Are CO Detectors Required in Arkansas Rentals?

Arkansas's carbon monoxide detector framework has undergone two distinct legislative changes that are easy to conflate. Until 2013, the state had a standalone CO alarm statute in Ark. Code §20-7-138, which required detectors in dwellings with fuel-burning appliances and carried a Class A misdemeanor penalty of up to $2,500 for violations. Act 565 of 2013 repealed that standalone statute. A decade later, Act 841 of 2023 reorganized fire-safety oversight by placing the State Fire Marshal under the Division of Emergency Management, codified at §20-22-1010. The two acts address different things: §20-7-138 was repealed in 2013; the 2023 act restructured the agency that now administers the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code.

Today, Arkansas CO alarm requirements derive from the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code 2021, specifically Section 915. The AFPC uses an occupancy-group model rather than a direct rental mandate. Groups R (residential, including apartments and rental dwellings), E (educational), I-1, I-2, and I-4 (institutional) are covered when carbon monoxide sources such as fuel-burning appliances are present. The code also applies to new construction meeting these triggers.

For rental operators, the practical consequence is that CO alarm duties in Arkansas are now embedded in the fire prevention code rather than a freestanding landlord-responsibility statute. The compliance obligation attaches to the building owner or developer at construction and renovation, not through a lease-specific installation mandate at each tenancy turnover.

The AFPC 2021 Section 915 covers buildings classified under occupancy groups R, E, I-1, I-2, and I-4 when a CO source is present. For rental properties, Group R is the most relevant classification. That includes single-family rental homes, duplexes, apartments, and multifamily buildings where the structure contains fuel-burning appliances, a fireplace, or an attached garage.

Hotels and short-term rental lodgings also fall within the scope through Group R classifications and, in some cases, Group I categories. The code does not distinguish between long-term leases and short-term stays, the trigger is the building's occupancy classification and the presence of CO risk features, not the duration of the rental agreement.

The coverage model is broader than many renters expect. Educational buildings (Group E) with fuel-burning appliances in classrooms are also covered, a provision that is uncommon among state CO detector frameworks and reflects the AFPC's occupancy-group approach.

Arkansas does not have a standalone statute assigning CO alarm duties specifically to landlords. The AFPC 2021 Section 915 places the compliance obligation on the building owner or developer at the time of construction or qualifying renovation. In rental settings, this means the property owner, who is typically the landlord, bears the initial responsibility for ensuring that required CO alarms are installed in covered buildings.

The absence of an explicit landlord-tenant duty split does not mean landlords have no ongoing obligation. A property owner who rents out a covered dwelling is responsible for maintaining the building's code-compliant status. If a CO alarm reaches end of life, fails, or is removed, the owner should replace or restore it to preserve compliance under the fire prevention code. Practical compliance means tracking device age, verifying operability during unit turns, and treating alarm maintenance as a recurring building-management task.

For new construction, the AFPC requires hardwired CO alarms with battery backup per IRC R315.6, and wireless interconnection is acceptable under R315.5. That means landlords of newer rental properties should expect permanently wired devices rather than standalone battery units. In existing buildings, landlords should verify that installed devices meet UL 2034 standards and remain within their manufacturer-specified service life.

Because the AFPC does not prescribe a specific move-in checklist for landlords, prudent operators should create their own documentation workflow, including alarm condition at lease signing, to demonstrate compliance if questions arise later.

The Arkansas Fire Prevention Code gives tenants no maintenance duty. Nothing in it requires an Arkansas tenant to report an inoperable alarm, test a device or replace a battery, and the repealed §20-7-138 created no tenant duty either before it was removed. Section 112.2 carries the single exception and it runs in one direction only: where an occupant creates, or allows to be created, a hazardous condition in violation of the code, the occupant is responsible for abating it. That reaches a tenant who takes an alarm down. It does not reach a tenant living in a unit where the landlord never installed one.

In practical terms, Arkansas tenants renting in buildings with CO alarms should still treat those devices as life-safety equipment. If an alarm chirps, malfunctions, or appears to be missing, reporting it to the landlord or property manager is a reasonable step even without a statutory mandate, and written communication about alarm condition creates a record that may matter in a later safety or habitability dispute. Removing or disabling a detector stands on different ground: under Section 112.2 that is the act that moves the abatement duty onto the occupant.

The absence of a statutory tenant duty does not mean tenant awareness is unimportant. It means Arkansas's compliance framework places the burden on the building side rather than splitting it between owner and occupant. Tenants unsure whether their unit is covered can ask the landlord or contact the State Fire Marshal's office.

