Tenants have obligations for cleaning, testing and replacing
batteries for alarms during a tenancy. Landlords have obligations for
installing, cleaning and testing smoke alarms and replacing batteries before
the start or renewal of a tenancy. Property Managers must ensure compliance
from both sides. The best way to do this is to engage the services of a
professional company to ensure compliance prior to each new tenant or lease
renewal.
A trusted smoke alarm company will check compliance of the
alarms, this for a nominal fee and provide a compliance certificate for peace
of mind. To be honest, I would not want to be responsible for checking such a
life saving device when for such a small, tax deductable amount I can be
assured of my tenant's safety.
I have pictures from a home that my agency was managing a
few years ago. The tenants had just moved in and there was a storm creating an
electrical black out The tenant lit a candle which she left near a curtain when
she went to bed. The insurance is a whole side story; but the fact is that
without the smoke alarms, our tenant and her three children would not have made
it out alive! I am not exaggerating, the whole house burned down and there were
scorch marks on both neighboring houses. Because of the quick response time,
our neighbors houses were saved as the fire department was called urgently.
Please remember your smoke alarm compliance for new tenants
and for lease renewals. Treat any reports for maintenance as urgent and have
your smoke alarm company attend as soon as possible. With most companies, your
annual subscription entitles you to free call outs for any reason. Perhaps the
new year would be good a time to do a smoke alarm audit on your properties.
I could not live with myself if my Tenants or the property
of my Landlord were destroyed due to forgetting something so critical. for such
a small fee, let the professionals handle the responsibility.
Disclaimer
This is prepared for information only. The Fire and Rescue
Act 1990 is the primary source on the law and takes precedence over this
information supplied.
Further information:
For more information about the obligations for the
installation and maintenance of smoke alarms in rental premises, visit the
Queensland Fire and Rescue Service website http://www.fire.qld.gov.au or call
their Information Hotline on 1300 369 003.
Brenda Mitchell is a Head of Department for Property
Management at Harcourts Ashmore. In her 6th year of real estate, she is
passionate about the industry and strives to find innovate ways to support her
investors to increase their return on investment. Contact Brenda at
brenda.mitchell@live.com.au or by Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/brendaleemitchell1971
No comments:
Post a Comment