By 1 July 2016 every residential rental property must have working smoke alarms.

The landlord is responsible for installing the alarm and making sure it is working at the start of the tenancy. Tenants are responsible for replacing batteries and letting landlords know if there are any defects with the alarm.

Any new alarms or replacement alarms must have long life batteries and must be the photoelectric type or hard-wired.

Landlords must comply with the regulations relating to smoke alarms as stated in the Residential Tenancies Act S138a. Failure to do this is an unlawful act with potential exemplary damages of $4000.

For more information - MBIE website