Tenants liable for too-old smoke detectors?

Smoke detectors soon to be mandatory in Ontario: RONA offers expert advice, Press Release, 23 Feb 2006

[A]s of March 1, 2006 it will be mandatory under the Ontario Fire Prevention Code for all dwellings to have a smoke detector installed on every floor...

Owners, landlords and tenants who do not respect the new law may be handed tickets up to $325 or fines of up to $25,000; smoke detectors more than 10 years old must be replaced.

As a tenant, the second-to-last thing I want (the very last being to meet with a fiery demise because of a faulty smoke detector) is to get stuck with a huge fine, but I'm not sure about the age of my smoke detector; maybe it's 10 years old, maybe not.

But property managers can take ages to get around to these things. Thankfully, Rona rides to the rescue by offering "up to 28% off on selected models." With a sweet deal like that, a new detector must cost way less than the possible fine. Sounds like the safest bet is to replace the smoke detector on my own, just in case, which I believe is part of the reason why Rona issued the misleading press release quoted above.

But wait, why should the onus be on me, to the extent that I'll be fined for my landlord's negligence? The truth is, it's not. In fact, tenants are not liable for old or missing smoke detectors: landlords are. As the Office of the Fire Marshall explains,

It is the responsibility of landlords to ensure their rental properties comply with the law.

If you are a tenant of a rental property and do not have the required number of smoke alarms, contact your landlord immediately. It is against the law for tenants to remove the batteries or tamper with the alarm in any way.

A Globe and Mail article written at the time the new rules were first proposed quotes Fire Marshall Bernard Moyle as saying,

there will be "zero tolerance" for tenants who disable smoke alarms and for landlords who allow maintenance of them to lapse. But firefighters won't be searching homes to ensure compliance, he said. "If we have to issue a ticket to a homeowner for a $10 smoke alarm, that's a failure... [t]his isn't about punishing people, it's about getting the message out."

So, it seems that while you may be fined for removing or disabling smoke detectors, landlords alone are responsible for furnishing a sufficient number of new smoke detectors to begin with.

Additional press: Pulse24.com, Beach-Riverdale Town Crier, Barrie Advance, Halton Herald, Fort Frances Times, City of Toronto.