CO Alarm (Carbon Monoxide Alarm)
Required from 1 October 2022 in every room with a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers) in private rented homes in England. The landlord must ensure an alarm is present and in working order at the start of each tenancy. Maximum civil penalty: £5,000 per property.
At a glance
- In force
- From 1 October 2022
- Where
- Every room with a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers)
- When
- Present and working at the start of each tenancy
- Max penalty
- £5,000 per property
Full guide
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Open full guideWhy CO Alarm (Carbon Monoxide Alarm) matters for landlords
The October 2022 expansion of the CO-alarm rules to all fixed combustion appliances (wood burners, oil boilers, solid-fuel fires) caught many landlords out because before then only gas-heater rooms needed an alarm. The civil penalty is issued by the local authority on a 28-day remedy timetable; a quick fix after tenant complaint usually avoids the £5,000 cap, but ignoring a remedial notice turns it into the full amount. Keeping a photo-stamped inventory at tenancy start is the cleanest audit trail.
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Official sources
LetCompliance editorial reviews this entry every quarter against the sources above. Always confirm specific duties with a qualified solicitor or your local council.
Related terms
Smoke Alarm
Mains-powered or sealed 10-year battery smoke alarms are required on every storey of a private rented home in England under the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 (amended 2022). Landlords must test them at the start of every tenancy and replace faulty alarms once reported.
Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
Tax on the profit from selling a rental property. From April 2024 the CGT annual exempt amount was reduced to £3,000 and residential property gains are taxed at 18% (basic rate) or 24% (higher rate). A CGT return must be filed and tax paid within 60 days of completion.
Check-in / Check-out Report
The dated, photographed inventory record taken at the start (check-in) and end (check-out) of a tenancy, signed by tenant and landlord/agent. It is the primary evidence base for any deposit deduction claim through the DPS, TDS or mydeposits adjudication process — without it, the scheme will almost always award the deposit back to the tenant. Best practice: third-party inventory clerk, time-stamped photographs of every room and meter reading, and tenant sign-off within 7 days.
Civil Penalty Notice
A financial penalty up to £30,000 a local housing authority can impose as an alternative to criminal prosecution under the Housing and Planning Act 2016, the Housing Act 2004 (HMO offences) and various tenancy offences. Common triggers: failure to comply with an Improvement Notice, breach of HMO licensing, unlawful eviction, breach of selective licensing or letting an unsafe property. The landlord can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal within 28 days; unpaid penalties are recoverable in the County Court.
Compliance Score
A 0-100 score LetCompliance assigns to each property based on how up-to-date its safety certificates and tenancy documents are. 100 means Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, deposit protection and Right to Rent are all current; the score drops as deadlines approach and is recalculated daily.
Council Tax
The tax charged on residential property by the local authority. Tenants are usually liable while the property is let as their main residence. Landlords become liable during void periods and for most HMOs (where each tenant has their own AST).