Smoke alarms in living rooms, bedrooms and children's rooms: The rental apartments of the large housing companies in Saxony were almost completely equipped with these devices by the end of the year. "Most of the landlords organized with us have complied with this obligation," says Alexander Müller, spokesman for vwd Sachsen - Verband der Wohnungs- und Immobilienwirtschaft. According to Vivian Jakob, spokesperson for the Association of Saxon Housing Cooperatives, around 95 percent of the approximately 295,000 cooperative apartments in the state are now equipped with smoke alarms. The rest are "in progress" or "in catch-up" where tenants were absent.
In future, living rooms and lounges in Saxony must be fitted with smoke alarms. Previously, the obligation for smoke alarms only applied to new builds and conversions. From the turn of the year, apartments in old buildings and older single-family homes will also be affected.
According to company spokeswoman Samira Sachse, more than 120,000 smoke alarms had to be installed in around 37,000 apartments owned by Leipziger Wohnungs- und Baugesellschaft mbH (LWB). By mid-December 2023, the LWB had almost completed "the mammoth task", as she put it. Installation began in April. There are now 1,500 apartments left, for which a third individual installation date will be arranged. For reasons such as illness or misunderstandings, the first two installation dates have been canceled in these cases. "Unfortunately, there were also cases in which the fitters were not granted access to the apartment," said Sachse.