AFPC 2021 Section 915 places the alarm by what the room is rather than by how many floors the building has. In a dwelling unit it goes outside each separate sleeping area, in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms, and inside any bedroom that holds a fuel-burning appliance or has one in its attached bathroom. In a sleeping unit, which is what a hotel guest room is, Section 915.2.2 puts it inside the unit. In a Group E building Section 915.2.3 puts it in the classroom. Arkansas sets no per-story requirement for carbon monoxide at all, and a reader who has seen one has seen IRC R314.3, the smoke alarm section, which does put an alarm on each additional story of a dwelling.

Devices must meet UL 2034 standards for CO alarms. Combination smoke/CO alarms meeting both UL 217 and UL 2034 are also acceptable. For new construction, IRC R315.6 requires hardwired installation with battery backup, and wireless interconnection between alarms is permitted. In existing buildings where hardwiring is not feasible, battery-powered or plug-in devices meeting UL 2034 may still be acceptable depending on the scope of renovation.

The classroom provision is a distinguishing feature of the Arkansas framework. Few states extend CO alarm placement into educational spaces, but the AFPC's occupancy-group model covers Group E buildings with fuel-burning equipment, a detail that matters for school-district-owned or leased properties.

The AFPC 2021 Section 915 does not prescribe a move-in verification process, a testing schedule, or a landlord entry procedure for CO alarm service. Arkansas has no CO-specific maintenance cycle requirement in statute or fire code that applies to rental properties during an active tenancy.

For landlords managing covered rental properties, the absence of a mandated workflow does not eliminate the operational need. CO alarms have manufacturer-specified service lives, typically seven to ten years, and devices installed at construction may need replacement well before the building itself is renovated. Landlords should track alarm installation dates, test devices during unit turns, and replace expired units proactively.

Landlord entry for CO alarm maintenance follows general Arkansas landlord-tenant access principles rather than a CO-specific entry provision. Reasonable notice and documented maintenance visits are standard practices that help demonstrate code compliance. Because the AFPC does not specify notice periods for alarm work, landlords should follow the notice and entry terms established in the lease agreement or apply general state landlord-tenant law guidelines.

With §20-7-138 repealed in 2013, enforcement of Arkansas CO alarm requirements falls under the State Fire Marshal, who was placed within the Division of Emergency Management by Act 841 of 2023 (codified at §20-22-1010). The State Fire Marshal administers the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code and has authority to inspect buildings for fire-safety compliance.

Enforcement is most likely to occur during building inspections, permit-triggered reviews, or after complaints filed with the Fire Marshal's office. The AFPC does not provide a tenant-specific complaint pathway or a repair-and-deduct remedy tied to CO alarms.

Tenants who believe a required CO alarm is missing or deficient can contact the State Fire Marshal's office or local fire officials. Written documentation of the complaint and any communication with the landlord strengthens the tenant's position if the issue escalates to a formal inspection or enforcement action.

The penalty moved rather than disappeared, and that is the point most Arkansas summaries miss. Former §20-7-138(f) made a violation a Class A misdemeanor with fines up to $2,500, and Act 565 of 2013 repealed the section. The replacement is Section 112.4 of the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code: a person who violates a provision of the code is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, and each day the violation continues after due notice has been served is a separate offense. Section 915 is a provision of that code, so a landlord who leaves a required alarm out of a covered building is inside 112.4.

The two dollar figures are not a contradiction. Ark. Code 5-4-201(b)(1) allows a fine of up to $2,500 for a Class A misdemeanor, which is what the repealed statute used, and the fire code chose a lower cap of $1,000 for its own violations. The per-day clause is where the exposure actually grows on a portfolio, because it starts counting from notice rather than from the inspection.

How far it grows is decided by the notice, because the code fixes no correction period of its own. Section 112.3 authorises the fire code official to prepare a written notice describing the unsafe condition and, where compliance is not immediate, to specify a time for reinspection. Section 112.3.3 then asks only that the notice be complied with promptly before the jurisdiction instructs counsel. There is no statutory thirty days to multiply by. The count is the gap between the date of service and the date the alarm goes in, and a landlord controls only the closing end of it.

Section 112.3.1 decides when that clock starts, and it does not require the owner to have read anything. A notice may be served personally, by mail, or by leaving it with a person of responsibility on the premises. For an unattended or abandoned property it is posted at or near the entrance and mailed to the owner's last known address by certified mail with return receipt requested or a certificate of mailing. An out-of-state owner whose post is piling up has still had due notice served, and the separate offences accrue while the building stands empty.

Which of them has to fix it is answered a subsection earlier, in the only place this code splits a duty between a landlord and a tenant. Under Section 112.2, correction and abatement of a violation are the responsibility of the owner or the owner's authorized agent. The occupant carries it where the occupant created, or allowed to be created, the hazardous condition. A required alarm that was never installed is the owner's problem; one a tenant took down is the tenant's.

Landlords should not read the smaller headline number as low risk. A missing CO alarm in a covered building becomes evidence in a negligence or liability claim if a carbon monoxide incident occurs, and that exposure does not depend on any fine schedule at all.