13VAC5-63-240, Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, Virginia Administrative Code, Virginia General Assembly was read on September 23, 2026, and every quote on this page came off that page on that day. Fifty states were read the same way for the national comparison.

Virginia CO Detector Law: New Construction Only

Q: Does the Virginia requirement apply to a house that already exists?

Not on its own. The Virginia duty attaches to a building permit application for new construction submitted on or after the code's effective date, which means a house that has not had that happen is not reached by the section. Ten of the fifty states wrote a duty that attaches to the dwelling itself instead.

Q: Where does Virginia say the alarm goes?

The code prints the spot: installed in accordance with the code and the manufacturer's installation instructions; where more than one alarm is required in a dwelling unit they must be interconnected. Virginia is one of 20 states that put a location in writing rather than leaving it to the manufacturer's instructions.

Q: What about buildings that are not houses in Virginia?

Virginia writes separate rules for school classrooms. Those sections sit beside the residential one rather than inside it, and each is quoted on this page.

Yes

Required in a home

13VAC5-63-240 (Virginia Construction Code, Section 915 as amended), adopted under Va. Code § 36-99

Only on the trigger

Reaches a home already lived in

10 of the 42 states reach one

Covered

In a rented home

one of 28 states that reach a tenancy

In the code

Where the code says to put it

one of 20 states that print a spot

September 23, 2026

Read

off the state’s own published code

The short answer

Virginia requires an alarm in new construction only.

Virginia requires a carbon monoxide alarm through its building code in a newly built home or apartment that has a fuel burning appliance or an attached garage, and its maintenance code does not reach back to a house that already stands.

In Virginia the duty reaches a house being built and stops there. The trigger the code names is a building permit application for new construction submitted on or after the code's effective date.

New build onlyRented homes13VAC5-63-240 (Virginia Construction Code, Section 915 as amended), adopted under Va. Code § 36-99read September 23, 2026

The section itself

13VAC5-63-240 (Virginia Construction Code, Section 915 as amended), adopted under Va. Code § 36-99, and what it attaches to

The sentence below is the whole of it. Everything that separates Virginia from the state across the river sits inside that sentence and inside the clause that conditions it, which is why it is reproduced rather than summarised.

A requirement and the event it waits for are two different facts, and a roundup that carries the first without the second is how the same state gets described as strict and as lax in the same week. Both are on the card, with the citation, the title the code gives the section and the link the sentence was read from.

The section

Section 915 Carbon monoxide alarms (as amended by the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code)

13VAC5-63-240 (Virginia Construction Code, Section 915 as amended), adopted under Va. Code § 36-99

915.2 Group I or R. Group I or R occupancies located in a building containing a fuel-burning appliance or in a building that has an attached garage shall be equipped with single-station carbon monoxide alarms. The carbon monoxide alarms shall be listed as complying with UL 2034 and be installed and maintained in accordance with NFPA 720 and the manufacturer's instructions. An open parking garage, as defined in Chapter 2, or an enclosed parking garage ventilated in accordance with Section 404 of the IMC shall not be considered an attached garage.

13VAC5-63-240, Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, Virginia Administrative Code, Virginia General Assembly, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

ReachNew construction only
Triggera building permit application for new construction submitted on or after the code's effective date
Source13VAC5-63-240, Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, Virginia Administrative Code, Virginia General Assembly

The narrowest of the building triggers: nothing in the section looks back at housing that already exists.

What the duty waits for

In Virginia the requirement attaches to a building permit application for new construction submitted on or after the code's effective date

In Virginia the duty reaches a house being built and stops there. The trigger the code names is a building permit application for new construction submitted on or after the code's effective date.

This is the reading that decides whether the law is speaking to a particular house. 10 states wrote the duty against the dwelling itself and 25 wrote it against an event, and a national article that prints only the first number reads as though every one of the 42 belonged to the first group. The 25 triggers are below, grouped by shape.

