Real Estate Agency FAQs

Below are the most common questions we receive from our real estate agency partners.

Select a category:

Billing Customer Support Enrolment Process Legislation PropertyMe Integration Sales Properties
Offerings & Inclusions Troubleshooting Alarms & Warranties Tenant FAQs VIC Legislation

Billing

For the majority of our clients, the billing cycle commences as soon as we attend your property under an annual service for the first time, and this is also when the yearly subscription renews. The annual renewal invoice will be due 12 months following our initial visit. This is known as Billing Option One and it is our default payment option.
Billing Option Two is only available upon request for some real estate offices. The billing process is listed below.
1. Property inspected to ensure compliance, as per instruction via work order from agency.
2. Annual service invoice sent to agency for landlord to pay.
3. A report will be sent each month to outline all properties approaching renewal of service in the next 60-90 days.
4. Property manager ticks ‘cancel’ or ‘continue’ next to each property address on report and returns to Smoke Alarm Solutions.
a) If service is continued, the property is inspected, and the annual service invoice is issued to agency.
b) If service is cancelled, the property is made inactive and not inspected.

Customer Support

There are many reasons a property's annual subscription could be placed on hold including awating approval, further instruction required or payment not yet received. A property may also be on hold because we cannot contact the tenant to arrange property access. If you are unsure as to the reason for the property being placed on hold, we suggest you contact our team on 1300 852 301 or via [email protected] at your earliest convenience so that the property's sevice is reinstated and the premisis is properly protected from the dangers of fire.
To support the communication with your landlords relating to our service, we offer complimentary brochures for you to distribute to your new or existing clients. To order your digital or hard copy brochures, click here. If you require a tailored template letter or brochure, please reach out to your dedicated Account Manager.
In order to ensure you have the most user friendly experience, your office has been assigned a dedicated Account Manager to assist with onboarding, any specific queries or any troubleshooting. Your Account Manager is also able to assist with the tailoring of your particular service. You can find the list of Smoke Alarm Solutions' Account Managers here.
We understand compliance matters are of extreme importance to you and your clients and our service requires a great deal of trust. As we need to communicate directly with tenants to arrange access to carry out our smoke alarm service, keeping your clients’ information confidential is important to us, and we take our responsibility regarding the security of their personal information very seriously. Our full Privacy Policy can be found here.
At Smoke Alarm Solutions, we strive to provide excellent service with every encounter, as demonstrated by our excellent Google Reviews rating. If our service doesn’t meet your expectation or if you would like to commend a member of the team who has gone over and above, we would love to hear from you. Please send through the property address we inspected, along with your contact details and a brief summary of the scenario to [email protected].
We email a Compliance Report detailing all smoke alarms at the property, their expiry date, type and position approximately 24-48 hours after a smoke alarm inspection has been completed.
When you enrol your property in service aimed to ensure your property meets 2022 Queensland legislation, we provide a quote based on the number of bedrooms and levels in the property. This is an indication only and it is based on a typical property layout. If on our attendance we note another alarm is required for compliance, you will receive this invoice following our attendance. By using our service, you are agreeing to this condition.
If you would like us to comply the smoke alarms in your property with the current Victorian or South Australian smoke alarm legislation, you can do so for a cost of $119 per annum. All required for compliance installations and replacements are included to ensure your property complies. You can enrol your property directly here or request enrolment via your Property Manager.

Enrolment Process

Our friendly team is always here to assist. Call on 1300 852 301 and press 2 for the Property Managers line or email [email protected] and one of our friendly Account Managers will make contact to step you through the sign-up process. You may also like to enrol properties via the PropertyMe integration or our online enrolment form which can be found at https://smokealarmsolutions.com.au/enrol-a-property-form.
Smoke Alarm Solutions will happily honour any existing smoke alarm annual service at no additional cost to you or your Landlords. We will attend the property and service the smoke alarms free of charge until the expiry of the current provider’s agreement. Only when the annual service is due for renewal will an annual service fee be requested*. Should a smoke alarm require replacement, or an additional alarm need to be installed prior to the first annual invoice being paid, your Landlord has the option of bringing forward the renewal date of the service or paying for the alarm itself. *If we attend and service the property, and the Landlord chooses not to continue with Smoke Alarm Solutions, a once off cost of $100 will be applied. Please note, unfortunately we are unable to offer this free takeover service properties enrolled in our Home Safe Solutions subscriptions.
To ensure a quick and hassle-free enrolment process for landlords, we offer the ability to enrol your property either via our online enrolment form or by calling 1300 852 301. Our online enrolment form is very user friendly and will provide an indicative quote for upgrading to the 2022 legislation for QLD rental properties and properties being sold. If you have a property in either VIC or SA, you can use this same online form. Make sure you click the customer type and state your property is located in, then complete the form from there.
Once you enrol a property online, you will receive an email confirmation from us shortly aftewards. Please make sure to check your junk mail folder as well. If you do not receive an email confirmation within an hour or so, please feel free to call our team on 1300 852 301.

Legislation

No, but as a landlord you have a responsibility to ensure the smoke alarms installed in the property are compliant. Each state of Australia has different requirements however the requirements are complex and intricate, and differ from state to state. As a minimum, expiry dates and battery levels need to be checked and the correct style of smoke alarms need to be replaced or installed if missing, damaged, faulty or expired. Locations, Australian Standards and audible output also need to be correct in order for alarms to meet current requirements. Smoke alarm compliance involves a complex set of requirements, which is why many landlords opt for a professional company to carry out this work.
The laws vary state to state. Please feel free to refer to your state requirements here.
Unfortunately, our services do not cover commercial buildings or ‘1b dwellings’. We provide smoke alarm compliance and maintenance services for Class 1a or Class 2 (sole occupancy) residential properties only. If you own or manage a commercial property, we recommend you speak to QFES or a commercial smoke alarm provider.

