When do you need a smoke and carbon monoxide detector inspection in Massachusetts?

Section 26F says every residential building not covered by the sections for larger and newer buildings "shall, upon the sale or transfer of such building or structure, be equipped by the seller with approved smoke detectors," and that the head of the fire department enforces it (M.G.L. c. 148, § 26F). Section 26F½, known as Nicole's Law, requires every residence that contains fossil-fuel-burning equipment, a furnace, boiler, water heater, fireplace or any other appliance that burns fossil fuel, or that has enclosed parking within the structure to be equipped by the owner with working, approved carbon monoxide alarms, whether or not it is being sold, and says that on sale or transfer every residence "shall be inspected by the head of the fire department for compliance" (M.G.L. c. 148, § 26F½). The Department of Fire Services' guide notes that the smoke-detector transfer law applies to residences built or modified before the state building code took effect on 1 January 1975; for anything built or renovated after that, the date of the building permit sets the alarm requirements, and that in practice purchase-and-sale agreements and lenders require the fire department's certificate of compliance for every home, whatever its age (DFS guide).

The DFS guide sets out the typical one- and two-family requirements. A home built before 1 January 1975 needs smoke alarms on every habitable level, in the basement, on the ceiling at the base of each stairway and outside each separate sleeping area, photoelectric, no more than ten years old, battery-powered or hardwired; any new or replacement alarm must be photoelectric with a hush feature, and a battery alarm must have a ten-year sealed battery. A home permitted between 1975 and 27 August 1997 needs hardwired, interconnected alarms on every habitable level, at the base of each stairway and outside each sleeping area, at least one per 1,200 square feet of living space per level. From 27 August 1997 an alarm is also required inside every bedroom, with battery backup, and any alarm within 20 feet of a kitchen or a bathroom with a tub or shower must be photoelectric; from 1 January 2008 a heat alarm is required in an attached or under-house garage; and from 4 February 2011 every smoke alarm must be photoelectric (DFS guide).

Carbon monoxide alarms, required since 31 March 2006 in every residence with fossil-fuel equipment or an attached enclosed garage, go on every level including habitable basements and attics and within 10 feet of each bedroom door; they may be battery, plug-in with battery backup, hardwired with backup or system type in older homes, and must be hardwired and interconnected with battery backup in homes permitted from 2008. Combination photoelectric smoke and CO alarms are allowed, and combination units must give both a tone and a simulated voice so the two emergencies can be told apart (DFS guide). The state fire code also requires replacement battery-operated smoke alarms in most homes to have a sealed long-life battery and a hush feature (DFS smoke and carbon monoxide alarms).

The guide's sequence: once you have a closing date, contact the local fire department to schedule the inspection; before the inspector arrives, make sure the street number is visible from the street (M.G.L. c. 148, § 59), that the alarms are the right type and in the right places and all working, and expect that the department may take alarms down to verify them; after a passing inspection the fire department issues the certificate of compliance, and "this document will probably be required at the closing." The certificate does not last long: the state's application form, FP-007C, states that a certificate issued under sections 26F and 26F½ "expires sixty (60) days after issuance by head of the Fire Department," which is why the inspection is booked against the closing date (DFS form FP-007C). Smoke and CO inspections are done in the same visit, and the fee is set by each city or town (DFS guide). Town fire departments describe the same service: Windsor's page, for one, explains the certificate for a sale or transfer and how to prepare the home for the inspection (Windsor Inspections).

The transfer law is about sales, but the same alarm requirements arrive with a building permit. The DFS guide says that where a building "has undergone renovation, addition or modification after Jan. 1, 1975, the date the building permit was issued determines the smoke alarms requirements of the building code," and its heat-alarm note makes the point concretely: a garage heat alarm is not required in an older home "unless renovation, addition or modification occurs after Jan. 1, 2008" (DFS guide). Section 26F½ likewise allows the state building code to impose stricter CO requirements on new construction and on buildings "substantially renovated so as to constitute the equivalent of new construction," inspected on sale against the code in force when they were built (M.G.L. c. 148, § 26F½). A permitted addition, kitchen remodel or finished basement is therefore the moment the alarms are brought up to the current code, checked at the building inspection rather than at a sale.

The DFS position is that no smoke alarm, battery or hardwired, should remain in service more than ten years from its manufacture date, which is printed on the back, an alarm with no date is more than ten years old, and that combination CO and smoke alarms may need replacing sooner; CO alarms are replaced every five to seven years by make and model, or at ten years for sealed-battery models. Choose alarms listed by a nationally recognised laboratory such as UL or Intertek, from a well-known brand, meeting UL 217 8th edition or later for smoke alarms, and bring an expired sealed-battery alarm to a household hazardous waste collection rather than the trash (DFS smoke and carbon monoxide alarms; DFS guide).