Time to act on smoke alarms
TIME is quickly running out for property owners in Queensland strata schemes to ensure their units are compliant with the State Government’s current smoke alarm rules which require all dwellings to have interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms installed, says Archers the Strata Professionals.
Archers the Strata Professionals partner, Grant Mifsud, said while the estimated 550,000 rental properties in Queensland must meet the new smoke alarm rules by January 1, 2022, there are already concerns from suppliers and the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) about a lack of awareness of the deadline and that many property owners may take action too late to complete the process for replacing all smoke alarms, which is often lengthy in strata.
“We are urging property owners and strata committees to co-ordinate upgrade of their smoke alarms as soon as possible to avoid what could be a late rush to meet this deadline,” Mr Mifsud said.
“If people wait until close to the compliance date there is a risk that there may be insufficient time to coordinate a group upgrade to reduce costs or enough tradespeople available to install the alarms meaning prices will rise. The QFES also conducted a survey which found 51 per cent of Queensland landlords were unaware of their smoke alarm obligations.”
The legislation was developed following recommendations handed down after the fatal 2011 house fire at Slacks Creek in Brisbane’s south, which claimed 11 lives, including eight children.
All Queensland dwellings leased and sold are now required to have interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms in all bedrooms, the hallways that connect bedrooms with the rest of the dwelling and on every level.
Mr Mifsud said as the body corporate is responsible for compliance if audited by the QFES, regardless of the replacement cost being the owners responsibility when alarms are not connected to a QFES monitored system, committees should consider undertaking replacement for all units as a group project to not only ensure the entire apartment complex is compliant but to also reduce replacement costs overall for individuals owners.
“There is one strata scheme arranging to upgrade smoke alarms in all 140 apartments in the complex,” he said.
“To do this they are seeking quotes for the estimated total cost and provisioning for funding by increasing levies to the sinking fund over the next two years. But even this is not a simple fix as the body corporate must seek agreement from each owner for the body corporate to do the work on their behalf, who will pay the cost proportionate to their share via levies. They then need to approve supply, funding and works agreements at a general meeting to put all the pieces into place.
“So, you can see from that one scenario why there is a need for proactive planning to ensure there is strategy to upgrade the smoke alarms in time.”
Mr Mifsud said the bigger issue is if all alarms have not been upgraded, the individual units that have not complied will put the entire building at risk and cannot be leased.
“Complying with the new smoke alarm regulations will be a major undertaking for strata communities but a vitally important one,” he said.
“Fire safety is a deadly serious issue in strata communities and procedures are in place to ensure residents are protected with well-rehearsed annual evacuation training and up-to-date evacuation plans in place.”