If you own the home you live in and nobody has touched the smoke alarms since you moved in, you have until 1 January 2027. From that date the standard that has applied to every rental and every home sold in Queensland since 2022 applies to yours as well, and the old single alarm in the hallway stops being legal. This is what the law requires, what it costs to put right, and how to get it done before the rush.
What changes on 1 January 2027?
Queensland phased the new standard in over ten years. New homes and substantial renovations from 2017. Every home sold or leased from 1 January 2022. Every other home from 1 January 2027, when the old rule in section 147Y of the Fire Services Act 1990 expires and section 147Z applies to every house and every unit in the state.
From that date each smoke alarm in your home must:
- be photoelectric and comply with Australian Standard AS 3786-2014, with no ionisation sensor
- be hardwired to the mains, or powered by a sealed battery built to last at least 10 years and impossible to remove
- have been manufactured less than 10 years before it was installed
- work when the test button is pressed
- be interconnected to every other alarm in the home, so when one sounds, they all sound
The duty sits with the owner, and the penalty for not meeting it is set out in the Act. For most people the real cost of ignoring it arrives later, at sale time or after a fire, and we come to that below.
Where do the alarms have to go?
The regulation is specific. You need an alarm:
- in every bedroom
- in the hallway the bedrooms open onto, or, if there is no hallway, in the space between the bedrooms and the rest of the home
- on every level of the home that has no bedroom, on the most likely path to the way out
Each alarm goes on the ceiling where that is practical, at least 300 millimetres from a light fitting and from the corner where the ceiling meets a wall, and at least 400 millimetres from an air conditioning outlet or the blades of a ceiling fan. A three bedroom, single storey house with one hallway usually needs four alarms. A two storey house with the bedrooms upstairs usually needs one more downstairs.
What does interconnected mean?
If any one alarm detects smoke, every alarm in the home must sound. The law defines interconnection by what the alarms do, not how they are wired, so sealed battery alarms that talk to each other wirelessly meet it, and so do hardwired alarms. One rule decides which you need: if the alarm you are replacing is hardwired, the new one must be hardwired too. Hardwired alarms are electrical work for a licensed electrician, and we organise it. Everything else can be a wireless interconnected alarm fitted the same day.
What happens if you leave it?
Three things, in the order they usually arrive.
When you sell, the law requires you to tell the buyer in writing whether compliant alarms are installed, and the standard Queensland sale contract lets the buyer claim 0.15 percent of the price at settlement if they are not. On an $800,000 house that is $1,200, taken off what you receive. If you rent the home out, the full standard applies before the first tenant moves in, plus a test and clean within the 30 days before. And after a fire, expect your insurer to ask whether the alarms met the law.
What does it cost to put right?
Our prices are published on our pricing page: one set price per alarm installed, for a lithium powered photoelectric interconnected alarm with a 10 year sealed battery, so you know what a four alarm house costs before we arrive, and it is fitted and tested in one visit. Hardwired alarms are quoted separately because a licensed electrician fits them. If you would rather have the alarms checked every year and covered, the annual service plan is on the same page, and every alarm we supply is covered for its full 10 year life while you stay on the plan. If you need written proof for a sale or an insurer, we provide a Certificate of Compliance on request once the invoice is paid.
Book it before the rush
Every home in Queensland that has not yet complied has the same deadline. Book now and it is done in one visit, paid on the day, with nothing to think about again until the alarms reach their 10 year date. Call the office on (07) 3349 0636, or send your details through the contact form and we’ll get back to you. Book my 2027 check.
We have been fitting and servicing smoke alarms across Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Redlands and Moreton Bay for over 20 years.
