Indiana has a required smoke detector addendum that must be included with the residential lease agreement. Make sure to include this important required document when you contemplate signing a lease with a tenant. When using LeaseRunner’s e-signing service all documents relevant to your property’s state will automatically be offered.
Indiana law requires that a rental dwelling is equipped with a smoke detector(s) (IC 22-11-18-3.5(c)-(f)). Furthermore, the law requires that the landlord notify the tenant that the rental dwelling is equipped with a working smoke detector, and that the tenant acknowledge the existence of the smoke detectors. The smoke detector addendum addresses these requirements and also serves to lay out the obligations of the landlord and the tenant regarding smoke detectors.
Smoke detector specifics
- A dwelling must have at least one functional smoke detector:
- Installed according to the manufacturer's instructions
- Outside of each sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms.
- On the ceiling or a wall not less than four inches or more than twelve inches from the ceiling. A smoke detector may not be recessed into a ceiling.
- Additional functional smoke detectors must be installed on each additional story of the dwelling, including basements, cellars, and habitable attics. Unless there is a door between levels in dwellings with split levels, a smoke detector must be installed only on the upper level if the lower level is less than one full story below the upper level.
- All smoke detectors must be:
- Battery operated or hardwired into the dwelling's electrical system.
- Accessible for servicing and testing; and maintained and at least one time every six months, tested by the occupant to ensure that the smoke detector is in operational condition.
- Owners/managers are responsible for the installation of a required smoke detector, and the replacement and repair of a required smoke detector within seven working days after the owner, manager, or rental agent is given written notification of the need to replace or repair the smoke detector.
