What Utah Requires for CO Detectors in Homes, Rentals, Hotels

Last verified: August 24, 2026

Utah runs carbon monoxide through Title 15A, and the three codes in it stopped sharing an edition on 1 July 2026. Utah Code 15A-5-103 moved the State Fire Code to the 2024 International Fire Code and 15A-2-103 moved the building code to the 2024 International Building Code on that date, while holding the International Residential Code at its 2021 edition. So a section number below is only as good as the code it belongs to: an IFC or IBC number here is a 2024 number, and an IRC number is a 2021 one. That split matters most where the codes renumber against each other, and residential is where they do. Utah amendments put alarms on each level of a dwelling unit under IRC Section R315 and carry permit-triggered retrofit to accessory dwelling units, while Utah's rewrite of IFC Chapter 11 reaches specified Group E, Group I and Group R occupancies in accordance with IFC Section 915. Coverage is broad across homes, rentals and lodging, and what varies is local enforcement and which edition a given project was permitted under.

Utah operators should keep section-level citations, occupancy classification records, and testing documentation in each compliance file.

In 60 Seconds

CO detector requirements for Utah
Applies to homes?	Yes
Applies to rentals?	Yes
Applies to hotels/STRs?	Yes
Applies to schools?	Yes, under a condition
Applies to workplaces?	No

Schools and workplaces

Schools: it depends, and the test is one you can apply to the building itself. Utah names Group E on the retrofit side, which most states do not, and adds a testing step for it. Utah Code 15A-5-205.5 rewrites International Fire Code Section 1103.9 and brings specified existing Group E, Group I and Group R occupancies into the carbon monoxide requirement in accordance with IFC Section 915, so an existing Utah school building is inside the pathway rather than waiting for construction work. The trigger inside it is the ordinary one, a carbon monoxide source reaching the space. The Group E provision then carries something the other occupancies do not: the amendment requires system testing before final approval in the presence of the designated fire marshal authority, so a school signs off in front of an inspector rather than on paper. What that test has to demonstrate is set by Section 915.2.3, and which edition of it changed under this answer on 1 July 2026. Utah moved on both sides that day. Utah Code 15A-5-103 now incorporates "the International Fire Code, 2024 edition, excluding appendices", as most recently amended by chapter 34 of the 2026 General Session, and Utah Code 15A-2-103 adopts the 2024 International Building Code including Appendices C and J while holding the International Residential Code at its 2021 edition. That section carries its own warning on its face: it is marked superseded from 1 January 2027, so a further move is already scheduled. In the 2024 text Section 915.2.3 asks for "a carbon monoxide system that uses carbon monoxide detectors" in Group E occupancies rather than the listed alarms the 2021 text accepts, with the alarm signals still transmitted automatically to a location staffed by school personnel. Whether the 2024 text keeps the 2021 exception for a Group E occupant load of 30 or less was not established here, and Utah own Part 2 amendment list was not re-read at this edition, so whether 15A-5-205.5 still lands on Section 1103.9 under the 2024 numbering is a question for the fire marshal rather than one this reading answers. Utah is therefore the state where the transmission path is not merely required but witnessed: the marshal's attendance and the subsection that says where the signal goes were written for each other, and a district that installs detectors without the path has nothing to demonstrate on the day. New work runs on the building code side through Title 15A, where Utah numbers the carbon monoxide section 908.7 rather than 915, and a search built on 915 alone will come back empty and prove nothing.

Workplaces: Utah places no carbon monoxide detection duty on an office, shop or other workplace. Federal and state occupational rules set an exposure limit for carbon monoxide in air; they do not require a detector to be installed, and this row is about installation. Utah Code 15A-5-205.5 rewrites IFC Section 1103.9 and names specified existing Group E, Group I and Group R occupancies, which is a wider list than the model and still contains no Group B, F, M or S. The new-construction route through IBC Section 908.7 as adopted under Title 15A carries the model occupancy list, which does not reach a workplace either. Utah has no standalone carbon monoxide statute, and Utah Code 10-8-53.5 and 17-50-327 stop a municipality or county enforcing a carbon monoxide ordinance against anyone other than the occupant of a residential dwelling outside new-construction permits, so the local layer cannot supply one.