The twenty five states whose duty waits for an event. Grouped by what it waits for, then alphabetical.
State	Waits for	The trigger the code names
Alabama	Permit or new build	residential construction governed by the adopted residential code
Arkansas	Permit or new build	work governed by the adopted residential code, since the statutory requirement was repealed in 2013
Hawaii	Permit or new build	building, altering, replacing or repairing a dwelling under the State Residential Code
Indiana	Permit or new build	a permitted alteration, addition or complete replacement of the electrical system, and the construction of a new dwelling
Michigan	Permit or new build	initial construction of the dwelling, a renovation of an existing dwelling for which a permit is required, or the addition or creation of a bedroom
New Mexico	Permit or new build	construction, alteration, repair, replacement or a change of occupancy that is subject to a Construction Industries Division permit
Oklahoma	Permit or new build	residential construction, alteration, replacement or repair covered by the statewide minimum residential code
South Carolina	Permit or new build	construction under the residential code the state adopts
Tennessee	Permit or new build	building a dwelling, changing an existing building over to a dwelling, or adding thirty square feet or more of interior space
Texas	Permit or new build	construction, alteration, remodeling, enlargement or repair of a residential structure inside a municipality
Utah	Permit or new build	building, altering, remodeling or repairing a dwelling under the state construction code
Colorado	Sale or transfer	the sale or transfer of an existing dwelling, and separately a permitted alteration or a change of tenant occupancy
Louisiana	Sale or transfer	the sale or lease of the dwelling, and separately the professional installation of a home generator
Maine	Sale or transfer	acquiring a single family dwelling or multiapartment building by sale or exchange, with a separate continuous duty on multifamily units and rentals
Nebraska	Sale or transfer	a sale or transfer, a permitted interior alteration, construction on or after January 1, 2017, or a change of tenant occupancy
New Jersey	Sale or transfer	a sale, a lease, or any other change of occupancy of a dwelling unit in a building with fewer than three dwelling units
Oregon	Sale or transfer	conveying fee title or transferring possession under a land sale contract, and separately the start of a new tenancy
Rhode Island	Sale or transfer	the transfer of title to an occupied residential property, with a separate duty on new construction and conversion
Vermont	Sale or transfer	for a single family house, being constructed or transferred by sale or exchange; for condominiums, multiple unit dwellings and other residential buildings the duty is continuous
Connecticut	New build only	a building permit for new occupancy issued on or after October 1, 2005 for a new one or two family residential building; the certificate of occupancy is withheld until the equipment is certified
Florida	New build only	constructing a building or building an addition onto one
Georgia	New build only	building a dwelling unit
Idaho	New build only	taking out a building permit in a city or county that runs a building code enforcement program
Kentucky	New build only	constructing a single family dwelling, two family dwelling or townhouse
Virginia	New build only	a building permit application for new construction submitted on or after the code's effective date

Where the code says to put it

Virginia writes the location into the code

Virginia writes the spot into the code: installed in accordance with the code and the manufacturer's installation instructions; where more than one alarm is required in a dwelling unit they must be interconnected.

The rule is quoted below in the code's own words. Nationally 20 states print one and 5 of those reach every storey rather than the sleeping floor alone, and no two of the 20 are quite the same sentence.

Where the code puts it

installed in accordance with the code and the manufacturer's installation instructions; where more than one alarm is required in a dwelling unit they must be interconnected

R315.1.1 Listings. Carbon monoxide alarms shall be hard wired, plug-in or battery type; listed as complying with UL 2034; and installed in accordance with this code and the manufacturer's installation instructions. Combination carbon monoxide and smoke alarms shall be listed in accordance with UL 2034 and UL 217.

Virginia, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

In a rented home

What Virginia puts on a landlord and what it puts on a tenant

Virginia reaches a rented home without naming which party carries the job. No Virginia statute makes a landlord install an alarm, and where the landlord has installed one the tenant must maintain it and may not disable it.

The split matters because the two halves are enforced differently: an installation duty runs against the owner and a maintenance duty commonly runs against whoever is living there. Where the section names no party, the card says so rather than filling the silence with the commonest answer. 28 states of the fifty reach a tenancy at all.

In a rented home

Installsnot named in the section
Maintainstenant

no Virginia statute makes a landlord install an alarm, and where the landlord has installed one the tenant must maintain it and may not disable it.

Not remove or tamper with a properly functioning carbon monoxide alarm installed by the landlord, including the removal of any working batteries, so as to render the carbon monoxide alarm inoperative. The tenant shall maintain the carbon monoxide alarm in accordance with the uniform set of standards for maintenance of carbon monoxide alarms established in the Statewide Fire Prevention Code (§ 27-94 et seq.) and subdivision C 6 of § 36-105, Part III of the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq.);

Virginia, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

What counts as an alarm

Virginia names the standard the alarm has to meet

Virginia names UL 2034, with NFPA 720 for installation, and UL 2075 for a carbon monoxide detection system. A combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarm is accepted.

38 states of the fifty name a standard and 16 say in writing that a combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarm satisfies the requirement. Where a state named none, approval belongs to the code the building is inspected under, which is a local reading rather than a state one.

What the code provides

Virginia writes the consequence into the section

Virginia writes the consequence into the code: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $2,500, with higher fines for repeat offences, and localities may instead adopt a civil penalty schedule.

