Smoke alarm going off in empty house

ladylidl

Hi
Looking for some advice. The house next to me is empty and is owned by a housing agency which has seemed to disappear. Their office is now closed down and we cannot locate a telephone number.
There is what sounds like a smoke alarm going off and has been for over 2 hours. This happened the other week but stopped after an hour.
There is no sign of smoke or fire but it doesn't stop you worrying and the noise is driving me crazy.
The last time I contacted the police they said they'd contact fire brigade but then the noise stopped and when I called back they said they'd cancel fire brigade. This time I got fobbed off by getting told I'd need to find out how to contact owners. He's now said he'll look into it but I don't know if I believe him. Any one out there any idea how to sort this one out. If it goes on through the night and I can't sleep it won't be pretty!
Thanks folks

getmore4less

Are the utilities off?
How long has it been empty?

Could be alarm battery going flat warning it will stop.

how long/often does it happen(any pattern)

check with the post office if there is a mail redirect or just send a letter and check with the postperson.

do you know who lived there before can you contact them?

j.e.j.

I do sympathise, we had an alarm going off in the corridor at our last place, the landlord was incommunicado and it was driving everybody mad!!

I ended climbing up and taking the battery out.

Have you tried contacting environmental health? My guess is the landlord is on holiday somewhere sunning themselves and couldn't care less about the alarm going off.

trolleyrun

Option 1: Call the fire brigade saying you're worried "as it smells funny"

Option 2: call the fire brigade and say you think it sounds like a carbon monoxide alarm and you're worried.

Option 3: Call the police and say a smoke alarm is going off and you're worried because you're pretty sure you seen someone enter the house in question after dark.

The alarm won't stop, so if emergency services say they'll come out, don't cancel them if the alarm stops, as it'll only be briefly.

My neighbour upstairs had some kind of alarm go off at 5am a few months ago. I knew he was in there, but couldn't see/smell any smoke or fire. He has learning difficulties, but after 3 hours of very loud beeping, I called the emergency services. Granted, my neighbour was in and I guess that put the urgency onto the fire brigade, but they did send out a fire engine with 6 or so strapping lads.

Try and get a response from police/FB asap as otherwise they'll be too busy with the usual Friday shenanigans Good luck!

Gillyx

Unless there is a sign of fire, the fire brigade won't smash the door in. Building opposite us, a rather loud and obnoxious fire alarm was going off for over 14 hours recently. We have double glazing and I still couldn't sleep. The FB came out about 5 hours after it started, had a good look around, found out where it was coming from, affirmed there was no fire and were on there merry way. It was until the next day that the owner could be contacted it was finally shut off. Was a long night!

dizziblonde

If it's been a housing association property the the HA has vanished I'd assume they've done a bulk transfer of housing stock to somewhere else... if you have a good local councillor they might know where the housing stock's been transferred to (or who to ask to find out) and might help get some action on it?

I do empathise - our neighbour had one where the battery dying beep was driving me nuts (and mildly bonkers trying to locate the source of the beep for a while) for a few days the other week!

Person_one

trolleyrun wrote: »

Option 1: Call the fire brigade saying you're worried "as it smells funny"

Option 2: call the fire brigade and say you think it sounds like a carbon monoxide alarm and you're worried.

Option 3: Call the police and say a smoke alarm is going off and you're worried because you're pretty sure you seen someone enter the house in question after dark.

Yeah, why not. Real fires and crimes can probably wait a bit while they put the lights and sirens on for an irritating noise.

Isn't there a law about deliberately misusing 999?

Shelldean

is it going off all the time, or does it just bleep every so often?

If it is the latter then it will be because the battery is dying and it's warning noise.
Next doors firealarm did this for 6 mths... yes 6 mths of beeping once every 30 seconds ( I used to count the beeps and the time in between to help me relax when I couldn't sleep)
Neighbour denied it was his alarm when confronted, had to involve HA and he STILL denied it was his.
Then suddenly 6 mths later he stops me outside and said I got my alarm fixed.... what the broken one that wasn't yours? A bg grin and off he trots.

Hope you get yours sorted

ladylidl

Thanks for all replies. Hubby managed to get in through window and disable alarms. Will contact council when they open again on 3rd January to see if they can locate housing agency as concerned if anything else happens I'll have nowhere to go.

Itismehonest

Daft as it sounds if it's a mains & not battery wearing out then it could be money spiders. We get it sometimes. A quick hoover out sorts it.

muckybutt

Person_one wrote: »

Yeah, why not. Real fires and crimes can probably wait a bit while they put the lights and sirens on for an irritating noise.

Isn't there a law about deliberately misusing 999?

If there is an alarm going off its ususlly one of two things, a faulty alarm or a fire.

Calling the fire brigade out if you hear an alarm going off isnt a misuse of the service at all, if there is a fire its saved the property, if there isnt a fire its classed as false alarm with good intent.

I have called out the fire brigade a few times if ive heard alarms going off - never been told off by them for it, in fact the opposite for being alert.