When Are CO Alarms Required?

New construction
When building permits are required
Utah amendment to IRC Section R315.2.2 includes permit-triggered retrofit language and accessory dwelling unit applicability.
Utah IFC amendment in Section 1103.9 requires detection in specified existing occupancy groups through IFC Section 915 pathways.

Where to Install CO Alarms

Utah amendment to IRC Section R315.3 requires alarms on each level of the dwelling unit in covered residential settings.
Existing Group E, Group I, and Group R occupancies must install carbon monoxide detection as required by Utah-amended IFC Section 1103.9 and IFC Section 915.

For detailed placement guidance beyond legal requirements, see where to place carbon monoxide detectors.

Device Requirements

Device listing and technical requirements follow adopted IRC and IFC provisions referenced in Utah Code Title 15A.
Group E system testing language in Utah amendments references testing before final approval in the presence of designated fire marshal authority.

Landlord and Tenant Responsibilities

Landlord: Covered property owners and lessors are responsible for code compliance in occupied rental units subject to adopted residential and fire code requirements. Provision: Amendments to IFC Chapter 11 Section 1103.9.

The cited sections do not provide one separate statewide landlord-tenant carbon monoxide maintenance statute outside the code framework.

Full Utah landlord and tenant carbon monoxide duties, with citations

Enforcement

Enforced by: Local code officials and Utah State Fire Marshal Division authorities for adopted-code enforcement within their jurisdictions.

Enforcement typically occurs:

During permit review and inspection for residential work governed by adopted IRC pathways.
During inspection and approval workflow for existing occupancies covered by amended IFC Section 1103.9.

What a Tenant Can Do in Utah

When a carbon monoxide alarm stops working in a rented home in Utah, these are the five routes a tenant can take and where each one comes from.

"Via general law" means the Utah carbon monoxide statute itself is silent and the remedy comes from the state's landlord-tenant law instead. The remedy is available even though the alarm rule does not contain it.

