Managing your rental
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in Ontario rentals: the landlord's duties
Where smoke and CO alarms must be in an Ontario rental, when the landlord must test them, what the tenant must do, and the fines, from the Fire Code.
By the Tenant.ca teamUpdated 4 min read
In this guide6 parts
The short answer
In a rental, the landlord is responsible for the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms: installing them where the Fire Code requires, keeping them working, testing them every year and whenever a tenant changes, and giving the tenant the maker's maintenance instructions. The tenant has to tell the landlord as soon as an alarm isn't working, and nobody may disable one.
The Fire Code is O. Reg. 213/07 under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997. For a rental unit it names the landlord, not the tenant, as the one responsible for the alarms (Articles 2.13.1.2, 2.16.1.2, 6.3.3.2 and 6.3.4.2).
Where smoke alarms must be
The Fire Code's minimum for a rental unit (Division B, Article 2.13.2.1):
- On every storey of the unit
- Outside the bedrooms: in the hallway that serves them, or between the sleeping area and the rest of the unit if there's no hallway
- Wired to a circuit with no switch in between, or battery-operated, and certified to CAN/ULC-S531
Where carbon monoxide alarms must be
Carbon monoxide alarms are required when the building has a fuel-burning appliance (such as a gas furnace, water heater, stove or dryer), a fireplace or a storage garage, or is heated by a forced-air fuel-burning appliance outside it (Article 2.16.1.1).
When a fuel-burning appliance, flue or fireplace is in the unit, an alarm goes next to each sleeping area and on each storey without one. When the appliance is elsewhere in the building, an alarm goes in the room where it's installed, and units that share a wall, floor or ceiling with that room, or with a storage garage, need alarms next to each sleeping area and on each storey without one (Article 2.16.2.1).
Units built under the Building Code since April 6, 1998 for smoke alarms, or since January 1, 2025 for carbon monoxide alarms, follow the Building Code's rules in place when they were built instead of these placement rules. The testing and upkeep duties below apply either way.
Testing and upkeep: the landlord's checklist
From Subsections 6.3.3 (smoke alarms) and 6.3.4 (carbon monoxide alarms):
- Test every alarm once a year and after every change in tenancy, using its test button
- Test a battery alarm after replacing the battery, and a wired alarm after any change to its electrical circuit
- Keep every alarm and its power supply working
- Give the tenant a copy of the manufacturer's maintenance instructions
- Replace each alarm by the date in the manufacturer's instructions
What the tenant must do
A tenant has to tell the landlord as soon as they know an alarm is disconnected, isn't working or isn't working properly (Articles 6.3.3.5 and 6.3.4.5). No person, tenant or landlord, may disable a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm (Articles 6.3.3.6 and 6.3.4.6), for example by taking the battery out.
To test the alarms during a tenancy, the landlord gives the tenant at least 24 hours' written notice and enters between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., as for any inspection (Residential Tenancies Act, section 27).
The fines
Breaking the Fire Code is an offence under section 28 of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act. An individual can be fined up to $50,000 for a first offence and $100,000 for a later one, or jailed for up to a year, or both. A corporation can be fined up to $500,000 for a first offence and $1,500,000 for a later one.
This page is general information, not legal advice. It reflects the Fire Code, the Fire Protection and Prevention Act and the Residential Tenancies Act on e-Laws as read on November 9, 2026. Your municipality's fire department enforces the Fire Code and can answer questions about a particular building.