Safety and compliance
What Queensland actually requires.
Two rules catch Gold Coast homeowners out more than any others. One of them has a date on it. Both are set out below in plain language, with the law they come from.
Every Queensland home, from 1 January 2027.
Queensland has been phasing in an interconnected smoke alarm standard since 2017, and until 2027 it only bites when a home is sold, leased or substantially renovated. From 1 January 2027 it applies to every domestic dwelling in the state, whether or not anything is happening to it.
The other rule on this page, safety switches, has no date. It is already law.
Only one kind of switch saves lives
Every switchboard has rows of switches in it. Whether any of them will save your life depends on which kind they are, and the two get mistaken for each other constantly.
Protects you
Safety switch, or RCD
Watches for current leaking out of the circuit and going somewhere it should not, which usually means through a person, and cuts the power in a fraction of a second. This is the one the law means.
Protects the wiring
Circuit breaker
Trips when a circuit draws more current than it was built to carry, which stops the cable overheating in the wall. Not a substitute: a board full of them can still leave a house unprotected.
Ninety days, and the bit most websites get wrong
90days, in both cases
-
If you buy a home
90 days from taking possession
An approved safety switch must be installed for the general purpose socket-outlets. Electrical Safety Regulation 2013, s 84.
-
If you lease a place out
90 days from the tenancy starting
Same requirement, counted from the start of the residential tenancy agreement. Section 85.
Ninety days, in both cases. Plenty of Queensland trade sites say three months for a sale and six months for a rental. That is not what the Regulation says, and the difference matters if you are counting from a settlement date.
The seller has a related duty: before or at possession they must tell the buyer in writing whether a safety switch is installed, and must not mislead about it.
RCD protection on every general purpose socket-outlet came in with the 1991 Wiring Rules, AS/NZS 3000, and plenty of Gold Coast suburbs went up either side of that. What the age of your street tells you.
Why an electrician may raise it before doing anything else
A licensed electrician must not carry out electrical installation work in a home that has no safety switch.
Electrical Safety Regulation 2013, s 86. Narrow exceptions apply, including for emergencies.
So if Tom says the safety switch has to be sorted before anything else, that is the law he is working under, not a sales pitch.
And you should get a certificate. For electrical installation work, the contractor has to give you a Certificate of Testing and Compliance. Keep it with the house papers. If you lose it, he keeps a copy for five years.
Smoke alarms, and how 2027 crept up
The standard has not changed since 2017. What keeps changing is who it applies to, in three steps, each from 1 January, and the last one takes the trigger away entirely.
2017
New dwellings, and substantial renovations to an existing one.
2022
On sale or lease. Most homes that have changed hands recently are already covered by this one.
2027
All remaining domestic dwellings. No sale, no new lease and no renovation needed. This is the one that reaches the house you have lived in for twenty years.
What a compliant home looks like
The rule is spatial, which is why it is easier to see than to read. Alarms have to be photoelectric to AS 3786-2014, and linked so that when one sounds, they all sound.
- Photoelectric alarm, to AS 3786-2014
- Interconnected, so one sounding sets off all of them
- In every bedroom, on every storey, and in the hallways between
An example house, not a plan of yours. How many you need and where they go depends on your layout, which is worth a phone call rather than a guess.
Which of these applies to you
Most of the confusion comes from reading rules that were never aimed at you. Four situations, and what each one triggers.
You own the place and live in it
Safety switch. The duty attaches to taking possession, so what was required of you depends on when you bought. Either way an electrician cannot do installation work without one, so it surfaces the first time you need any work done.
Smoke alarms. This is the situation the 2027 date was written for. Nothing has to happen to your house. On 1 January 2027 it applies.
You are buying
Safety switch. The seller has to tell you in writing whether one is installed. If there is not one, the 90 days runs from when you take possession, and it becomes your duty.
Smoke alarms. The sale trigger has applied since 1 January 2022, so a home sold since then should already comply. Worth confirming rather than assuming.
You are selling
Safety switch. The written notice is yours to give, before or at possession, and it has to be accurate.
Smoke alarms. Required on sale since 1 January 2022. This is the item most often found late in a sale, and it is not a five minute job if the house has none.
You rent it out
Safety switch. 90 days from the start of the residential tenancy agreement, for the general purpose socket-outlets. Not six months.
Smoke alarms. The lease trigger has applied since 1 January 2022, so this one has most likely already reached you.
The law this page comes from
Every rule above was read against the Regulation and the Act, not somebody else's website. That is the only reason the ninety day correction is here. The provisions are named so you can check.
Queensland
Electrical Safety Regulation 2013
- s 227 Certificate of testing and compliance, and the five year retention
- s 82 Seller's written notice about the safety switch
- s 84 90 days after taking possession of a domestic residence
- s 85 90 days after a residential tenancy agreement starts
- s 86 No installation work in a home with no safety switch
Queensland
Fire Services Act 1990
- Ch 4A Part 4, Division 5A. The domestic smoke alarm provisions
- 2017 New dwellings and substantial renovations
- 2022 On sale or lease
- 2027 All remaining domestic dwellings
General information about Queensland law, not advice about a specific property. What applies to your place depends on its age, its wiring and what has been done to it. Tom can confirm that on site.
Not sure where your place stands?
Ring Tom and describe the property. He will tell you what applies to it, including when the answer is that you are already compliant and do not need him.
Call 0410 055 089