Queensland Numbered Acts

FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES (DOMESTIC SMOKE ALARMS) AMENDMENT ACT 2016 - SECT 7

7 Insertion of new ss 104RBA and 104RBB

After section 104RB—
insert—

104RBA Owner must install smoke alarm

(1) This section applies to a domestic dwelling if—

(a) an application for a building development approval is made after 31 December 2016; and

(b) the building work to which the application relates is a substantial renovation; and

(c) a final inspection certificate or certificate of classification is issued for the building work.

(2) This section also applies to a domestic dwelling if, after 31 December 2021—

(a) the owner of the residential land on which the dwelling is constructed enters into an agreement to transfer the land to another person; or

(b) a new tenancy for the dwelling starts or an existing tenancy for the dwelling is renewed.

(3) The owner of a domestic dwelling must install smoke alarms in the dwelling in compliance with this section.

Penalty—

Maximum penalty—5 penalty units.

(4) A smoke alarm must be installed in each place in the domestic dwelling required by a regulation.

(5) Each smoke alarm must—

(a) be powered in a way prescribed by regulation; and

(b) comply with other requirements prescribed by regulation; and

(c) have been manufactured less than 10 years before the smoke alarm is installed; and

(d) operate when tested; and

(e) be interconnected to every other smoke alarm installed in the domestic dwelling.

(6) A smoke alarm (the
"first smoke alarm" ) is interconnected to another smoke alarm if—

(a) the first smoke alarm sounds an alert if the other smoke alarm is activated because its sensor detects smoke; and

(b) the other smoke alarm sounds an alert if the first smoke alarm is activated because its sensor detects smoke.

(7) Subsections (1) and (2) and this subsection expire on 31 December 2026.

(8) Building work is a
"substantial renovation" if—

(a) the building work is carried out under a building development approval for alterations to an existing building or structure; and

(b) the alterations, and any previous structural alterations approved or completed in the previous 3 years, represent more than half of the volume of the existing building or structure, measured over its roof and external walls.

(9) In this section—

"building development approval" see the Building Act 1975 , schedule 2.

"building work" see the Building Act 1975 , section 5.

"certificate of classification" see the Building Act 1975, schedule 2.

"final inspection certificate" see the Building Act 1975, section 10(d)(ii).

104RBB Alternative compliance with smoke alarm requirement provision

(1) An owner of a sole-occupancy unit in a class 2 building is taken to comply with a smoke alarm requirement provision if a smoke detection system that complies with the Building Code of Australia, specification E2.2a, clause 4 is installed in the unit.

(2) If it is impracticable for an owner of a domestic dwelling to put a smoke alarm at the location required under a smoke alarm requirement provision, the owner may put the alarm at another location that will provide a warning to occupants of the dwelling.

Example—

A smoke alarm that is regularly activated by steam from a bathroom or smoke or fumes from a kitchen may be moved to another appropriate location.

(3) This section applies despite a smoke alarm requirement provision.