Is it illegal to take down a smoke alarm?

anselld

noisla wrote: »

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.

Are you saying they are now repaired and they are trying to pass the repair costs on to you?

If so explain to them that you did not cause the damage/defect. It is a maintenance issue for which the LL is liable.

theartfullodger

Offer LA £5 to his nominated charity if he can find the law stating removal is illegal.. (I'll pay if there is one..)

Of course it ain't illegal. Mind you, I'd not live in a house without one. In your shoes I'd take the failed one down & bung up a battery one, just in case, and send the bill to the LA..

Cheers!

Artful

Hammyman

I'd just point out that if you removed the alarm and there was subsequently a fire and it came to light the smoke detectors had been removed, the LL insurance and your contents insurance would probably refuse to pay out and you may find the LL suing you for £100,000s.

DVardysShadow

Hammyman wrote: »

I'd just point out that if you removed the alarm and there was subsequently a fire and it came to light the smoke detectors had been removed, the LL insurance and your contents insurance would probably refuse to pay out and you may find the LL suing you for £100,000s.

And the sky might fall and hit you on the head. In context, Hammyman, I think your scenario is unrealistic alarmism.

A smoke detector which goes off without smoke belongs in the book with the boy who cried wolf. It is essentially useless for its purpose of providing protection. So it is not unreasonable to disable it. And I cannot see this action in response to a fault invalidating any insurance.

Your scenario only comes into play if the tenants are not proactive in informing the Agent or the Landlord. For this reason, it is probably best to send a letter and keep a copy [and hope that the copy survives any fire].

Emmzi

mine went peculiar after I decorated and the sparky said that was quite common - been doing any painting?

Eton_Rifle

Hammyman wrote: »

I'd just point out that if you removed the alarm and there was subsequently a fire and it came to light the smoke detectors had been removed, the LL insurance and your contents insurance would probably refuse to pay out and you may find the LL suing you for £100,000s.

I have to say that this is exactly the same thought that occurred to me as well.

SingleSue

noisla wrote: »

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

Yes, we're sorting ours

Unfortunately, we can't replace the batteries in ours, it is one sealed unit and attached to the mains with battery back up.

Bit silly to my mind, at least if I could get to the battery, I could actually replace it and save them the job of getting someone out to replace the whole unit!