Albany Municipal Code § 11-10 Firesafety Requirements in Existing Buildings

[7-20-2020 by Ord. No. 2019-11]

a. Residential self-closing doors. All residential units in multifamily residential structures containing four units or more shall have self-closing exterior doors.

1. Responsibility. Property owners are responsible for testing and maintaining the effectiveness of self-closing hardware per manufacturer's instructions. Required self-closing hardware that is determined to be ineffective shall be replaced with functioning hardware.

b. Fire alarm system requirements.

1. Prior to the sale of any real property, a property owner shall upgrade the smoke alarm/smoke detector system to photoelectric-only-type devices.

2. Prior to the issuance of a home occupation permit, a property owner shall upgrade the smoke alarm/smoke detector system to photoelectric-only-type devices.

3. Multifamily residential structures containing three housing units or more are required to maintain photoelectric-only smoke alarm/smoke detector systems.

4. Property owners are responsible for testing the effectiveness of existing smoke alarms or smoke detectors per manufacturer's instructions. Required smoke alarms or smoke detectors that are determined to be ineffective shall be replaced with photoelectric-only-type smoke devices.

5. All required smoke alarms and smoke detectors shall be replaced upon the expiration of the warranty period of the installed device. Replacement devices must be photoelectric-only-type devices.