Hi John.
We have 2 smoke alarms in our Dordogne house, complying to UK manufacturing standards BS EN 14604.
I just want to be clear that these alarms will comply with the new law. i don't expect the compliance police to come calling, but if an incident occurred, it is essential that both our insurance company and the law will be on our side.
Probably a good idea to check and confirm with our insurers.....
Hello Paulette, do you think I should write to my insurer (in fact, we are with Axa) confirming installation of EN14604-compliant alarms, and would they want any evidence?
Thanks,
John
So what happens if you install a smoke alarm (as I did in both apartments many moons ago) and your daft tenant uninstalls it because she does a lot of frying and is always setting it off? And the fire extinguisher I supplied has been 'tidied' away to a wardrobe because it wasn't pretty enough ......
Paulette can you give me a contact number for you, so I can contact you re insurance policies etc. Thanks.
Where can you buy them?
I have had NO contact from my landlord about this. I suppose I could just try phoning him and explaining he needs to do something but it seems simpler for me to just buy one myself and get my DIY boyfriend to install it (though I know they are easy enough to do). I'd rather lie low in case he wants to increase my rent if I contact him - can't afford the current rent let alone an increase.
Twice I have received an automated call to say an inspector will be coming around to inspect the smoke alarm in my habitation and to confirm a day and time. I hang up as I don't believe this is a free service and I'm always cagey about strange people wanting access to my home. Beware, looks like a scam to me.
Paulette from Axa I would like to ask you a few questions.
Not about smoke detectos as I have a few plus fire extinguishers and
blankets. But about how an agent reaches a price for a quotation to a client.
This is a slightly complex set of questions.
I think this has been said before but here goes. There are unscrupulous operators cashing in on this. They phone and say something like they are under the 'orders' of the mairie to visit and inspect all houses to check whether people have smoke detectors installed. They will check installed ones, are commission with the task of replacing ones not covered by the new regulations and repositioning ones in the wrong place. The one who spoke to me said other things, which I have forgotten. Anyway, the bottom line is that it was €70 and a certificate to show conformity. I told a porkie pie by saying that as an adjointe maire I was very surprised I knew nothing about it. The man flustered a bit and said that he was sure that our installation was fine and that he would not need to call. My OH has answered to at least three other callers, which is what prompted me to devise my plot in response.
We have also heard of these inspectors/installers going house to house and showing a document that proclaims them official fire safety inspectors. Some people have let them in. One of my OH's friends told her that the detector that had been newly installed by her son who is a part time fireman was removed, a replacement put in about 40cm away and then she was charged €60 and given a piece of paper. Her son took one look at the document, took it to the fire station where one of the full time people said it was a worthless bit of nonsense. Another woman (NB: so far it seems they really do go for women who are most likely to be convinced by a waffling man who appears to be some kind of expert) allowed the man in who installed two, one of them just about 80cm in from the position of the cooker and the other only a little over a metre out from the wood stove. All real guidelines say not to install in kitchens and certainly that close to a wood burner is a no-no. Most people seem to have told them to go away though.
I think we all know that given any excuse, the breathalysers a couple of years ago being another example, some people will exploit the situation. Just watch out for it. There is no reason why any installer need be involved. Some packs include decent installation guidelines, otherwise there is enough information available online. Anyway, I asked our maire and he said that nobody has any such commission from this commune, nor would anybody be given one. The adjointe maire who really does know his stuff on this said to take note of vehicle registration number and any details like a company name on the van and take it to the mairie. If they were unable to get a satisfactory response from the company and other communes had information similar about the scams then they would give it on to the police.
Ha ha I won’t tell 
I agree Paulette, there isn't from my perspective any reason not to have at least one, we have two. they can save lives and are cheap. In fact although they are now 8+ years old I may consider replacing them although they work fine and I test then from time to time with stale french bread and toasting, least that what I tell the Mrs!
The NF seems to just mean French made 
There are smoke alarms everywhere around the Toulouse area and it seems plenty of stocks online. Maybe there are some localised shortages but for me, the logic of the decision to allow nearly a year to fit an alarm that is maybe not in stock by the 8th is beyond comprehensible. Many landlords have been aware that the law was coming and it seems that they are going to use every trick possible to delay installing them. Too many lives are lost in France due to house fires.
We own a house and are renting too while we do the renovation. We bought the alarms for our house ages ago, yet my landlord is clinging onto every hope that they won’t have to spend 10/15€ and 15 minutes time installing one here. It gets my goat!
Thanks Paulette, we've discussed it on here quite a bit and it seems there are no NF normes for smoke alarms so the EN no is fine and the NF is just to try to get people to pay more for the same items. Then of course France can't get enough of them so the people that have ordered them have a year to comply.