Posted: 12/5/2010 8:40:44 AM EDT
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So we have this problem in our neighborhood and unfortunately I think the only answer is "sucks to be you".
We live in foreclosure central, literally half of the houses on our street are either for sale or foreclosed and vacant. Turnover is pretty high, in the sense that there are either new owners or renters moving in and out on a regular basis. As a result of people up and leaving, sometimes with nobody to take their place, the power eventually gets shut off. This is where the fun starts. Being a typical subdivision, all of our houses have the same fire alarm / smoke detector system. The smoke detectors are hooked into the home's security system, which has a motorcycle type battery as a backup. When the power gets shut off the alarm system still works off the battery backup. When that battery backup goes dead, however, all of the smoke detectors in the house go off until the 9 volt battery inside them goes dead. This takes about a month or two. From outside on the street it can be heard half a block away. If I don't have the windows shut all the time I can hear it pretty clearly inside my living room. We've had about four of these on our street in the past year and it's getting aggravating. Problem is I don't think there is anything that can be done about it. The house is vacant and probably bank owned, it's not like I'm going to do a title search every time this happens and try to track down the bureaucrat at the bank responsible for the house. I've called the FD and they said they can do a welfare check or something like that, but they can't enter a locked house even though the alarms are going off. So we sit here and listen to this sound for months until it finally shuts off? I don't know what our options are for dealing with this. |
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call the Police dept. most communities have noise laws, and even if the bank owns it they are responsible for the property. I think it would be a good thing if more of the banks started getting cited non-upkeep of properties like the average home owner does.
advntrjnky |
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Wow! This is a new one for me! Do not contact any governmental agency (police, fire, building inspection, etc) because absent a safety emergency, they do not have any authority to forcibly enter a private residence to silence a smoke alarm that is sounding – no matter how annoying. You will just be wasting your time and get fustrated!
Do you have a HOA? If the house (residence) is still owned by a private person, perhaps the HOA can contact the current owner of the residence and demand that the property owner silence the smoke alarm or face fines. If the property has gone into foreclosure, perhaps the HOA can still determine who the current owner or responsible person or business (property manager) is and demand that they take action to silence the smoke alarm or face fines. The 2009 Nevada state legislature gave HOAs much more authority to deal with foreclosed and abandoned properties within the HOAs’ jurisdiction, so they are your best bet simply because they have the legal authority to take action. Of course, you need immediate relief and these suggestions are going to take time. It is legally very risky and I hate to suggest this; but, the ultimate immediate solution is for you (sorry, I mean some unknown person) to enter the property and disable the smoke alarm yourself. I am a paralegal at a law firm so let me ask around and see if you have any other legal options! 
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Just to be clear, actual alarm going off or intermittent chirp of low/no power to the smoke detectors? Full blown alarm. No HOA here, we have CC&R's which means that we have most the same rules as an HOA but nobody to enforce them except Clark County code enforcement. The county does respond to problems when reported, but the process takes several weeks. By the time the county process goes through the batteries will have died already. |
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Molotov yeah, i was thinking of the scene in Fahrenheit 451 where the little boy sees the firemen and says; "Look mummy, Firemen, there's going to be a fire!" i had a neighbor get foreclosed on, and their alarms only had the 9Vs in them and were constantly chirp-chirping if you disconnect the main breaker in the breaker box, you can then run an extension cord (with two male ends) from an outlet at a neighboring house, to the vacant house and backfeed power to it. that *might* power the alarms. the other option would be if :someone" (not you, just a generic someone) bought a lockpick set, picked the locks, entered the abandoned property and removed the batteries from the detectors. HOWEVER, if they got busted, it's possible they could face charged of breaking and entering, possession of burglary tools, and who knows what else. odds of someone actually getting busted seem minimal however. www.serepick.com 
if you do that, don't tell anyone abut it. many people get kinda weirded out if they know you can pick locks. 
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| I live out in the southwest part of Vegas and when I walk my dog, I can hear the fire/natural gas alarm going off in some home. It has been a week so far. Does not look like many of the houses in that subdivision are being lived in. I am surprised someone has not gone in and done something about it. I also wonder if there could be a gas leak in the home from the gas stove and maybe it is only a matter of time before the home blows up. |
| I feel for you because that chirping is annoying and it also happened to me. Worst if its the unit below you. When they were foreclosed on someone left the noisey and clunky exhaust fans running 24/7 and those smoke detectors were chirping non stop. I couldnt sleep for a few weeks! Until my friend said shut their power off at the breaker box. I did and was finally able to get some sleep. HOA was useless. |
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Back when I lived in my Townhome, my next door neighbor was vacant, and their alarm ran everyday............so I went to the control box and shut off the power! Another satisfied customer!  I didnt know about the power box thing until my friend who is an electrician told me about it. RESPECT THE SLEEP!
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