Tenant remedies for a defective carbon monoxide alarm in Utah, with the citation or the body of law searched for each.
Rent withholding	Via general lawUtah Code 57-22-6(4)(a)(i). Called a rent abatement remedy, and it is not what the name suggests. Electing it does not let the renter stay and pay less. The rent abates from the date of the notice, but the rental agreement terminates with it, the owner must immediately return the entire security deposit and prorate any prepaid rent, and the renter must be out within ten calendar days after the corrective period expires. The choice is also made in advance: 57-22-6(2)(b)(iii) requires the notice to name the remedy chosen before the owner has had any chance to respond, so a renter has to decide whether they want the alarm fixed or want out while it is still broken. And 57-22-6(4)(b) read with 57-22-5(1)(g) means a renter who simply stops paying, rather than electing the remedy, is entitled to none of it.
Repair and deduct	Via general lawUtah Code 57-22-6(4)(a)(ii). Two months' rent, the second highest single-repair ceiling in the fifty-one behind Massachusetts's four, and perhaps fifty times what a carbon monoxide alarm costs, so the cap is not the constraint here. The conditions are procedural rather than financial: elect the remedy in the notice, keep every receipt, and give the owner copies within five calendar days after the beginning of the next rental period. The renter must also be in compliance with all of 57-22-5, which includes being current on all payments required by the rental agreement, so this belongs to a renter who is up to date and not to one already behind.
Right to end the lease	Via general lawUtah Code 57-22-6(4)(a)(i)(B). Utah has no free-standing termination for a defect. Termination is what happens automatically when the renter has elected rent abatement and the owner then fails to take substantial action within the corrective period, which is why this cell and the withholding cell cite the same subsection. Set against it is 57-22-6(4)(c), the mirror image: where the unit is not fit for occupancy the owner may decide not to correct and terminate instead, on written notice no later than the end of the corrective period, with the renter not required to leave sooner than ten calendar days after that notice. Either party may end the tenancy over the same defect, and only the renter's route depends on the owner having done nothing first.
Notice the tenant must give	Via general lawUtah Code 57-22-6(2)(b). One written notice, four required contents and a service rule, with no waiting period before it. It must describe each deficient condition, state the corrective period in terms of the applicable number of days, name the remedy the renter has chosen, and give the owner permission to enter to correct the condition; service is under 78B-6-805 or as the rental agreement provides. The separate route for a dangerous condition is where this goes wrong. 57-22-6(3)(b) lets a renter report a condition posing a substantial risk of imminent loss of life or significant physical harm by any means reasonable in the circumstances, which is the right way to report a carbon monoxide hazard quickly, and 57-22-6(3)(d) then provides that such notice is not a notice of deficient condition unless it also satisfies subsection (2). The phone call gets the owner moving within 24 hours and starts no remedy clock whatever.
Landlord cure period	Via general law, 3 daysUtah Code 57-22-6(1)(a). Three calendar days for a standard of habitability, and calendar rather than business days, so a Friday notice can spend most of its life on a weekend. Ten calendar days where the condition breaches only a requirement of the rental agreement, and 57-22-6(1)(g) decides which of the two applies: it counts 57-22-3(1) and 57-22-4(1)(a) and (b)(i) to (iii) and omits (b)(iv), the appliances contracted for in the lease. A code-required alarm therefore runs on three days and a lease-promised one on ten. Separate from all of that, 57-22-6(3)(c) makes the owner commence remedial action within 24 hours of notice of a dangerous condition and pursue it diligently to completion; that duty carries no remedy of its own and is the one clock a live carbon monoxide reading actually starts. Note finally 57-22-7, which forbids a county or municipality from modifying the time requirements of a corrective period or otherwise affecting these remedies, so this timetable is uniform across Utah and no local ordinance can shorten it.

Applies to every row above:Utah's Fit Premises Act and Wyoming's Residential Rental Property article are visibly the same drafting. Both end the owner's duty list with other appliances and facilities as specifically contracted in the rental agreement, both put conditions that do not materially affect the physical health or safety of the ordinary renter outside the act, both let the duties be moved to another party by explicit written agreement, and both bar claims for mental suffering. They then diverge completely at the remedy, and Utah is the state that built one. Two differences decide this row. 57-22-3(1) makes the owner maintain the unit in accordance with local ordinances and the rules of the board of health, so Utah's statewide code adoption under Title 15A, which amends IFC 1103.9 to require carbon monoxide detection in specified existing Group R occupancies, reaches the owner's statutory duty; Wyoming has no subdivision for a code to enter through at all. And 57-22-6(1)(g) then defines a standard of habitability by naming which duties count, 57-22-3(1) and 57-22-4(1)(a) and (b)(i) to (iii), pointedly leaving out (b)(iv). A code-required alarm is therefore a habitability standard and a lease-promised one is not, and the two run on different clocks. The act itself never says carbon monoxide: the words appear zero times in the whole of chapter 22, against 79 occurrences of owner and 107 of renter. Text was read from the Legislature's own chapter PDF as captured in May 2025, carrying 57-22-6 as amended in 2023; the section was amended again by chapter 445 of the 2026 session, and the corrective periods and the two months' rent cap recorded below are unchanged in the currently published text. le.utah.gov refuses connections and renders its statute pages with JavaScript, so the archived chapter PDF was the only primary route. Re-probed 2026-08-22 on two paths, the section page and the 2026 bill text, and both timed out at the connection, so chapter 445 is still unread. The three figures were corroborated the same day from a second independent source: codes.findlaw.com carries 57-22-6 with the three-day and ten-day corrective periods and the two months' rent cap, and is itself current only to 1 January 2025. Two sources now agree on the numbers and neither has read the amending act, which is the honest position rather than a resolved one.

Remedies last checked 2026-08-03. Compare Utah with the other states.

