Ontario Fire Code for STRs: alarms, testing, and the 2026 CO change

Fire and life-safety requirements apply to short-term rentals whether or not your municipality licenses them — they flow from the Ontario Fire Code, which is provincial. This is also the one area where “I didn’t know” carries the heaviest consequences, so it’s worth getting exactly right.

The 2026 carbon monoxide change

As of January 1, 2026, changes to the Ontario Fire Code relating to carbon monoxide came into effect. Carbon monoxide is the reason this matters so much: the Government of Ontario notes that over 65% of CO-related injuries and deaths in the province happen in the home, and CO is produced whenever fuel-burning appliances — furnaces, water heaters, propane, wood, gas ranges — don’t burn completely.

For a vacant or guest-occupied property, that’s a specific danger: a furnace or water heater developing a fault while guests sleep, or while no one is there to notice.

What’s required

Drawing on the provincial rules and the fire-safety packages municipalities publish for operators, the consistent baseline is:

Smoke alarms — required on every storey and outside sleeping areas, certified to Canadian standards (CSA, ULC, or Intertek ETL). Hardwired, battery, or plug-in are all permitted when properly installed; expired alarms must be replaced per the manufacturer’s lifespan.

Carbon monoxide alarms — required adjacent to sleeping areas where the property has a fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage. Combination smoke/CO alarms are allowed if certified for both.

The testing rule that catches operators: for rental properties, the landlord must test smoke and CO alarms annually and after every change in tenancy — which, for a short-term rental, means after every guest. The Fire Code also requires testing CO alarms when a battery is replaced or the electrical circuit changes. This is a per-turnover obligation, not an annual one.

Records. Municipalities that license STRs typically require a maintenance logbook — alarm test dates, fire extinguisher monthly inspections and annual servicing, annual HVAC inspection reports, and chimney/flue cleaning for solid-fuel appliances. Even where not licensed, keeping this log is strongly recommended; it’s your evidence of compliance if anything ever goes wrong.

The practical operator’s list

Per turnover: test every smoke and CO alarm, confirm the fire extinguisher is present and charged, verify escape routes are clear. Leave guests an information sheet with a 24-hour contact number for alarm issues and basic extinguisher instructions — many municipal fire packages provide a template for exactly this.

Annually or as needed: replace alarms at end of life, service the HVAC system, clean chimneys and flues, clear dryer venting (lint is a common ignition source), and renew extinguisher servicing.

Where monitoring fits

The Fire Code sets the floor — working alarms, tested faithfully. But an alarm that sounds in an empty house, or while guests are asleep and the host is three hours away, only helps if someone acts on it. Continuous temperature and device-health monitoring is the layer that turns a fault into an early, actionable signal rather than a 3 AM alarm nobody’s positioned to respond to. The alarm is the legal minimum; supervision is what closes the gap between detection and response.

This summarizes provincial requirements as published by the Government of Ontario and municipal fire services as of mid-2026; the Fire Code is the authoritative source and your local fire service can confirm specifics. This is not a substitute for a professional fire-safety inspection.