Fire Safety in Your Rental: Requirements and Preparations

Beyond smoke alarms, your rental must give you a safe way out: exits and stairways kept clear and, where the building has them, fire escapes in good repair. Whether the building must also have sprinklers or fire extinguishers depends on the state and local fire codes that apply to it; in Washington, the landlord of any building other than a single-family home must tell you in writing at signing whether it has a sprinkler system and a fire alarm system. If a fire you did not cause makes the unit unlivable, Florida, Texas, New York, and California let you end the lease, and Florida also lets you stay in the usable part and pay less.

What fire protection does a rental need beyond alarms?

• Exits: California's habitability standard (the legal test for a home fit to live in) requires safe fire or emergency exits leading to a street or hallway. Stairs, hallways, and exits must be kept free of litter, and storage areas, garages, and basements free of combustible materials.
• Fire escapes: New York's Multiple Dwelling Law, which applies in New York City and in other cities that adopt it, requires the owner to keep every fire escape "in good order and repair."
• Sprinklers, fire alarm systems, and extinguishers: whether a building needs these depends on the fire and building codes your state and city adopt. Washington makes the landlord of any building other than a single-family home disclose in writing, when you sign, whether the building has a sprinkler system, a fire alarm system, a smoking policy, and emergency notification, relocation, and evacuation plans, with copies of any plans. In a multifamily building, the landlord can use a checklist that includes a diagram of the evacuation routes. Elsewhere, ask the landlord, or your local fire marshal's office, what the building is required to have.
• Code compliance: Washington requires landlords to substantially comply with codes when a violation endangers or impairs your health or safety, and California requires substantial compliance with building and health codes that materially affect health and safety. A fire hazard the landlord controls, such as an exit door that will not open, belongs in a written repair request.
• Windows and security bars: Ready.gov advises making sure windows are not stuck, screens come out quickly, and security bars can be opened. Report a bedroom window that is painted or nailed shut, or bars you cannot open from inside, to the landlord in writing.

Alarms have their own rules; see smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in rentals.

What tenants must not do

• Block exits or fire escapes. New York's Multiple Dwelling Law bars any person from placing anything on or in front of a fire escape, which includes plants, grills, and storage. Keep bikes, furniture, and boxes out of shared hallways and stairs.
• Disable fire safety devices. In Texas, a tenant who removes a smoke alarm battery without immediately replacing it with a working one, or knowingly disconnects or intentionally damages an alarm, owes the landlord the resulting damages. If the lease carries the required bold or underlined warning and you do not fix the alarm within 7 days of the landlord's separate written notice, a court can add a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $100, court costs, and attorney's fees. Ready.gov also warns never to disable a smoke alarm while cooking.
• Overload circuits. California's tenant guide counts overloading electrical outlets as improper use of the unit's electrical fixtures, and Ready.gov says not to overload extension cords and outlets. Our guide to electrical issues in your rental covers what to report.
• Crowd heaters or leave cooking unattended. Ready.gov says to keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet from portable heaters and to stay in the kitchen while frying, grilling, or broiling.

California's tenant guide says a tenant who accidentally leaves a portable heater on and starts a fire that destroys the unit could be held legally responsible for the landlord's and other tenants' losses, and that renters insurance should cover some or all of that liability. See what renters insurance covers.

How to plan your way out

1. Find two ways out of every room. Ready.gov recommends this in case the main exit is blocked by fire or smoke, and says a fire can become life-threatening in 2 minutes.
2. Practice twice a year. Ready.gov recommends practicing your escape plan twice each year, and sleeping with your bedroom door closed.
3. Know your building's exits. Follow your building's fire safety instructions and firefighters' directions; whether to leave depends on the building and the fire's location. In New York City fireproof buildings, FDNY says to stay in your apartment if the fire is elsewhere and listen for firefighters' instructions unless conditions become dangerous. When evacuating a high-rise, the U.S. Fire Administration says to close the door behind you, pull the fire alarm on your way out, use the stairs rather than the elevator unless the fire department directs otherwise, and call the fire department from your outside meeting place.
4. Know what to do if you are trapped. Ready.gov says to close the door, cover vents and cracks around it with cloth or tape, call 911, and signal from a window with a flashlight or light-colored cloth.

What happens to your lease and rent after a fire?

If the fire was not your fault, state law may let you end the lease or pay less:

After a fire:

1. Stay out until the fire department says it is safe. Ready.gov says not to reconnect utilities yourself.
2. Tell the landlord in writing whether you are ending the lease or staying, and the date you moved out. Texas requires written notice to end the lease, and the move-out date sets your refund.
3. Call your renters insurance company. Make an inventory of damaged items before throwing anything away, and save receipts for what you spend. Ask whether your policy's additional living expenses coverage pays for temporary housing; see additional living expenses coverage.
4. Get emergency help if you need it. Ready.gov points to local disaster relief services, such as the Red Cross, for temporary housing, food, and medicine.

If the damage does not meet your state's standard for ending the lease but you still want to leave, see breaking a lease early. To request fire-related repairs, see how to report maintenance issues to your landlord.