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Neighbour's smoke alarm beeping
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[Deleted User]
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We live in a block of flats and the smoke alarm in the flat right next to us has been beeping constantly for at least 3 months (the "change my battery" beep every 37 seconds, yes I've counted!)
I've tried knocking on their door but they never answer, even when I know they are in as I can hear their many kids stampeding around inside.
Also tried putting a polite note through their door, no result there either.
It's annoying as I can hear it in my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep. I don't know how they put up with it themselves.
We live very near to a fire station. Would it be worth speaking to one of the guys in there? It's a safety issue after all.
Suggestions anyone?
I've tried knocking on their door but they never answer, even when I know they are in as I can hear their many kids stampeding around inside.
Also tried putting a polite note through their door, no result there either.
It's annoying as I can hear it in my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep. I don't know how they put up with it themselves.
We live very near to a fire station. Would it be worth speaking to one of the guys in there? It's a safety issue after all.
Suggestions anyone?
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Edit: if you mean our landlord, we don't have one as we own it.
they probably do answer, but they look thru the spy hole first and when they see it's you they think "oh no it's that bloody guy again who keeps knocking the door, we'll just ignore it".
I don't think knocking someone's door 3 times in 3 months is excessive so bugger off if you're just going to make blatantly unhelpful comments. Off to Chatter with the rest of the kids you go.
With it being flats, do you own a leasehold, and therefore have a master landlord?
well 3 times in 3 months hardly means they never answer the door!
there's nothing YOU can do about the alarm.
not sure what that would achieve.
providing the alarm still works (and it's just beeping due to a low battery), then what could they do?
Check to see if it is safe and not a nuisance. Noise is a nuisance crime.
walls must be really thin of you can hear someone else's smoke alarm do a low battery beep.
i doubt very much that could every be classed as nuisance crime!
All the smoke alarms I've ever come across use a PP3 (unless it's one of those mains powered one's, in which case you can't change the battery, anyway)
Try ringing someone at the council for advice. They might be able to suggest something or send someone out to deal with it. The suggestion with the battery sounds good, but it could be that they are being a PITA on purpose and still choose not to change it!
the alarm isn't going off though, and wasting the fire brigades time is not clever.
they might send out a community liaison officer, but if they don't answer the door (as they OP says) then what does that achieve, and again if the alarm is actually working and it's just a low battery beep all they could do was suggest they replace the battery soon.
i've been thru this with the fire brigade before (but with regards to items in comunal spaces and internal fire doors not shutting properly) and they said that because the building was private and not a council owned building they can't actually force anything to be done but just advise.
They basically advised us that we should sort out the sound insulation in our home to filter out the normal everyday noises. They pointed out we'll be disturbed by other noises of the same degree, so the issue was with our walls, not the neighbour. We chose to switch rooms instead. Not a satisfying solution, but it's better than living with the damn soundtrack, gun firing and neighbour's mutterings every night (and the realisation that he may be hearing what we didn't want him to hear).
exactly, not all noise is nuisance noise.
unfortunately, modern building appear to have very thin walls these days, thus normal noise travels.
So do old terraced buildings. I once overheard "you are a ******* head case and I don't care if the neighbours hear!" shouted out by some chav in the rented house next door.
I'd keep trying if I were you, but I do wonder if the sound is even coming from where you think it is as sounds can be very difficult to pin down directionally, especially in complex spaces like flats. If there are any empty flats in the block, that is where I would look first, because if the sound is a nuisance to you, can you imagine how it must be for someone living right with it?
They really are. We lived in one a few years ago and we could literally hear every word our upstairs neighbours said when we were in the living room. I think the sound travelled down the chimney, because it was only in that one room. It was rather awkward to feel that you were constantly inadvertently eavesdropping on someone.