AASEW Board member Tim Ballering wrote the City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) back in June to ask for clarification about the proper placement of smoke detectors in his residential rental units in the city of Milwaukee.
Ballering was prompted to write to DNS becasue he felt there was some confusion among DNS inspectors as to where smoke detectors should be installed.
Below is the entire text of Ballering’s email to DNS:
> Subject: Smoke Detectors
> There is some confusion among DNS inspectors as to where smoke detectors belong.
> Most code enforcement inspectors are of the opinion the detectors should be outside the bedroom, within 6′ of the door. Some are of the opinion that having the detector only on the inside of the bedroom does not meet code.
> Your code seems to be worded in a way that supports installing detectors outside the door at 214-27: “For floor levels containing a sleeping area, the required detector or alarm shall be installed within 6 feet of the sleeping area.”
> However construction inspectors believe the smoke detectors are required to be inside the bedrooms and units installed outside the bedroom door do not meet the code.
> The DNS Smoke Alarm brochure seems to say either is okay:
> “Either in each sleeping area of each unit or elsewhere in the unit within 6 feet of each sleeping area. If the unit contains 2 or more separate sleeping areas, each sleeping area shall be provided with a smoke alarm.”
> It obviously doesn’t matter to the property owner where the detectors are put as long as a second inspector doesn’t come along afterwards demanding they be relocated.
> So which does the code require, inside the bedroom or outside?
> And if the code doesn’t care, then which is most effective in saving lives?
> I will have the Association publish the response so more owners are knowledgable as to what you require.
> Thanks
> Tim Ballering
The City of Milwaukee emailed its 8 PAGE response to Ballering on October 21, 2011. Here is the letter response from DNS.
While I know your time is valuable — I beg you to read the entire 8 page answer. I want to see if you can finish reading it all the way through. Afterwards, I would like to know if you are able to tell me where you should place the smoke detectors in your City of Milwaukee rentals. I like to think that I am moderately intelligent person —- and I read and review statutes, case law, and ordinances several times a week as a lawyer —- but after reading this 8 page response my eyes glazed over and my brain went to mush.
The drafter’s of these codes, ordinances, statutes, regulations etc. need to realize that if they want landlords — or anyone, for that matter — to understand them and be in compliance, they need to make it a bit more simple to understand and follow. One should not be required to be a brain surgeon to know where to install a smoke detector and you shouldn’t have to synthesize 4 different laws in order to arrive at an answer — thank you Todd Weiler for doing that for us. It is a relatively simple question: where should I install a smoke detector in my rental property to best protect my tenants. It shouldn’t take 8 pages and many hours — which I am sure Weiler had to spend compiling the answer — to answer.
But don’t fret, you probably will never have to re-read that 8 page answer again. Instead just turn to the city’s recently revised brochure on smoke detectors. Sometime during my reading of the brochure, my eyes regained focus, my grey matter firmed up a bit, and I felt as if I actually knew where to install smoke detectors in my rentals again. Thank God for brochures : ).
#1 by Linda on November 14th, 2011
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Just an fyi — you’re blog has been a God send. Even though I’ve been a landlord for years, there is so much to know and new things that happen that it’s difficult to keep up with them.
#2 by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. on November 14th, 2011
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Thanks for your kind words Linda. I am glad that my blog has been helpful for keeping up with the ever changing landlord-tenant laws.
T
#3 by Brian K on March 16th, 2012
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So… according to the new COMM 66 I’m supposed to replace the smoke detectors in my pre- 1983 building ( when the tenants destroy them) with an expensive detector with a 10 year battery, which battery they will promptly rip out.
So much for affordable housing in the City of Milwaukee.
And this law was implemented by a Repub legislature in Sep 2011.
I agree. Recall Walker. Vote for Neumann.
#4 by Brian K on March 16th, 2012
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COMM 66 is Now SPS 366. Not sure if SPS 366.0503 applies retroactively or not, although City of Milwaukee letter posted here seems to think so. As is typical of Admin Code, it is a mess.
366 says its “scope” is as defined by 361.02. Then 361.02 talks about “this code”. “This code” is never defined. Perhaps it refers to all of 361-366. Anyways, 361.03 then says that “this code” does not apply retroactively unless specifically stated so. If 366 invokes 361.02, which then invokes “this code” then I think it not too much a stretch to say that 366.03 which further defines “this code” applies to 366 and thus 366 does not apply retroactively.
Then again, 361 adopts the IEBC, International Existing Building Code, so how can 361 not be retroactive when it adopts a code that refers to existing buildings? And of course 366 is titled “Existing Buildings”.
ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT
Subchapter I — Scope and Application
SPS 361.01 Purpose of code.
SPS 361.02 Scope.
SPS 361.03 Application.
SPS 361.04 Definitions.
SPS 361.05 Adoption of the International Codes.
SPS 361.06 Fees.
SPS 361.02 SPS 361.02 Scope.
SPS 361.02(1)(1) Except as provided in subs. (2) and (3), this code applies to all public buildings and places of employment
SPS 361.03 Application
2) Retroactivity. A rule of this code does not apply retroactively to public buildings and places of employment existing prior to the effective date of the rule unless specifically stated in the rule.
Chapter SPS 366
EXISTING BUILDINGS
SPS 366.0001 Purpose and scope.
SPS 366.0001(1)(1) Purpose. The purpose of ch. SPS 366 is to establish minimum requirements to safeguard public health, safety and welfare insofar as existing public buildings and place of employment are affected by the repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition or relocation.
SPS 366.0001(2) (2) Scope. The scope of ch. SPS 366 is as specified in s. SPS 361.02.
SPS 366.0001(3) (3) Intent. The intent of this chapter is to provide flexibility to permit the use of alternative approaches to achieve compliance with minimum requirements to safeguard the public health, safety, and welfare insofar as they are affected by the repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition, and relocation of existing buildings.
SPS 366.0001 History
SPS 366.0503 Smoke alarms. These are department rules in addition to the requirements in IEBC section 503:
SPS 366.0503(1) (1) No smoke alarm, including an alarm that exists on September 1, 2011, may remain in service for more than that specified by the manufacturer.
SPS 366.0503(2) (2) The replacement of a smoke alarm that uses a battery as its primary power source shall be a new smoke alarm that complies with UL 217 and either of the following:
SPS 366.0503(2)(a) (a) The alarm is hardwired in accordance with IBC section 907.2.11.4 and has backup power in accordance with that section.
SPS 366.0503(2)(b) (b) The alarm uses, as its primary power source, a non-replaceable, non-removable battery that is capable of powering the alarm for at least 10 years.
SPS 366.0503 History History: CR 10-103: cr. Register August 2011 No. 668, eff. 9-1-11.