PropertyMe Integration

New job requests will be synced from PropertyMe every two hours. Existing property information will be checked overnight for subscription renewals and annual work orders.
We will only be processing the relevant contact, property and job data in your account for current active properties enrolled with Smoke Alarm Solutions.
No, Smoke Alarm Solutions does not update any data into your PropertyMe account.
PropertyMe will update all tenant and landlord information, such as name and contact details, to ensure accuracy when scheduling inspections.  The integration will also automatically update property details in the Smoke Alarm Solutions system, including key numbers.
Arranging integration is easy. Simply fill out the registration request form and we will step you through the process. Register now via the following link - https://smokealarmsolutions.com.au/request-to-integrate-with-propertyme

1. Due by
This field will be used to determine the due date in our system.
IMPORTANT: This due date should be set a minimum of two weeks in advance for regular work orders.

2. Summary
The summary information will be used to determine the type of work we need to carry out using key words.

For example:

  • to request attendance for a lease renewal or changeover, include “Lease Renewal” or “Changeover”.
  • to request attendance to a beeping smoke alarm, include “Beeping Alarm”.

3. Work Order Notes
Supplier Instructions: We will process any special instructions provided via Supplier Instructions.

For example:

  • to notify us there is a pet onsite, write “Dog onsite, must contact tenants for access”.

Things to remember:

  • Don’t send us your work orders via email, we will automatically receive them.
  • If you need to make changes to a work order after assigning to Smoke Alarm Solutions, please call or email us to advise.
  • If you would like to see the progress of your work order, check our Solutions Portal for updates.
  • If you no longer require a work order to be completed, simply un-assign from Smoke Alarm Solutions.
Propertyme New Job 3

Sales Properties

Smoke Alarm Solutions installs Emerald Alarms for $124 each (fully installed) under our Sellers Compliance Service. This is a fixed cost and includes installation, hard-wiring and radio frequency bases where required. We also provide a compliance report following our attendance. For us to provide you a more accurate price, we require a few details about your property layout, including the number of bedrooms and levels. You can either call us on 1300 852 301 or enrol via this link.

Service Offerings and Inclusions

We aim to attend most properties within two weeks or less and we often complete jobs much sooner than this, however, turnaround time is dependent upon location, current demand and sometimes other factors that are outside of our control.
Yes, we offer once off services when required although we do recommend an annual subscription to ensure continuity of service from year to year. To request this inspection option, please fill out the property enrolment form following and select from the “once off” service options.

Smoke Alarm Troubleshooting

Our 24/7 emergency service number is 1300 853 612 and is available for those covered by our Gold, Platinum and Ultimate smoke alarm subscription packages. For further information about the service and eligibility, please click here.
There are many reasons a smoke alarm can sound when smoke is not present. We recommend you or your tenants do not remove the battery as this means your smoke alarms will no longer provide protection against the dangers of fire. We suggest you press the hush button which should be on the front of the alarm depending on the brand. The hush button will reset the alarm. During this time, your tenants may hear occasional beeps before it falls silent. If your tenant is still having issues with their alarm after they take these steps, please contact our 24/7 Emergency Service to arrange for a technician to service the property.
A smoke alarm with a flat battery will make a short and sharp chirping sound constantly. The alarm will chirp approximately every 30 to 60 seconds for a minimum of seven days.  If your alarm continues to beep and there is no fire present, please call our 24/7 Emergency Service phone line on 1300 853 612 and one of our friendly team will assist you.

Smoke Alarms and Warranties

At Smoke Alarm Solutions, we only install high quality products. As we carry out maintenance of the alarms we install, we don’t compromise on quality, and we are constantly working closely with our provider to ensure our alarms continue to meet the highest standards in Australia. 

We no longer use smoke-in-a-can or compressed air when cleaning a smoke alarm as it is not recommended by the manufacturer’s instructions. Our approach is to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for maintenance.
Working on/with asbestos isn’t illegal as the installation of smoke alarms on asbestos is only classed as asbestos-related work and does not require a license. There are however strict guidelines on the handling and disposal of all contaminated material after installation as well as health risks associated with both our installers and the occupants of the dwelling. With this in mind, Smoke Alarm Solutions has adopted a best practice approach and have eliminated the hazard altogether by not disturbing asbestos. Safe Work Queensland backs this approach as elimination is better than any control measures that could be implemented. The legislation also backs this approach in the sense that it allows for battery operated smoke alarms to be installed as opposed to hard wired. Health and Safety always takes precedence over everything else in the workplace and we take that very seriously.
 
However, there are ways to avoid installing smoke alarms on asbestos-containing material and still comply to the new legislation. For example, here at Smoke Alarm Solutions, where likely asbestos containing material is present, our technicians will install smoke alarms:
- on timber strips or any other material on the ceiling that is not asbestos, where present.
- using double-sided tape, where alarms cannot be screwed into the ceiling.
- on to the wall, where the ceiling has sprayed on plaster which contains asbestos fibers.
Smoke Alarm Solutions offers a 12 month service warranty on all smoke alarms they install as set out in our Standard Operating Procedures On top of this, Emerald Alarms installed by Smoke Alarm Solutions have a seven year product warranty. Depending on the brand of other alarms installed by Smoke Alarm Solutions, differing lengths of product warranty will apply. Full details on our service and product warranties can be found in our Terms of Service.
We're able to interconnect our alarms over multiple levels by radio frequency identification (RFID) technology where wiring is not a suitable option. The RFID module is already contained in the base of these smoke alarm models.