Legal Requirements

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Baden-Württemberg: no legal regulations as of yet. Bavaria: no legal regulations as of yet. Berlin: no legal regulations as of yet. Brandenburg: no legal regulations as of yet. Bremen: no legal regulations as of yet. Hamburg: LBO, Section 7, § 45, Paragraph 6: "In apartments, the bedrooms, children’s rooms and halls that are part of an escape route must each have at least one smoke alarm. The smoke alarms must be so installed and operated that smoke from a fire is recognized and announced early. Existing apartments are to be equipped with smoke alarms by 31 December 2010.." Hessen: HBO, § 13, Paragraph 5: "In apartments, the bedrooms, children’s rooms and halls that are part of an escape route must each have at least one smoke alarm. The smoke alarms must be so installed and operated that smoke from a fire is recognized and announced early. Existing apartments are to be equipped with smoke alarms by 31 December 2014.." Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania:LBO, § 48, Absatz 4: "In apartment, the bedrooms, children’s rooms and halls that are part of an escape route must each have at least one smoke alarm. The smoke alarms must be so installed and operated that smoke from a fire is recognized and announced early. Existing apartments are to be equipped with smoke alarms by 31 December 2009" Lower Saxony: no legal regulations as of yet. North Rhine Westphalia: Subsidized new apartments are henceforth to be equipped with smoke alarms. Furthermore, the NRW State Government has successfully carried out promotional work within the housing industry and among the public. Rhineland-Palatinate: LBO, § 44 has been expanded with paragraph 8: "In apartment, the bedrooms, children’s rooms and halls that are part of an escape route from common rooms must each have at least one smoke alarm. The smoke alarms must be so installed and operated that smoke from a fire is recognized and announced early." Sachsen: no legal regulations as of yet. Sachsen-Anhalt: no legal regulations as of yet. Schleswig-Holstein: LBO, 7. Section, § 52, Paragraph 7: "In apartments, the bedrooms, children’s rooms and halls that are part of an escape route from common rooms must each have at least one smoke alarm. The smoke alarms must be so installed and operated that smoke from a fire is recognized and announced early. Existing apartments are to be equipped with smoke alarms by 31 December 2009." Saarland: LBO, § 46 Apartments Paragraph 4: "In apartments, the bedrooms, children’s rooms and halls that are part of an escape route from common rooms must each have at least one smoke alarm. The smoke alarms must be so installed and operated that smoke from a fire is recognized and announced early." Thüringen: ThürBO, § 46 Apartments Paragraph 4: "In apartments, the bedrooms, children’s rooms and halls that are part of an escape route from common rooms must each have at least one smoke alarm. The smoke alarms must be so installed and operated that smoke from a fire is recognized and announced early."

Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate are the first federal states with regional building laws that require the installation of smoke alarms in apartments. Saarland and the federal state of Thüringen have decided that bedrooms, children's rooms and escape routes in all new construction and building alterations must be supplied with at least one functioning smoke alarm. According to the regional building laws in Schleswig-Holstein, Meckelenburg-Western Pomerania, Hamburg, Rheinland-Pfalz and Hesse, smoke alarms must additionally be installed in all existing apartments (to be implemented through transitional periods). These small lifesavers are already a compulsory fixture in new construction. The devices must remain functional after installation according to DIN 14676.

"We hope to achieve the point when smoke alarms are included out of conviction." Oliver Wittke, Construction Minister in Nordrhein-Westfalen