The rule
Every Queensland home must have interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms by 1 January 2027. That date comes from the Queensland Government smoke alarm page, which is the place to check the current wording.
Rentals got there first. Rental homes have needed interconnected photoelectric alarms since 1 January 2022, according to the Queensland Government. If you rent out a property, the rules are not new to you, and the landlord side of it has its own timing. The 2027 date is the one that reaches every home.
What the alarms have to be
An alarm on the ceiling isn't automatically an alarm that counts. Four things decide it:
- Type. Alarms must meet AS 3786:2014 and must not contain an ionisation sensor.
- Power. Compliant alarms are hardwired or powered by a non-removable 10-year battery.
- Age. Alarms must be less than 10 years old.
- Connection. They must be interconnected, which means the alarms are linked, so one sounding sets off the others.
A house can have alarms that beep when you press the button and still miss on one of these. An ionisation alarm falls short. So does an alarm that is 10 years old, and so does a stand-alone unit that isn't linked to the others.
Where they go
Alarms go in every bedroom, in hallways that connect bedrooms, and on every level. The detail is on the Queensland Government's buying smoke alarms page.
The count adds up quickly. On that rule, a single-storey house with three bedrooms off one hallway needs an alarm in each bedroom and one in the hallway: four at least. A house with one alarm in the hallway is three short.
The count climbs in a few common situations:
- Two-storey homes, since every level counts
- Extensions that added a bedroom or a second hallway
- A converted garage or rumpus room now used as a bedroom
- A granny flat or second dwelling on the block
Hardwired or battery
Both are allowed, within the rule above. What matters is what the house has now.
Hardwired alarms must be installed by a licensed electrician, and a hardwired alarm must be replaced with a hardwired alarm. If your home already has hardwired alarms, taking them down and sticking battery units on the ceiling is not an option. The replacements are hardwired too, and that is a job for a licensed electrician.
More broadly, electrical work in Queensland must be done by a licensed electrician, and DIY electrical work is illegal. If the job means touching wiring, call an electrician.
If the house has no hardwired alarms at all, which option suits it is a conversation worth having before you buy anything. We can talk it through when we look at the house.
What an electrician does
Every P4 smoke alarm job is quoted first. In general terms it runs like this:
- We walk through the house and work out where alarms are needed under the rules above.
- We check what is already there: the type of alarm, its age and whether it is hardwired.
- You get a quote covering how many alarms, which type, and where each one goes.
- On the day, the old alarms come down and the new ones go up, interconnected across the house, and we check they sound together before we leave.
- You get an invoice and a certificate for the electrical work.
How long it takes depends on how many alarms the house needs and how easy the roof space is to get into. We will give you an idea when we quote.
P4 books work Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm. If you want alarms in before 1 January 2027, allow time for the quote as well as the install.