What Utah Requires in Lodging

The Utah carbon monoxide requirement reaches hotels and short-term rentals.

Hotels already standing: covered too. The Utah requirement reaches an existing hotel and not only one being built.

Operator duty: Covered lodging operators must comply with Utah-amended IFC Section 1103.9 detection requirements in applicable Group R occupancies.

Full Utah hotel and short-term rental requirements

Penalties for Non-Compliance

The cited Utah construction and fire code sections do not provide a stand-alone statewide fine schedule specific to carbon monoxide detector noncompliance.

Enforcement is handled through code-administration workflow under Utah Code Title 15A.

Additional Notes

Utah compliance should be documented by occupancy category because residential and existing-building pathways use different amendment logic.
Operators should verify local code-edition enforcement practice before finalizing policy language.
Utah's amendment can be read in the adopted text, which is the useful way to see what the state added. Section R315.3 as Utah adopts it reads that carbon monoxide alarms in dwelling units shall be installed on each level of the dwelling unit and outside of each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms. The model code says only the second half. The words "on each level" are Utah's, and they are what turns a rule about bedrooms into a rule about the whole house. The number carrying that amendment is edition-bound and Utah is on the 2021 International Residential Code. Carbon monoxide alarms are Section R315 in the 2018 and 2021 editions. The 2024 edition reordered Chapter 3, moved them to Section R311 and reassigned R315 to sleeping lofts. Nothing in this residential answer changes until Utah moves the residential code specifically, and 15A-2-103 held it at 2021 on the same day it moved the building code to 2024, so the two have come apart rather than travelling together. This page will need revisiting when the residential half follows. The trap to know about in the meantime is that a stale R315 reference does not announce itself. It keeps resolving, to a section about lofts, and a reader following it has no signal that they have been sent to the wrong subject. Most guidance published elsewhere still says R315, so the number will keep turning up; check which edition it was written against.

Local Rules That Differ From State Law

At least one Utah municipality sets CO requirements that go beyond the statewide rule. Where your property sits decides which applies, and the stricter one governs.

Ogden City

Ogden runs a full carbon monoxide statute of its own, seven sections of it, and the interesting part is who it points at. Title 12 Chapter 17 covers purpose, definitions, responsibilities, installation, prohibitions, enforcement and penalties. Section 12-17-3(A) reaches all existing residential occupancies and dwellings that contain fuel-fired appliances or have attached garages. Subsection (B) makes the owner install, maintain, test and replace batteries, and immediately repair or replace a defective detector. Subsection (C) then hands the same list of duties to the occupant of any dwelling built before 2005, which is unusual anywhere and looks like a response to the state limit on enforcing these ordinances against non-occupants. Ask the city which duty it actually enforces before relying on either. The placement rules are its own. Section 12-17-4(A) wants the detector centrally located outside each separate sleeping area, and then gives three ways to be deemed compliant: on a ceiling or wall within twenty feet of any bedroom door; where sleeping units or more than six dwelling units share a common hallway, in that hallway within forty feet of any door leading to a unit; and inside any sleeping unit the hallway device does not cover. Subsection (B) accepts installation to the building codes in force on 1 January 2007 as compliance. Section 12-17-5 makes it unlawful to fail to install or maintain, unlawful to remove or render a required detector ineffective, and unlawful to tamper with one, with a carve-out for ordinary repair and replacement. Section 12-17-7 sets an infraction plus a $50 civil penalty that is suspended if compliance is shown within thirty days, allows injunction, mandamus and judicial abatement, and counts every day as a separate offence. Adopted by Ordinance 2012-8 on 7 February 2012.

Ogden City Code Title 12 Chapter 17, Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Sections 12-17-3 through 12-17-7, Ord. 2012-8 (7 February 2012) Checked 2026-08-10.

