What Safety Features Must You Provide to Tenants?

You must provide the safety devices your state and local codes list. In California, Texas, Washington, and New York City, that means working smoke alarms, carbon monoxide (CO) alarms where the code calls for them, and specific locks on entry doors and windows. Some codes go further: Texas requires a door viewer and a keyless deadbolt on every exterior door, and New York City requires a peephole and a chain door guard on apartment doors. You install the devices and confirm they work when a tenant moves in. After that, you repair them once you learn they are broken, while tenants in some states must handle batteries and report problems.

Which safety devices do state and city codes require?

The list depends on where the rental is. Four common examples:

Texas gives tenants specific remedies when a required security device is missing or broken. Those remedies and the related lease terms are in Texas lease agreement essentials.

Cities and counties can add to the state list. California's lock statute says it does not limit any public agency's power to set more security requirements, so check your city's housing code before you assume the state list is complete.

Who installs, tests, and maintains the devices?

You install them. Who maintains them after move-in depends on the state.

• California. You must make sure smoke alarms work when a new tenancy begins, and you test and maintain them in apartments and rented single-family homes. You may enter to install, test, or repair alarms with written notice during normal business hours, and 24 hours' notice is presumed reasonable. Tenants must tell you when a smoke alarm, deadbolt, or window lock stops working. You are not in violation for a broken alarm until you are told, and you are not liable for a broken lock unless you fail to fix it within a reasonable time after notice.
• Texas. You must test each smoke alarm when the tenant moves in, by pressing the test button, using smoke, or following the manufacturer's test. After that, you must inspect or repair when the tenant reports a malfunction or requests an inspection or repair, and you do not have to supply replacement batteries. If the tenant or a guest damaged the alarm, you repair it only after the tenant pays the cost in advance.
• Washington. You must make sure the smoke alarm works before each new tenant moves in, and give a written notice at signing that says the unit has an alarm, whether it is hard-wired or battery operated, and that the tenant must keep it working. The tenant maintains smoke and CO alarms, including replacing batteries.
• New York City. You install smoke and CO detectors and replace any that are missing or broken before a new tenant moves in. The tenant keeps them in repair during the tenancy, but you must replace them when their useful life expires, including during an ongoing tenancy. You must also replace detectors that fail within one year of installation because of a manufacturing defect, through no fault of the tenant, within 30 calendar days after receiving written notice. You may charge the tenant up to $25 for a battery-operated smoke detector or $50 for a combined smoke and CO device, payable within one year of installation.

At each turnover, follow the same sequence:

1. Test every smoke and CO alarm with its test button and replace any that fail or have passed the replacement date printed on the unit.
2. Work every deadbolt, window latch, and sliding door lock, and replace any that do not engage fully.
3. Rekey or change the entry locks.
4. Give the tenant written instructions for reporting a broken alarm or lock, and any notice your state requires, such as Washington's smoke alarm notice.
5. Record the date, each device checked, and its condition, and keep the record with the lease.

Do local codes require lighting and other security measures?

Some do. A city housing code can list specific security features for rentals. New York City's, for example, requires peepholes, elevator mirrors, and self-closing doors in apartment buildings in addition to its lock rules. Other codes only say that housing or common areas must be "clean and safe" or that locks must be "reasonably adequate," as Washington's statute does, without saying what that means.

Check state and local lighting requirements: California Civil Code section 1941.1(a)(5), for example, requires electrical lighting to be maintained in good working order. Where your code is silent, treat dark entries, stairwells, walkways, and parking areas you control as a repair item. A dark or unlocked area where crimes have happened before raises your liability if another one occurs there.

What counts as reasonable security when the code is vague?

Meeting the code is the minimum, not a defense to every claim. California's deadbolt statute says it does not change your general duty of care to keep the property reasonably safe. Where the code gives no specifics, courts ask whether a crime or injury was foreseeable and whether a reasonable step, such as a working lock or a light, would have prevented it. How courts weigh prior crimes and the cost of precautions is covered in whether you are responsible for protecting tenants from crime.

When your local code only says "safe," use these benchmarks:

• Locks. A deadbolt on every entry door and a lock on every window and sliding door that can be reached from the ground, a roof, or a balcony. California's and Texas's lists are detailed models to follow.
• Lighting. Working lights at building entries, stairways, hallways, laundry rooms, and parking areas.
• Common-area doors. Entry doors and gates that close and latch on their own.
• Recent incidents. After a break-in or assault on the property, review possible precautions based on foreseeable risks, the cost and difficulty of each measure, and evidence of its likely effectiveness.

What happens if a required device is missing or broken?

Penalties come from the statute and from injury claims.

• California. A missing or broken smoke alarm is an infraction with a fine of up to $200 per offense. A CO violation carries the same maximum fine, but only after you get a 30-day notice to correct and fail to fix it. A tenant can use the state's repair remedies for a lock you fail to fix and can raise the violation as a defense in an eviction for nonpayment of rent.
• Washington. An owner or tenant who fails to comply with the smoke alarm law faces a fine of up to $200. An owner who failed to comply faces a $5,000 fine if a fire later damages property or injures or kills a tenant or a member of the tenant's household, and there is evidence that the unit was sold on or after July 1, 2019, and had no smoke detection device.

A missing device can also support a negligence claim if a tenant is hurt, for example in a fire where the unit had no working smoke alarm. Repair duties for your state are summarized in Washington maintenance and repair obligations and similar state guides. Injury claims from unsafe conditions are covered in what tenant injuries you can be liable for, and the full set of landlord risks is in your key liabilities as a landlord.