It is quoted on the card above in the sentence it was read from. What a penalty clause says and what an enforcement body does with it are different questions, and only the first is on this page. Nationally 19 states print something inside the section; the rest send a reader to a general enforcement provision.

Buildings that are not houses

The one other building the Virginia code reaches

What the section covers in Virginia is a residential or institutional building that contains a fuel burning appliance or has an attached garage.

Hotels, schools, care homes and childcare buildings are where several legislatures started, and in a few states they are still the only place a carbon monoxide duty appears at all. Each is quoted below under the kind of building it covers.

school classrooms
classrooms in a building with a fuel burning appliance, an attached garage or a small engine or vehicle shop
13VAC5-63-240, Section 915.3
915.3 Group E. Classrooms in Group E occupancies located in a building containing a fuel-burning appliance or in a building that has an attached garage or small engine or vehicle shop shall be equipped with single-station carbon monoxide alarms. The carbon monoxide alarms shall be listed as complying with UL 2034 and be installed and maintained in accordance with NFPA 720 and the manufacturer's instructions.
13VAC5-63-240, Section 915.3, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

How Virginia compares

The same question in the other forty nine

42 states require a carbon monoxide alarm in a home and 8 have no statewide section for one. Of the 42, 10 reach a home already lived in, 25 wait for a sale, a permit or a first build, and 28 reach a rented home.

The bar splits the fifty by what their section touches, and the table beneath it puts them in alphabetical order for finding a particular one. Neither order tracks how cold a state gets.

10Every home

4Rented and new

11Permit or new build

8Sale or transfer

6New build only

3Rented only

8None statewide

All fifty states, alphabetical. Reach is what the section speaks to: the dwelling itself, or an event happening to it.
State	Reach	Rented homes	Placement rule	Citation
Alabama	Permit or new build	No	No	Ala. Admin. Code r. 305-2-4-.09 (Residential Building Codes), adopted by the Alabama Energy and Residential Codes Board under Code of Ala. 1975, Sections 41-23-80 through 41-23-85
Alaska	Every home	Yes	Yes	Alaska Stat. 18.70.095(a)
Arizona	None statewide	No	No	No section
Arkansas	Permit or new build	No	No	12 CAR pt. 15, Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, 2021 Edition, Volume III
California	Every home	Yes	Yes	Cal. Health & Safety Code 17926(a)
Colorado	Sale or transfer	Yes	Yes	C.R.S. 38-45-102
Connecticut	New build only	No	No	Conn. Gen. Stat. §29-292
Delaware	Rented only	Yes	No	16 Del. C. 6602C
Florida	New build only	Yes	Yes	Fla. Stat. 553.885
Georgia	New build only	No	No	Georgia State Amendments to the International Residential Code (2024 Edition), Section R311 Carbon Monoxide Alarms, revising Section R311.2.1, adopted by the Department of Community Affairs under the Uniform Codes Act, O.C.G.A. Section 8-2-20 et seq.
Hawaii	Permit or new build	No	No	Haw. Rev. Stat. 107-25, with the code adopted under it
Idaho	New build only	No	No	Idaho Code 39-4116(2)(b), with the code itself defined at 39-4109(1)(b)
Illinois	Every home	Yes	Yes	430 ILCS 135/10
Indiana	Permit or new build	No	No	675 IAC 14-4.4-27 (2020 Indiana Residential Code, amending Section R315.2.2 of the 2018 International Residential Code)
Iowa	Every home	Yes	No	Iowa Code 10A.518(3)(b)
Kansas	None statewide	No	No	No section
Kentucky	New build only	No	No	815 KAR 7:125, promulgated under KRS 198B.040(7) and 198B.050
Louisiana	Sale or transfer	Yes	No	La. R.S. 40:1581
Maine	Sale or transfer	Yes	Yes	25 M.R.S. §2468
Maryland	Rented and new	Yes	Yes	Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-1104
Massachusetts	Every home	Yes	No	M.G.L. c. 148, §26F1/2
Michigan	Permit or new build	Yes	Yes	MCL 125.1504f (Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, 1972 PA 230, Sec. 4f; the "Overbeck law")
Minnesota	Every home	Yes	Yes	Minn. Stat. 299F.51, subd. 1 (a)
Mississippi	None statewide	No	No	Senate Bill 2378, 2014 Regular Session, Section 1
Missouri	None statewide	No	No	No section
Montana	Rented only	Yes	No	Mont. Code Ann. 70-24-303(1)(g)
Nebraska	Sale or transfer	Yes	Yes	Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-604
Nevada	None statewide	No	No	No section
New Hampshire	Rented and new	Yes	No	RSA 153:10-a
New Jersey	Sale or transfer	Yes	No	N.J.S.A. 52:27D-133.3
New Mexico	Permit or new build	No	No	14.7.3 NMAC, 2021 New Mexico Residential Building Code
New York	Every home	Yes	No	N.Y. Exec. Law 378(5-a)
North Carolina	Rented and new	Yes	Yes	N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-42(a)(7)
North Dakota	None statewide	No	No	N.D. Admin. Code 45-18-01-04
Ohio	Every home	Yes	Yes	Ohio Adm.Code 1301:7-7-11 (Ohio Fire Code, Chapter 11), modifying International Fire Code Sections 1101.1 and 1103.9
Oklahoma	Permit or new build	No	No	OAC 748:20-6-1
Oregon	Sale or transfer	Yes	Yes	Or. Rev. Stat. 105.838
Pennsylvania	Rented only	Yes	Yes	Carbon Monoxide Alarm Standards Act, Act of Dec. 18, 2013, P.L. 1229, No. 121, section 4
Rhode Island	Sale or transfer	Yes	Yes	Rhode Island Life Safety Code, 450-RICR-00-00-8, §24.6.3.1 (adopted under R.I. Gen. Laws §23-28.1-2)
South Carolina	Permit or new build	No	No	S.C. Code Regs. R.8-1200 (2021 International Residential Code as adopted), promulgated under S.C. Code Ann. Section 6-9-40 and Section 6-9-50
South Dakota	None statewide	No	No	No section
Tennessee	Permit or new build	No	No	Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-02-23-.02 (Adoption by Reference), Division of Fire Prevention, under T.C.A. Section 68-120-101(a), (b), and (d)
Texas	Permit or new build	No	No	Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 214.212
Utah	Permit or new build	No	No	Utah Code 15A-2-103(1)(b)
Vermont	Sale or transfer	Yes	Yes	9 V.S.A. §2882
Virginia	New build only	Yes	Yes	13VAC5-63-240 (Virginia Construction Code, Section 915 as amended), adopted under Va. Code § 36-99
Washington	Every home	Yes	Yes	Wash. Rev. Code 19.27.530
West Virginia	Rented and new	Yes	Yes	W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12
Wisconsin	Every home	Yes	Yes	Wis. Stat. 101.647 (3) (a)
Wyoming	None statewide	No	No	No section