Sandy

Sandy turns the state's placement rule into something a city inspector signs off. Section 15-11-5 lists what an inspection of a short-term rental has to establish, and paragraph (2) is that the unit has a working carbon monoxide detector on each floor, alongside a working smoke alarm in each sleeping area. The per-level standard matches what Utah already asks statewide, so the addition is not the placement but the checking: in Sandy it is a condition of the licence and an inspector confirms it, where the state route leaves it to a building permit that an existing house may never pull. Section 21-11-26(g) adds a paperwork requirement with a real function, making the special-use permit application carry an interior layout that identifies the use of every room and marks the location of all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The city therefore holds a plan of where the devices are supposed to be, which is what makes the inspection enforceable later.

Sandy City Code Section 15-11-5(2), short-term rental inspections, with Section 21-11-26(g), residential short-term rental special use permit Checked 2026-08-10.

What was checked:Utah is the one state in this survey where the local layer points the other way. Everywhere else a city ordinance adds a duty to the landlord. Utah Code 10-8-53.5 and 17-50-327 bar a municipality or county from enforcing a carbon monoxide detector ordinance against anyone other than the occupant of a residential dwelling, with new-construction building permits carved out. So a Utah city can write the rule and then has almost nobody to enforce it against except the tenant. Ogden's ordinance below reads as though it was drafted around exactly that: it places duties on the owner in one subsection and on the occupant of any dwelling built before 2005 in the next. Caveat on the statute itself: it is restated here from this site's existing verified record, and the text could not be re-read from a primary source on 2026-08-10 because le.utah.gov refuses connections from this network and the archived legislature pages are JavaScript shells. Anyone relying on the point should read the section before acting on it. Corrected 2026-08-22: this note previously said FindLaw answers 403 as well. It does not. codes.findlaw.com returned 57-22-6 in full on that date, current to 1 January 2025, and is a usable second source for Title 57 chapter 22. Whether it answers for Title 10, which is the statute this note is about, was not tested, so treat the 403 claim as unverified for this section rather than as disproved. Six jurisdictions read on 2026-08-10: Ogden City, Salt Lake City, Sandy, Salt Lake County, Summit County and Logan. Ogden and Sandy are below. Salt Lake County and Logan carry nothing. Summit County's single hit is a wood-stove emissions definition measuring the ratio of stack gas carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. Salt Lake City has one provision worth knowing about that is not a duty and so is not in the table: Section 18.50.180 lets a corridor ceiling drop to 6 feet 4 inches, below the ordinary minimum, on condition that a smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector are installed under the construction codes the city adopts. That is carbon monoxide detection bought as a trade for a dimensional allowance, which nothing else in this dataset does. Park City could not be read at all and must not be counted clean: its publisher record carries a code product with no published edition behind it, so every search returns zero, the same shape Malden produced in Massachusetts. That leaves the state's largest short-term rental market unanswered. Moab, St. George and Provo are on none of the working hosts.

Local sweep last reviewed 2026-08-10.

Official Sources & References

Utah Code Title 15A codified PDF , IRC and IFC amendment references including R315 and 1103.9 pathways (state code, accessed 2026-02-17)
Primary codified source for Utah statewide construction and fire code amendments.
Utah Code section 15A-3-202 , Amendments to IRC including Section R315 language (state code, accessed 2026-02-17)
Utah-specific residential amendment source including permit-triggered and level-placement language.
Utah Code section 15A-5-205.5 , Amendments to IFC Chapter 11 Section 1103.9 (state code, accessed 2026-02-17)
Existing-building carbon monoxide detection pathways for covered occupancies.
Utah State Fire Marshal division resources , Fire marshal administration and code-enforcement resources (agency guidance, accessed 2026-02-17)
Agency context for inspection and approval workflow under state fire code authority.

Disclaimer: This page explains the law as it stood on August 24, 2026. It is general information, not legal advice, and reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Requirements vary by city, county and building type, and statutes and codes are amended: confirm the current text with the issuing authority before acting on it. Each requirement here cites the instrument it comes from, so you can check it at source.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Utah sections set the CO alarm requirements?

