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Carbon Monoxide Law
On November 4, 2005, the Governor signed An Act Relative to the Installation of Carbon Monoxide Alarms and Smoke Alarms in Residential Buildings (Chapter 123 of the Acts of 2005). The new law, which provides some minor amendments to the Smoke Detector Statute, such as allowing for increase in permitting fees a municipality may change, and adds a requirement for the instillation of carbon monoxide detectors in residential units will take effect on March 31, 2006.
The new law requires that every residential dwelling which contain fossil fuel burning equipment, including oil or gas furnaces, burners and water heaters, or fireplaces and/or wood burning stoves, or which include an enclosed parking area, must have installed carbon monoxide detectors. Given the scope of the law, any dwelling that uses fossil fuels, has a fireplace or an attached garage, would fall within the parameters of the new Statute. The Statute provides that carbon monoxide may be either battery operated or hard wired.
The Statute requires inspection at sale or when a building permit is issued, similar to the existing Smoke Detector Statute. If the inspection for the smoke detector and carbon monoxide detectors is conducted simultaneously, then the owner shall not be charged an additional fee for the carbon monoxide inspection.
In the case of rental property, landlords shall install carbon monoxide detectors before entering into any lease after the effective date of the Statute. Property owned by the Commonwealth or any city or town shall have until January 1, 2007 to comply with this provision.
The Board of Fire Prevention shall promulgate regulations related to the implementation of the new Statute. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board is working with the Board of Fire Regulations to seek to ensure that the regulations promulgated are clear and understandable and not unduly burdensome. Of particular concern will be the acceptability of battery operated carbon monoxide detectors in properties that currently contain hard-wired smoke detectors.
