Why Brisbane homes need more alarms than you'd think
Verandas turned into bedrooms
Many Queenslanders have had verandas closed in as extra bedrooms. Queensland wants an alarm inside every bedroom, so each sleep-out counts the same as the rooms the house started with.
Built-in downstairs
The space under a high-set house is often built in as living area. That's another storey, and every storey needs an alarm. With no bedrooms down there, it goes on the most likely path out of the home.
Units and townhouses too
At the 2021 census, 14.7% of Brisbane residents lived in apartments and 11.4% in townhouses or terraces. The 2027 rule covers every one of those homes, not just detached houses.
High ceilings
Older timber houses tend to have high ceilings. For the monthly test, a broom handle on the button beats a wobbly chair.
Storm-season blackouts
Thunderstorms are common here from November to March, and the worst have cut power to tens of thousands of homes at once. Hardwired alarms carry a backup battery, so they keep working while the power's out.
Hardwired now? Your choice is already made
Got hardwired alarms today? Then the new ones must be hardwired as well, fitted by a qualified electrician. Homes with no hardwired alarms can use wireless interconnected alarms with a non-removable 10-year battery, which the Queensland Fire Department says you can put up yourself.
Whatever goes up has to be photoelectric with no ionisation sensor, marked AS 3786-2014, under 10 years old on the day it's installed, and linked so that one sounding sets off the rest.
One catch in older Brisbane houses: where no approved safety switch protects the power points, the electrician generally can't do the installation work without fitting one too. Ask about it before the day, so it's in the quote.
Getting it done before the deadline
Walk the house
List every bedroom, sleep-outs included, every hallway joining them to the rest of the house, and every level, including a built-in downstairs.
Check what's up there
Note each alarm's type and the date on its label. Ionisation alarms, ones that aren't linked and anything over 10 years old all have to go.
Book one visit
If anything's hardwired, have one electrician who does smoke alarm upgrades replace and link the lot together, with the safety switch question answered in the same visit.
Test them as a set
Press one test button and make sure every alarm in the house sounds.
Landlords, sellers and buyers
Rentals have needed compliant alarms at every new or renewed lease since 1 January 2022. Within 30 days before a tenancy starts, the landlord tests and cleans each alarm and replaces flat or nearly flat batteries, and gives 48 hours' entry notice to work on alarms during a tenancy. Electrical rules for landlords has more.
Selling? The same rules have applied from the moment the contract is signed since 2022, and you have to tell the buyer in writing whether compliant alarms are fitted.
Yours, and the electrician's
You can
- Put up sealed 10-year wireless alarms if the house has no hardwired ones.
- Test every alarm monthly and vacuum the dust off them every six months.
- Check the manufacture date on each alarm and plan ahead of the 10-year mark.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Replacing or moving any hardwired alarm.
- Linking mains-powered alarms so they sound together.
- Running new cable to sleep-outs and built-in rooms.
- Fitting an approved safety switch if the board has none.
If it were our Brisbane house
We'd count rooms the way the house is used today, not the way it was drawn, and book before the December rush. If even one alarm is hardwired, we'd have a licensed electrician do the whole house in one go and check the safety switch while they're there. After that, every alarm gets tested on the first of each month.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.