Memphis, TN Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

Section 5-44-6 of the short-term rental ordinance folds carbon monoxide protection into the property owner's ongoing compliance duties, separate from the one-time permit application in § 5-44-5. Subsection C requires the short-term rental property owner to meet all applicable state and local building and fire safety code requirements, including, but not limited to, having approved carbon monoxide detectors meeting applicable state law standards installed on every habitable floor, not just the floor containing the sleeping rooms. The same section pairs that mandate with a smoke-alarm rule in subsection B: approved smoke alarms meeting Underwriters Laboratories UL 217 standards must be installed in every sleeping area and in every room along the path of egress from a sleeping area to the unit's exit door.

Subsection H layers on a general duty that the property stay in compliance with all local housing code ordinances. Because the compliance verification form required at permit application under § 5-44-5(C)(5) certifies that the unit currently meets applicable building, health, and life-safety code provisions, a missing carbon monoxide detector can surface both at initial permitting and at any later inspection. Chapter 5-44's compliance section, § 5-44-7, ties repeated code violations tied to the operation of the unit, three or more, confirmed by a court with no appeals left, to outright revocation of the rental permit, so an owner who ignores the detector requirement risks losing the ability to operate the property as a short-term rental altogether.