Who is responsible for that?
Who is responsible for that?
We are often asked by our clients who is responsible for the repair of specific items in the property. Generally speaking the landlord is responsible for most repairs of the property. If you are unsure a good place to look is the RTB website and review the policy guidelines. Policy Guideline GL1-1 outlines tenant and landlord responsibilities for repairs.
One of the more common questions we are asked by clients is what about smoke detectors?. The owner is responsible for the smoke detector and the batteries. There are times when other people are involved in the maintenance of the smoke detector.
In strata condos the smoke detector will be connected to the main building system and the strata will annually come and test the smoke detector to ensure it is functioning correctly. This doesn’t mean they will replace it if it is defective. The unit is still inside the strata lot meaning it is an owner’s responsibility to repair. If the unit is identified as being faulty during the strata testing some buildings will arrange for it to be changed. There may be a cost to the owner for this or the strata may just inform you and it is your respnsibiflity to replace the faulty unit. Some stratas have taken the step of creating a bylaw that makes them responsible for the smoke detector which means it is their responsibility to repair and minatian, this is rare.
Buildings often buy large quantities of detectors to provide to owners to allow them to obtain one quickly if it needs to be replaced. It is part of the bylaws that you, the owner or the tenant must provide access for the strata to test the unit annually. A tenant becomes responsible for this when they sign the form K which requires them to follow the bylaws and access for the testing is part of the bylaws.
If your unit is a Townhouse the stata may come and test the device or they may not. Our experience is most townhouses do not do insuite testing. This is because in most townhouse buildings the systems are not connected meaning each unit’s smoke detectors only set off their own and do not engage other unit devices like in condo buildings. Again the devices are inside the unit which means they fall under the responsibility of the owner to repair and maintain the devices. In the townhouse there will be multiple units and they are often connected to each other. If one is faulty it may trigger the other to sound to indicate an issue needs attention. The unit will be hard wired to the electrical wiring of the townhouse.
If you own a house you may not have hard wired devices, newer homes do but many older houses don’t. It is still a requirement for the landlord to provide devices in these properties. They would be battery operated only. It is good practice to ensure the property has multiple devices depending on the size of the property.
In all of the above situations it is a requirement for them to be working during a tenancy. Similar to a furnace if they are never used the batteries would never be used. This is not like the light bulb though as they must be in working order which makes it the landlords responsibility to ensure they are in good working order. This includes that the back up battery is functioning. Batteries don’t last long. Fire departments suggest changing them annually to ensure they are working when needed. It is good pactice to provide the tenant with the batteries to ensure they are able to change them. That being said, there are buildings with very tall ceilings and you can’t reach the device without a ladder and in some condos a tenant may not have a ladder tall enough to reach the unit to change the battery.
Policy Guidline GL1-1
Smoke Detectors 1. If there are smoke detectors, or if they are required by law, the landlord must install and keep smoke alarms in good working condition. Regular maintenance includes: • annual inspection of the system • annual cleaning and testing of the alarm • replacing batteries at least annually and according to the manufacturer's instructions. 2. The tenant must not prevent the smoke alarm from working by taking out batteries and leaving them out, or by replacing them with batteries that are dead or the wrong size. For their own safety and the safety of others, the tenant must tell the landlord when a smoke alarm needs new batteries, or that it seems to need to be repaired or replaced.
The smoke detector is avabluable part of the fire safety system and needs to be working when needed. Don’t leave it up to the tenant to ensure the unit is faulty.
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