sold.
- From 1 January 2027: in all other domestic dwellings.
Any new smoke alarm being installed or existing smoke alarm being replaced from 1 January 2017 must also be a photoelectric-type alarm which complies with Australian Standard 3786. If your smoke alarm is more than 10 years old it must be replaced with a photoelectric smoke alarm.
A smoke alarm which is hard wired to the domestic power supply must be replaced with a hard wired photoelectric smoke alarm. To tell if you have a photoelectric-type smoke alarm look on the front, back or inside of the smoke alarm unit for the word ‘photoelectric’, ‘optical’, ‘photo optical’ or the symbol ‘P’. If it does not contain these words or symbols your alarm should be replaced