Berkeley, CA Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

070, Section 703 of the Berkeley Housing Code, requires a carbon monoxide alarm in any dwelling or sleeping unit where the unit contains a fuel-fired appliance or fireplace, or where an attached garage has an opening that communicates with the living space. The code sets three placement rules pulled from the Building Code: an alarm outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the sleeping rooms, an alarm on every occupiable level of the unit including basements and habitable attic spaces, and an alarm inside any sleeping room where a fuel-burning appliance sits within the room or its attached bathroom.

Alarms must be installed according to the manufacturer's instructions. A combination carbon monoxide and smoke alarm counts as compliant with both the CO alarm rule in Section 703 and the separate smoke alarm rule in Section 702 of the same chapter. 40, which the Building Official enforces through the general Notice of Violation process at Section 1002: an inspector who finds a missing or non-functioning CO alarm issues a written Notice of Violation to the property owner, and correcting the alarm within the stated deadline counts as voluntary code compliance rather than triggering administrative penalties.

If the owner does not correct the violation, the Building Official can escalate to a Notice and Order under Section 1003 and record a notarized statement of the violation against the property with the county recorder. 40 governs the physical condition of housing stock regardless of tenure.