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Published July 15, 2026
CA law requires smoke alarms in every bedroom, hallway and level, plus CO alarms wherever there is gas or an attached garage.
Every California rental needs a working smoke alarm in each bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the unit, plus a carbon monoxide alarm in any unit with a gas appliance, fireplace, or attached garage. Health and Safety Code section 13113.7 covers smoke alarms, and section 17926 covers carbon monoxide. Both must be operable at move in, and the owner, not the tenant, is on the hook for upkeep.
Health and Safety Code section 13113.7 requires an owner to install and maintain smoke alarms in every dwelling unit intended for human occupancy, which covers single family rentals, duplexes, condos, and apartments alike. The alarms need to meet current State Fire Marshal standards and be placed per the manufacturer's instructions, which generally means one in each bedroom, one outside each sleeping area, and at least one on every level of the home, including basements.
The law is clear about who owns the job. At the start of a new tenancy the owner must make sure the smoke alarms are operable, and since January 1, 2014 the owner cannot shift responsibility for testing and maintaining them onto the tenant, even in a single family home. The tenant's job is narrow but important: notify the owner or the owner's agent right away if a smoke alarm stops working. Owners keep the right to enter with the standard 24 hour written notice to inspect, repair, or replace a unit's alarms.
A violation is an infraction, capped at $200 per offense, but the bigger exposure for a South Bay owner is not the fine. It is what happens in a fire related injury or wrongful death claim if the unit was missing a required alarm. Courts and insurers treat this statute as part of the basic habitability bar, alongside working locks and heat.
Health and Safety Code section 17926 required owners to install carbon monoxide devices in any dwelling unit with a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, a fireplace, or an attached garage. The rollout was phased by property type: July 1, 2011 for existing single family dwellings, January 1, 2013 for all other existing dwelling units, and January 1, 2017 for existing hotel and motel units. All of those dates have long since passed, so every covered rental in the South Bay should already have compliant CO alarms installed.
Section 17926.1 puts the ongoing duty on the owner or the owner's agent once a unit is leased: the carbon monoxide device must be maintained consistent with section 17926 and must be operable when the tenant takes possession. As with smoke alarms, violations are infractions with a maximum $200 fine per offense, and an owner typically gets a 30 day notice to correct before further penalties attach.
Most single family homes and townhomes with an attached garage or a gas furnace, water heater, or stove need at least one CO alarm near the sleeping areas, in addition to the smoke alarms in every bedroom. A condo with only electric appliances and no attached garage may not trigger the CO requirement at all, but if there is any shared gas line, meter room, or garage below the unit, it is worth confirming with your inspector rather than guessing. Battery only units are legal, but combination smoke and CO alarms with sealed 10 year batteries have become the practical standard because they eliminate the most common compliance gap, which is a dead 9 volt battery nobody replaced.
If you own a rental in El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, or anywhere else in the South Bay, treat smoke and CO alarms the same way you treat a smoke free move in: verify and document them at every turnover, not just when you remember. A signed move in checklist showing test dates protects you if a dispute ever comes up. If you would rather not track detector types, battery replacement cycles, and 30 day correction notices yourself, that is what we do for our owners.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.
Last verified: July 2026.
Topics: compliance, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide, habitability, El Segundo rentals, landlord checklist
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Schofield Properties is a family run property management company at 323 Richmond St, El Segundo, CA 90245. We have managed the South Bay since 1972 and personally oversee about 186 doors today. Book a call to talk about your property.
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