Smoke and CO Alarm Rules Before You Sell in Boston

Once the heat goes on around Boston this fall, two devices are worth a walk through the house. One of them can also hold up a closing, because the fire department signs off on both before a home changes hands.

Carbon monoxide alarms: what makes them required

Under c. 148, § 26F½, a residence needs working approved carbon monoxide alarms if it contains fossil-fuel burning equipment, which the statute describes as a furnace, boiler, water heater, fireplace or any other device that burns fossil fuel, or if it incorporates enclosed parking. The Department of Fire Services guide dates the requirement to 2006 and lists gas water heaters, oil or gas furnaces, wood or gas fireplaces, wood pellet stoves, gas clothes dryers and gas cooking stoves as examples. A gas water heater alone puts a home in.

Where they go

The guide puts carbon monoxide alarms on every level of the residence, including habitable portions of basements and attics, and within 10 feet of each bedroom door. That bullet is the same for homes built before the building code, for homes permitted between 1975 and August 27, 1997, and for homes permitted after that. Combination photoelectric smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are allowed, and a combination alarm has to sound both a tone and a simulated voice so you can tell the two emergencies apart.

Smoke alarms in an older one or two family

Smoke alarms follow § 26E. Owners install approved ones on each level of habitation and on the basement level, on the ceiling of each stairway leading to the floor above, near the base of but not within the stairway, and outside each separate sleeping area. The Fire Services guide adds that in a two family, alarms are required in the common areas residents share. New or replacement alarms have to be photoelectric, have a hush feature for nuisance alarms, and if they run on batteries, use 10-year sealed batteries that cannot be recharged or replaced.

Newer homes count by floor area

For one and two family homes permitted after the code took effect, the guide adds a minimum of one smoke alarm for every 1,200 square feet of living space per level, on top of one per habitable level, one at the base of each stairway and one outside each separate sleeping area. Homes permitted after August 27, 1997 also need an alarm inside every bedroom, hardwired and interconnected with battery backup.

The two certificates at closing

The seller side is § 26F. A residential building not covered by the larger-building sections has to be equipped by the seller with approved smoke detectors upon sale or transfer. The Fire Services guide reads that as applying to homes built or modified before January 1, 1975, and notes the transfer law reaches residences with five or fewer units. Separately, § 26F½ has the head of the fire department inspect any residence for carbon monoxide compliance upon sale or transfer, whatever the year built and whatever the unit count. After a successful inspection the fire department issues a Certificate of Compliance, and the guide says both inspections can happen in one visit.

If you’re renting

The state sanitary code, 105 CMR 410.482, makes the owner provide, install and maintain both kinds of alarms in operable condition, and requires the board of health to notify the fire chief of any violation it finds. § 26F½ also has the landlord make the carbon monoxide alarms operational at the beginning of any rental period, then maintain them and replace batteries if needed each year after.

Before you list

Book the inspection early rather than the week of the closing, because a failed one means a second appointment. Selling in Greater Boston this fall and not sure which certificate applies to your building? Send me the address and the year it was built and I’ll walk you through it. Diana Kim, REALTOR®, eXp Realty.