Hello,

I live in a rented apartment in a large residential complex.  I recently had a near-miss incident in my kitchen which resulted in the flat being filled with smoke, and worryingly the smoke alarm directly above the oven did not go off.  I tested the alarm again after the incident and it still appeared to be working fine, though clearly it is not. 

Presumably this is because the smoke alarm is the original fitting?  The complex is approximately 15 years old, and I understand that hard-wired smoke alarms are advised to be replaced every 10 years.

I have asked my landlord to inspect it, and am confident that it will be replaced if required.  However, presumably there are also a significant number of apartments unaware of similar issues with their ageing smoke alarms.  Is this solely the responsibility of the individual landlords to keep on top of (which seems risky), or do the site management have some responsibilities?

Many thanks,

Helen

The landlord is subject to The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 which requires him/her to ensure a working domestic fire detector and CO detector is fitted in every new tenancy and my understanding after that it is the responsibility of the tenant.

It does not stipulate the type of smoke detector but if it is a new build the Approved Document B (Fire Safety) Vol 1  applies and it is more definitive.

As far as I am aware the management is not involved unless there is clauses inserted in the tenants agreement.

Could it be that being above the oven it is NOT a smoke detector, but a heat detector, which would explain why it did not go off with smoke, but did when you pressed the test button?

I'd agree, if it's the original hard wired kitchen device it will be a heat alarm, not a smoke alarm - look here for the differences in appearance https://www.safelincs.co.uk/smoke-alarms/