Richmond, VA Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

1 folds carbon monoxide protection into the same safety package that applies to every short-term rental in the City, regardless of district. Subsection (7) requires that carbon monoxide detectors be present in compliance with the current edition of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, meaning Richmond does not set its own detector count or placement standard but instead incorporates whatever the state building code requires for that dwelling type. The same subsection list requires a smoke detector under subsection (5) and a fire extinguisher under subsection (6), so a short-term rental must clear all three life-safety requirements before it can lawfully operate.

Compliance is not just a matter of having the equipment: subsection (4) requires the operator to prepare a floor plan of the dwelling unit, submit it to the Zoning Administrator, and conspicuously post it within the rental itself, with the plan labeled to show room uses, sleeping and cooking areas, emergency egress and rescue openings, and specifically the location of fire and carbon monoxide detectors. That posted floor plan gives renters, and City inspectors responding to a complaint, an at-a-glance way to confirm the required detectors are actually installed where the plan says they are.

1(8) to obtain a certificate of zoning compliance before operating; the Zoning Administrator can treat a missing or non-functioning carbon monoxide detector as a basis for finding the rental out of compliance with the conditions on which its certificate was issued.