Tuscaloosa, AL Building Safety: Carbon Monoxide Detectors (2026)

Sec. 7-204(a) lists seven safety items every whole-dwelling short-term rental and detached guesthouse must carry before the city issues a business license under Sec. 7-200: smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, operable egress windows in every sleeping area, proper hand and guard rails, GFCI protection wherever the current National Electrical Code calls for it, fire extinguishers, a properly displayed 9-1-1 address, and emergency egress lighting. These seven items apply to the base case: a single-family home or a guesthouse rented in its entirety.

Two subsections layer on additional requirements for other rental types. Sec. 7-204(b) requires a fire sprinkler system that meets the 2015 International Residential Code for any owner-occupied dwelling that rents individual rooms to separate parties with fewer than five guest rooms, and for owner-occupied bed and breakfasts with five or fewer guest rooms. Sec. 7-204(c) pushes bed and breakfasts with more than five rooms, plus boarding houses, into full compliance with the applicable building and fire codes rather than the base list, and Sec. 7-204(d) does the same for any short-term rental inside a multi-family building.

Compliance is not self-certified: Sec. 7-205 requires an inspection against these Sec. 7-204 standards before the city issues or renews the license, performed by a licensed home inspector or the chief building official's designee for single-family rentals, or by the fire department and building inspector for bed and breakfasts and multi-family rentals.