Shawnee County Landlords
Association, Inc.

FROM THE DESK OF
Margie Eklund
SCLA President

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE.... THERE SHOULD BE A DETECTOR

With the end of daylight savings time, local fire departments remind us to check our smoke detectors. In that vein, I'd like to revisit much of an article produced in 2004 regarding placing of smoke detectors in rental units. Twenty-six years ago, I was legal counsel to the State Fire Marshal and knew a lot about such requirements, but I'd not recently had a need to look at the Kansas Smoke Detector Act passed in 1998.

Found at KSA 31-160 et seq., the act requires at least one smoke detector on every story of a single family dwelling unit. If a building contains more than one dwelling unit or is mixed use, like an apartment above a store, a detector is required at the uppermost ceiling of each interior stairwell and on every story in each dwelling unit.

The act doesn't really address further the location of detectors, but I'd sure want one very near to any area where people sleep and others close to areas where fires might be likely to develop.
The owner shall supply and install the detectors and test and maintain them, except INSIDE rental units where the occupant shall test and maintain the detectors after taking possession.
If the dwelling unit was in existence prior to January 1, 1999, the detector may be either battery-powered or wired into the unit's electrical system. The detectors must be wired into the electrical system in all newer structures.

Mobile home detector requirements are addressed in federal law dealing with standards of manufacture which are accepted in place of the state standards outlined in this act.
Fire prevention officers cannot enter a unit solely for the purpose of determining compliance with the detector act but can enter when issuing an occupancy or building permit or investigating a fire. The act provides that violations be are a nonclass nonperson misdemeanor punishable by up to a $25 fine.

The act further provides that "evidence of the failure of any property owner to provide an operational smoke detector...[or] evidence of the failure of any occupant to properly maintain a smoke detector...shall not be admissible in any action for the purpose of determining any aspect of civil liability." The state statute also provides that this act is in addition to any city or county ordinance relating to detectors.

While the statute may not be very scary in the amount of fine, and the prohibition of using in a civil liability case either tenant's or landlord's failure to abide by the law effectively takes big damages off the table, the idea behind the law is simply a good idea...and good business. It's hard to collect rent when your unit is burned to the ground. And, as landlords, we all want to provide a safe place for our tenants to live.

To make sure that I don't notice that a detector has been removed by a tenant, I put a space on my move-in inspection sheet to check that I've found the detectors in place and tested them. As for maintenance, tenants are supposed to maintain lots of things--like furnace filters and eaves and downspouts, but it's a good idea for a landlord to check those kinds of things at least annually to avoid late night emergency calls. Checking the smoke detectors would be a good addition to that annual checklist.

NOTE: The opinions and analysis expressed in this column are those of the author, are general in nature and should not be considered to be legal advice specific to your individual situation.