Council try to charge me £209 for silencing alarm!

grade15

do they have any rights to disconnect your alarm?

cos there was an alarm that went off and i called the cops.. not their business!! they told me!

YorkshireBoy

grade15 wrote: »

do they have any rights to disconnect your alarm?

I'm not sure, but other people have a 'right' to a good nights sleep!

Recently, when my next door neighbour's alarm was still going 8 hours later at 10:00pm - just 30 feet from my bedroom window - I, ahem, disconnected for him.

He never did thank me for saving him £200.

richyrichuk

lol classic. just a brick at his alarm then post it though his letter box. thats the way

olly300

grade15 wrote: »

do they have any rights to disconnect your alarm?

cos there was an alarm that went off and i called the cops.. not their business!! they told me!

Yes they do. Section 80 of the Envirnomental Protection Act 1990.

In short get a keyholder for your property who can turn off the alarm and register them with the council.

If you don't or they can't be contacted the council has the right to charge the alarm holder for silencing the alarm. To put it another way why should council tax payers have to pay for you not having a keyholder for your alarm?

In addition if the council feels it's appropriate they can fine the alarm owner.

Apparently if they can't turn the alarm of from the outside they can get magistrate to get them a warrant to allow them to break into the property to silence the alarm. Legally they have to secure the property afterwards In this case you will be paying much more i.e. a locksmiths call out charges plus the electrical engineer

Here it is from 2 random councils in England and Wales:
http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/environmental-health/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=17342
"If it continues to sound and cause a nuisance then the Environmental Protection Act 1990 gives the Council powers to serve notice, enter your property and silence and make safe the alarm that is causing a nuisance.

If this happens you will have to pay the Council's expenses for silencing the alarm in your absence (this could be hundreds of pounds) and possibly be fined for causing a nuisance. "

http://www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/A87693AF-B864-4B7B-A125-123698CAB0EF/0/Noisefromburglaralarms.pdf

"If a Council Officer is satisfied that an alarm is causing a noise nuisance and is unable to contact a keyholder within a reasonable period of time to silence the alarm, thenformal action will be taken to abate the nuisance. An Abatement Notice requiring thealarm to be silenced would be served on the occupier by leaving it at or affixing it tothe premises. An electrical engineer would then be summoned to carry out thenecessary works.

The occupier would be responsible for reimbursing the Council for all costs reasonably incurred in abating the nuisance"

audioblackout

i think my head in these circumstances is telling me that sure, the alarm had to be silenced, so i really do need to put my hands up and accept some sort of bill. i think i will write to the guy and point out the circumstances and see if i can get a few quid taken off. it's worth a shot. i do think 200 quid is alot of money.

anyway, now we have registered a keyholder, this should not happen again.