New Connecticut Law Requires Smoke and CO Detectors
A new Connecticut Law that went into effect on Jan 1, 2014 will require some additional attention from home owners and their agents. This is CT public Act 13-272. All one and two family homes built before October of 2005 are affected.
Prior to closing, sellers will be required to sign an affidavit stating that there are working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in the home. If there are no detectors, the seller will be required to give the buyers a credit of $250.
For all homes built after Oct 2005, this will have minimum impact as they have been required to be included in the homes from that day forward.
There are exceptions to this law however, the affidavit will still need to be signed. Exemptions are allowed for all homes that have no fuel-burning appliances or fireplaces or an attached garage. A stand alone all electric home with no garage would satisfy the exemption.
If a home already has smoke detectors, it will be required to have them identified as hard wired or battery operated. This will hold for carbon monoxide detectors as well.
The easiest way to get this incorporated into the home buying process would be to make sure that the home inspector makes notations of the presence of equipment in the report, and the working condition of the detectors.
When meeting with a seller to discuss their listing, it may be appropriate to bring this into the conversation as well.
Connecticut home owners wishing to sell their homes will need to be attentive to this new requirement or be prepared to credit the buyers this sum at closing.
New Connecticut Law Requires Smoke and CO Detectors
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