New recipes step by step. When does your premises need to have detectors?
From January 1, 2026, additional buildings must have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. This is a phased implementation of the regulations that started at the end of 2024.
The amendment to the regulation on fire protection of buildings, other structures and areas, published on November 22, 2024 in the Journal of Laws, entered into force on December 23, 2024. From that date, the obligation to install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors covers all newly constructed houses and residential buildings. However, the regulations provide for further expansion of the catalog of facilities where detectors will be required over time.
Smoke detectors
The next important step will take place on January 1, 2026. According to the gov.pl website, from this date detectors will become mandatory in commercial, production and warehouse buildings. Importantly, the requirement also applies to facilities prepared in accordance with previous fire safety regulations, i.e. those for which: an occupancy permit has already been issued, an application for a building permit has been submitted or the construction has been notified before the new rules come into force. This means that investments started under the “old” rules will also have to adapt to current requirements.
The next stage will come on June 30, 2026. By that date, rooms and residential premises where hotel services are provided must be prepared for the installation of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The Ministry of the Interior and Administration clarified that this concerns general short-term rental of houses, apartments, rooms and other accommodation places. Thus, the regulations will cover popular forms of tourist and occasional rentals that have so far often operated within ordinary residential premises.
A new duty
The furthest extended deadline concerns the existing housing stock. From January 1, 2030, the obligation to install detectors will apply to existing residential premises, as well as to every room with a furnace in which solid, liquid or gas fuel is burned. This is the target moment when detectors are to become a standard not only in new investments, but also in older resources and wherever a fuel-fired heating device is operated.
To summarize the schedule: for newly constructed premises and rooms, the obligation applies from December 23, 2024; from January 1, 2026, commercial, production and warehouse buildings are added – also those planned according to old standards; from June 30, 2026, detectors are required in apartments used for hotel services; and from January 1, 2030, the detection system will become mandatory in existing residential premises and in every room with a solid, liquid or gas fuel stove. Phased implementation is intended to ensure compliance of facilities with fire safety requirements and to reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in residential and commercial spaces.
