New QLD Smoke Alarm Legislation

What's changed and how it affects your home

Queensland smoke alarm legislation has changed, requiring all substantially renovated residences and new properties approved after January 1st, 2017 to be fitted with interconnected, photoelectric smoke alarm systems.

Upgrades to exisiting or the installation of new hardwired smoke alarm systems must be carried out by a licenced electrician.

Smoke alarm legislation changes

• Smoke alarms must be located:
  • on each storey
  • in all bedrooms
  • in hallways that connect bedrooms to the rest of the house
  • if there's no hallway, between bedrooms and other parts of the storey
  • if there are no bedrooms on a storey, at least one smoke alarm must be installed in the most likely path of travel to exit the home
• All smoke alarms must be the photoelectric type.
• Smoke alarms must be either hardwired to your home's mains power supply with a battery backup, or 10-year non-removable lithium battery powered alarms.
• Smoke alarms are required to be interconnected with every smoke alarm in the dwelling so if one is triggered all activate together providing the best and earliest warning of a fire.
• Interconnection can be either wired or wireless.

For your safety and the safety of everyone in your home, hardwired smoke alarms must be installed by a licenced electrician.

Photoelectric smoke alarms only

The updated legislation also states that every alarm replaced or installed from 1 January 2017 must be a photoelectric type smoke alarm.

Ionisation style smoke alarms should no longer be used to replace or upgrade old alarms.

Installation timeframes

The installation timeframe relevant for your property will vary depending on your situation.

• Homes built or significantly renovated with a completion date after 1 January 2017 will need to be installed with the new interconnected photoelectric alarm system
• Any homes leased or sold from 1 January 2017 will need to meet compliance after 5 years
• All owner-occupied residents will need to meet compliance after 10 years

More information

For more information on updating the smoke alarms in your property contact our electrical team on 1300 762 260 or complete our booking request form today.

Read our blog post How the new QLD smoke alarm legislation affects you

Download the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services fact sheet

New Smoke Alarm Legislation (267 KB)