Hi i was wondering if anyone would be able to help me with this issue. i have been in a property for 3 years and have recently found out my smoke alarm/heat alarms dont work. they are mains powered and upon calling my landlord they said take them off and check i then found they are not connected to the connectors and never have been as i moved straight into a new build. should my landlord be liable for this and should they be checked yearly or anything by my landlord.

I live in a block of flats and it is from a housing association if this helps at all.

i have had nothing but problems from them too.

I believe that as they are in your flat (not the communal area) it is up to you to test them.

Ideally you should test them once a week. You test them by pressing the test button.

Once every 6 months you should clean them (Run a vacuum cleaner around each one)

Once a year change the battery unless it has a sealed in X year life battery. Most "mains supplied" smoke alarms have a back up battery.

As green-foam has said it was up to you to test them and you would have found the problem a lot sooner. However the landlord and his contractor should have installed a domestic smoke detector that was fit for purpose and should put it right. You need to check the small print in your tenants agreement.