Is it illegal to take down a smoke alarm?

noisla

We have two mains connected smoke alarms in our house and the other day they started going off with increasing frequency from 2.30am to 5.30am when we finally disconnected them. (We did investigate for a fire and try changing the battery; also they had been refitted just a few weeks before by the electrician.)

We reported the problem to our letting agent asap, but they claim that it is illegal to take down a (suspected faulty) smoke alarm - is this right? I can't find anything to support this.

Thanks

ethansmum

We have this problem too. Its due to the cold weather, not the batteries.

tbs624

Suggest * in writing* to the LA that instead of pontificating they should get someone out to fully check the smoke alarm system ( mention the date on which you first reported it)

There would be dire consequences for the LL if there were to be a fire and the LA had failed to rectify a reported fault with the smoke alarm. The issue is less that you "finally disconnected them" and more that you disconnected them because of an apparent fault of some sort, a fault which needs checking/rectifying.

maninthestreet

ethansmum wrote: »

We have this problem too. Its due to the cold weather, not the batteries.

....but the alarms are inside the house - even with the heating off overnight, my house has not dropped below 15C when I get up in the morning.

Jowo_2

Do you have any contractual clauses in your AST that cover fire safety/smoke alarms?

Did you sign a smoke alarm agreement form at the outset of your tenancy (this is one where the tenant agrees they are responsible for testing the system regularly and reporting any defects)?

Probably a lack of knowledge of fire safety systems on my part, but why does the mains system have a battery - is this part of a back-up in case of electrical failure?

I can't say I'm aware of a specific law relating to tenants and fire safety but wonder if this comes under their obligation to live in the property in a 'tenant like manner'. This covers the requirement for the tenant to undertake basic maintenance tasks, such as changing lightbulbs, fuses and unblocking sinks and I wonder if this stretches to the tenant not disabling any safety systems, though I don't find a specific reference to this in the case law but wonder whether it is generally implied.

ethansmum

from Google:
Both ionization and photoelectric detectors are effective smoke sensors. Both types of smoke detectors must pass the same test to be certified as UL smoke detectors. Ionization detectors respond more quickly to flaming fires with smaller combustion particles; photoelectric detectors respond more quickly to smoldering fires. In either type of detector, steam or high humidity can lead to condensation on the circuit board and sensor, causing the alarm to sound.

Your unit is only going off at night when the heating is off. Its condensation. We had the same problem, until we cleaned out the unit (with the hoover), we eventually replaced it due to age. This is why it doesn't go off in the day.

noisla

Seems I'm not missing something obvious then. It will come down to our contract (which I don't have to hand) as the property is pre-1992 i.e. landlord not obliged to provide working smoke alarms.

Even if we have to replace and refit the smoke alarms, I just would prefer to do this ourselves (my housemate is an engineer and very DIY competent, and the fire service website says it's fine to fit them yourself).

We are just a bit annoyed at the LA incurring lots of costs without mentioning it to us (emergency engineer call out, three new smoke alarms even though we only ever had two...). All we did was report the issue to them, and now they say all the costs will be ours.

I think we did everything "reasonable" as tenants - it was the middle of the night and we unscrewed them carefully.

Thanks

Gwhiz

Of course it's not illegal to remove them. Unwise maybe, but not illegal. The LL removing them though, different issue,

SingleSue

My downstairs smoke alarm is driving me batty too....beeping (not going off full pelt) at night and during the day at weird and wonderful times. It was reported a week ago to the housing association but it is not exactly high priority. I've got so used to it now I can sleep right through it!

My upstairs smoke alarm had to be replaced in the summer as that was going off in full alarm mode at odd times and it got so bad that just the cat walking underneath it would set it off. So after trying everything else, it was replaced and no problems since.

Unfortunately, it did no favours for my OCD like mentality....it took months for me to stop being obsessive about the house bursting into flames!

poppysarah

Not illegal but very stupid to not get them working right ASAP.

Report them as not working NOW.

noisla

Beeping randomly sounds like you need to replace the batteries (tenant's job)

Yes, we're sorting ours