Utah Code Title 15A holds most of it, especially section 15A-3-202 for IRC Section R315 amendments and section 15A-5-205.5 for IFC Chapter 11 Section 1103.9 amendments. Together, these provisions establish residential and existing-building detection obligations in covered occupancies. Compliance teams should not rely on one excerpt alone because trigger logic and occupancy scope differ across sections. Utah files should keep both section references in each inspection and turnover packet. Teams should include subsection identifiers in work-order logs.

How does Utah section 15A-3-202 affect residential placement?

Utah section 15A-3-202 includes amendment language for IRC Section R315 that adds Utah-specific placement and trigger detail, including alarms on each level of covered dwelling units and permit-triggered retrofit language extending to accessory dwelling units. This makes project scoping important at plan review, because the trigger event determines whether retrofit duties apply. Contractors and owners should keep permit classification and code-section notes together. Utah inspection outcomes are easier to defend when those records are complete.

Which existing occupancies are covered by Utah IFC section 1103.9?

Utah amendment language to IFC Section 1103.9 applies carbon monoxide detection pathways to specified existing Group E, Group I, and Group R occupancies in accordance with IFC Section 915. Operators should confirm occupancy classification before deciding detector scope, especially in mixed-use campuses and lodging environments. The safest method is occupancy matrix review plus section-level citation in every compliance file. Utah teams should retain testing and final approval evidence with those occupancy determinations.

In Utah, which owner-versus-occupant tasks must be documented to show compliance?

The cited Utah sections are primarily code-adoption and amendment provisions, not one standalone landlord-tenant carbon monoxide statute that assigns every maintenance task in plain language. In practice, owners and operators in covered occupancies should treat code compliance as the core duty and document how inspections, testing, and corrections are handled. Lease files should align with the locally enforced code edition and occupancy category. Utah property managers should keep written local interpretations when responsibility questions arise.

What penalties are listed in the cited Utah CO alarm sections?

The cited Utah construction and fire code sections used here do not provide a single stand-alone fine table specific to carbon monoxide detector noncompliance. That does not remove risk, because enforcement can still occur through permit, inspection, and occupancy approval workflow. Operators should correct deficiencies promptly and keep dated remediation records. Utah compliance notices should reference the governing Title 15A section so follow-up actions stay tied to the correct legal basis.

How does Utah compare with Nevada for regional compliance?

Utah writes explicit statewide amendment language into Title 15A, amending IRC Section R315 and IFC Section 1103.9 directly, while Nevada often requires jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction analysis because local adoption controls many details. Regional teams should avoid one Mountain West template without trigger and occupancy mapping in both states. For side-by-side planning, review Nevada CO detector laws and compare adoption structure, inspection workflow, and documentation controls. Utah operators should keep state-amendment references separate from Nevada local-adoption notes in regional SOP files.

How long does a Utah landlord have to fix a CO alarm after written notice?

Three days or ten, and Utah Code 57-22-6(1)(g) is what decides which. Under the Fit Premises Act the owner must correct a condition that breaches a standard of habitability within three calendar days of the tenant's written notice, and a condition that breaches only a requirement of the rental agreement within ten. Calendar days rather than business days, so a Friday notice spends most of its life on a weekend. Which list the alarm sits on decides the clock. Section 57-22-6(1)(g) counts 57-22-3(1) and 57-22-4(1)(a) and (b)(i) to (iii), and omits (b)(iv), the appliances contracted for in the lease. An alarm the code requires runs on the three-day clock. One the lease promised but the code does not require runs on ten. A separate and much shorter duty sits behind both. Section 57-22-6(3)(c) requires the owner to commence remedial action within 24 hours of notice of a dangerous condition and to pursue it diligently to completion. It carries no remedy of its own, and it is the clock that matters when an alarm is sounding rather than missing.

Practical CO Detector Guides

Beyond legal requirements, these guides help you choose, install, and maintain CO alarms:

Where to place carbon monoxide detectors, room-by-room placement recommendations
CO detector beeping patterns, what different alarms mean
What to do if your detector goes off, emergency response checklist
CO resources and links, official agencies and safety information