Angus housing chiefs say all of the district’s 7,770 council homes should be smoke alarm compliant by the spring.
But it means it will have taken the authority two years to meet new safety legislation in force since February 2022.
An extra contractor has been pulled in to speed up the project across Angus.
Grenfell tragedy
The requirement for interlinked smoke alarms was introduced following the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy which claimed 72 lives.
Angus housing service leader Catherine Johnson gave communities committee councillors the latest update.
She said: “We’ve been making good progress in relation to getting ourselves into the position where we are fully compliant in terms of provision of smoke detectors.
“This has been updated regularly to the Scottish Housing Regulator.
“We’ve recently awarded a new contract, in addition to the existing contract, and that should start soon.”
A council spokesperson confirmed the exact numbers in the programme.
“Under the smoke alarm rules, 6,298 properties (80.9% compliance) for LD2 has been achieved to date,” they said.
LD2 requires detectors in all circulation spaces that form part of the escape routes from the dwelling, as well as rooms and areas that present a high fire risk to occupants.
“A further 241 properties (3.1%) are in abeyance (with works in progress etc.) leaving 1,242 properties (16%) to confirm as compliant or upgrade as required.
“The three contracts in progress should complete these by the end of March.”
Fatality questions
Brechin and Edzell councillor Gavin Nicol asked whether a recent fatal fire council house was fully compliant.
William Whyte, 49, was airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after the blaze at a property on Lower Hall Street on Sunday November 19.
The council confirmed the property’s smoke alarms were up-to-date and not due for replacement until 2030.
Many private households are still thought to be falling foul of the new law.
The Scottish Government and Scottish Fife and Rescue Service campaigned to highlight the change in legislation.
But a report to councillors in neighbouring Perth and Kinross this week revealed half of the area’s house fires happened in homes without smoke detectors.
The data for the first six months of this year came as accidental dwelling fires hit a four-year high.
