West Virginia Code §15A-10-12, West Virginia Legislature 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.

West Virginia Carbon Monoxide Detector Law and Where It Applies

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

Not on its own. The West Virginia duty attaches to building a residential unit with a fuel burning heating or cooking source, or renting or leasing a one or two family dwelling out, 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: What about buildings that are not houses in West Virginia?

West Virginia writes separate rules for schools and daycare facilities, hotels, motels, dormitories and care facilities, long-term care facilities staffed around the clock. Those sections sit beside the residential one rather than inside it, and each is quoted on this page.

Yes

Required in a home

W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12

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

West Virginia requires an alarm in a rented home and in anything newly built.

West Virginia requires a carbon monoxide detector in a newly built home with a fuel burning heating or cooking source, in a one or two family dwelling meant to be rented or leased, and in apartment buildings, hotels, dormitories, care facilities, schools and daycares, so an older owner occupied house that is not for rent is outside the section.

In West Virginia the duty runs continuously in a rented home and otherwise waits for construction. The trigger the code names is building a residential unit with a fuel burning heating or cooking source, or renting or leasing a one or two family dwelling out.

Rented and newRented homesW. Va. Code § 15A-10-12read September 23, 2026

The section itself

W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12, and what it attaches to

The sentence below is the whole of it. Everything that separates West 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

Smoke detectors in one- and two-family dwellings; carbon monoxide detectors in residential units, schools, and daycare facilities; penalty.

W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12

An operational single station carbon monoxide detector with a suitable alarm or a combination smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector, which shall be alternating current (AC) powered, either plugged directly in to an electrical outlet that is not controlled by a switch or hardwired into an alternating current (AC) electrical source, with battery backup, shall be installed, maintained, tested, repaired, or replaced, if necessary, in accordance with the manufacturer’s direction: (1) In any newly constructed residential unit which has a fuel-burning heating or cooking source including, but not limited to, an oil or gas furnace or stove; (2) In any residential unit which is connected to a newly constructed building, including, but not limited to, a garage, storage shed, or barn, which has a fuel-burning heating or cooking source, including, but not limited to, an oil or gas furnace or stove; and (3) In either a common area where the general public has access or all rooms in which a person will be sleeping that are adjoining to and directly below and above all areas or rooms that contain permanently installed fuel-burning appliances and equipment that emit carbon monoxide as a byproduct of combustion located within all apartment buildings, boarding houses, dormitories, long-term care facilities, adult or child care facilities, assisted living facilities, one- and two-family dwellings intended to be rented or leased, hotels, and motels.

West Virginia Code §15A-10-12, West Virginia Legislature, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

ReachRented homes, and anything newly built
Triggerbuilding a residential unit with a fuel burning heating or cooking source, or renting or leasing a one or two family dwelling out
SourceWest Virginia Code §15A-10-12, West Virginia Legislature

Two duties in one code: a landlord carries one all the time, and an owner occupier meets the other only by building.

Where the code says to put it

West Virginia writes the location into the code

West Virginia writes the spot into the code: in accordance with the manufacturer's direction; in the listed rented and multi occupant buildings, in a common area where the general public has access or in all sleeping rooms adjoining and directly below and above rooms containing permanently installed fuel burning appliances.

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

in accordance with the manufacturer's direction; in the listed rented and multi occupant buildings, in a common area where the general public has access or in all sleeping rooms adjoining and directly below and above rooms containing permanently installed fuel burning appliances

In either a common area where the general public has access or all rooms in which a person will be sleeping that are adjoining to and directly below and above all areas or rooms that contain permanently installed fuel-burning appliances and equipment that emit carbon monoxide as a byproduct of combustion located within all apartment buildings, boarding houses, dormitories, long-term care facilities, adult or child care facilities, assisted living facilities, one- and two-family dwellings intended to be rented or leased, hotels, and motels.

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

In a rented home

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

West Virginia reaches a rented home without naming which party carries the job. One and two family dwellings intended to be rented or leased are named in subsection (f)(3) whatever their age, and the carbon monoxide subsections are written passively rather than naming the owner or the tenant.

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
Maintainsnot named in the section

one and two family dwellings intended to be rented or leased are named in subsection (f)(3) whatever their age, and the carbon monoxide subsections are written passively rather than naming the owner or the tenant.

All single station carbon monoxide detectors with a suitable alarm or a combination smoke detector and carbon monoxide detectors shall be hardwired into an alternating current (AC) electrical source, with battery backup, when installed in all newly constructed apartment buildings, boarding houses, dormitories, hospitals, long-term care facilities, adult or child care facilities, assisted living facilities, one- and two-family dwellings intended to be rented or leased, hotels, and motels.

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

What counts as an alarm

West Virginia names the standard the alarm has to meet

West Virginia names the manufacturer's direction; no listing standard is named for carbon monoxide detectors. 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

West Virginia writes the consequence into the section

West Virginia writes the consequence into the code: a misdemeanor, fined $250 for a first offence, $750 for a second, and $2000 for a third and subsequent offences.

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 3 other buildings the West Virginia code reaches

What the section covers in West Virginia is a newly built residential unit with a fuel burning heating or cooking source, and rooms near such an appliance in a rented or multi occupant building of any age.

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.

schools and daycare facilities
one in each area with a fuel burning heating system or other fuel burning device that produces combustion gases
W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12(i)
Carbon monoxide detectors shall be installed in every public or private school or daycare facility that uses a fuel-burning heating system or other fuel-burning device that produces combustion gases. A carbon monoxide detector shall be located in each area with a fuel-burning heating system or other fuel-burning device that produces combustion gases.
W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12(i), read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
hotels, motels, dormitories and care facilities
covered by the same subsection (f)(3) as rented dwellings, whatever their age
W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12(f)(3)
In either a common area where the general public has access or all rooms in which a person will be sleeping that are adjoining to and directly below and above all areas or rooms that contain permanently installed fuel-burning appliances and equipment that emit carbon monoxide as a byproduct of combustion located within all apartment buildings, boarding houses, dormitories, long-term care facilities, adult or child care facilities, assisted living facilities, one- and two-family dwellings intended to be rented or leased, hotels, and motels.
W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12(f)(3), read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
long-term care facilities staffed around the clock
the detector need only be where staff on duty can hear it
W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12(h)
In any long-term care facility that is staffed on a 24-hour, seven day a week basis, the single station carbon monoxide detector with a suitable alarm or a combination smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector is only required to be installed in an area of the facility that permits the detector to be audible to the staff on duty.
W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12(h), read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

How West 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

West Virginia carbon monoxide alarm questions

Does West Virginia require a carbon monoxide detector?

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

Where does West Virginia say the alarm goes?

The code prints the spot: in accordance with the manufacturer's direction; in the listed rented and multi occupant buildings, in a common area where the general public has access or in all sleeping rooms adjoining and directly below and above rooms containing permanently installed fuel burning appliances. West Virginia is one of 20 states that put a location in writing rather than leaving it to the manufacturer's instructions.

Who is responsible in a rented home in West Virginia?

What is the penalty in West Virginia?

A misdemeanor, fined $250 for a first offence, $750 for a second, and $2000 for a third and subsequent offences. The code puts it this way: "Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, for a first offense, shall be fined $250. For a second offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $750. For a third and subsequent offenses, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $2000."

What about buildings that are not houses in West Virginia?

What kind of alarm does West 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.

West Virginia read September 23, 2026, off the state’s own published code: W. Va. Code § 15A-10-12, 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 West 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.