Quickly check whether you meet the smoke alarm legislation changes coming on 1st January 2027 for owner-occupied homes in QLD. All questions must be answered. See the FAQ below for more information. If you have any doubts or questions, please contact us for more information.
Smoke Alarm Compliance FAQ
Check the label on the alarm itself.
The easiest way is to remove the alarm from its mounting bracket and look at the markings printed on the body or base. You’re looking for one of the following:
- The word “Photoelectric” printed directly on the unit
- The letters “Pe” (shorthand for photoelectric)
- A compliance marking of AS 3786-2014 — this is the current Australian Standard, and alarms marked with it are photoelectric by default, since ionisation alarms don’t meet this standard
If instead you see the word “Ionisation” or “Ion”, or no AS 3786-2014 marking at all, your alarm is likely outdated and won’t meet the 2027 requirement.
A quick visual cue (not definitive, but a useful first check):
Photoelectric alarms typically have a small vent or chamber with a light sensor inside, visible as tiny holes or slots around the sensor housing. Ionisation alarms often have a small radioactive warning symbol (a tiny trefoil-style icon) since they contain a small amount of radioactive material — if you spot that symbol, it’s ionisation and needs replacing.
If you’re not sure, don’t guess.
The safest way to confirm compliance — especially with the 2027 deadline approaching — is to have a licensed electrician inspect your alarms. They can quickly identify the type, check interconnection, and confirm whether your current setup meets the full standard (not just alarm type, but placement and power source too).
This one’s simple to check yourself — walk into each bedroom and look up. If a bedroom doesn’t have its own dedicated alarm mounted on the ceiling, it’s non-compliant, even if there’s one just outside the door in the hallway. Under the legislation, hallway alarms don’t count as bedroom coverage — each bedroom needs its own.
Walk through every hallway that connects a bedroom to the rest of the home and check for a ceiling-mounted alarm. If bedrooms are spread across different hallways or wings of the house, each connecting hallway needs its own alarm — one alarm covering only part of the home isn’t enough. If you’re unsure whether your home’s layout meets this (common in split-level or multi-wing homes), a licensed electrician can map it out for you.
Count the storeys in your home — including levels without bedrooms, like a downstairs living area or a converted garage — and check each one for at least one alarm. It’s a common gap: many homes have alarms upstairs where the bedrooms are, but nothing covering the ground floor. Every storey needs coverage, regardless of what’s on it.
The easiest way to test this is to press the test button on one alarm and listen for the others. If every alarm in the house sounds at the same time, they’re interconnected. If only the one you tested goes off, they’re standalone units and won’t meet the requirement — even if each individual alarm is otherwise compliant. Interconnection can be wired or wireless, so a “yes” on this test is what matters, not how it’s achieved.