A row of tall nineteenth century brick and frame houses on Queen City Avenue in the South Fairmount neighbourhood of Cincinnati, under a clear sky. — Housing this old is the whole question. Ohio is one of ten states whose carbon monoxide section attaches to the dwelling itself, so it reaches these houses as they stand. In most of the country the same section would wait for one of them to be sold, altered under permit or rebuilt. “Queen City Avenue, South Fairmount, Cincinnati, OH (28224745388)”, Warren LeMay, CC0

Virginia carbon monoxide alarm questions

Does Virginia require a carbon monoxide detector?

Does the Virginia requirement apply to a house that already exists?

Where does Virginia say the alarm goes?

Who is responsible in a rented home in Virginia?

What is the penalty in Virginia?

A misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $2,500, with higher fines for repeat offences, and localities may instead adopt a civil penalty schedule. The code puts it this way: "It shall be unlawful for any owner or any other person, firm, or corporation, on or after the effective date of any Code provisions, to violate any such provisions. Any such violation shall be deemed a misdemeanor and any owner or any other person, firm, or corporation convicted of such a violation shall be punished by a fine of not more than $2,500."

What about buildings that are not houses in Virginia?

What kind of alarm does Virginia accept?

When was this read?

Carbon monoxide detector laws in every state

Home heating rebatesWhat a state pays toward replacing the fuel burning appliance the alarm is watching, and where the application actually lives.Sidewalk snow removal rulesWho has to clear the walk and by when, read off thirteen statutes and a great many city codes.Leaving a car running unattendedThe winter law that turns out to sit in a theft statute rather than an emissions one.Ground snow load by stateWhat a roof is designed to carry, and the fourteen states that publish their own number.

Virginia read September 23, 2026, off the state’s own published code: 13VAC5-63-240 (Virginia Construction Code, Section 915 as amended), adopted under Va. Code § 36-99, as part of a reading of all fifty compiled September 23, 2026. Every quotation above is reproduced in the source’s own wording and links back to the document it was read from. Legislatures amend these between sessions, and a county or city building code can reach a building the state code does not, so the link beside a quote is what governs on the day. What Virginia wrote is what this page carries: the duty, what it attaches to, where the code puts the alarm, what it says about a rented home, and the sentence it set.