To complain about neighbour’s smoke detector

[Stigo]

I live in a housing association property (as a leaseholder). One of my neighbour’s smoke alarms has run out of battery. I called the housing association as I thought it was in the hall but when they came round they said it was most likely coming out of Flat (X) which is another leasehold property. They left a spare 9volt battery with me and told me to check in with them. It’s beeping every minute, 24 hours a day and is driving me MAD; has been going for about 3 weeks now.

The question is…do I have reasonable grounds to complain to the HA and ask that they compel the owner to change the battery / fix the detector so it stops beeping? The flat appears to be unoccupied (I have never seen the owners and it’s a friendly block; have knocked a couple of times also). I also worry somewhat about fire safety and would very much like to be assured that everyone on the building has a working detector… Do I have grounds to complain? And can the HA do anything anyway

Of course complain! I can't believe you've left it this long!

Are smoke detectors not supposed to be hard wired in?

surely an unoccupied HA flat is an issue for them, given the housing crisis?

Unless it's a term of the lease to have a working fire alarm, no, the Housing Association cant "force" the homeowner to sort it out.

Nothing to stop you calling the HA and asking if their Homeownership Team could make contact with the Owner to let them know the issue though.

surely an unoccupied HA flat is an issue for them, given the housing crisis?

Why? Its privately owned, not like the HA could put tenants in it 🤨

Thank you for all the input! Glad others don’t think I’m loopy (my OH certainly does 🫤, how it doesn’t bother him is beyond me!)
I’ve looked at the tenants’ conditions for the HA and it stipulates that they must have working alarms so surely that would go for leaseholders too… Can’t find out contract anywhere but I can’t imagine it could be much different(?!)
My other concern is complaining about it and the having to declare this as a dispute when we move.

@Trainbear ,
the HA says they are working towards hard-wiring all detectors but only do so when other electrical work is required in the flat in question (to minimise disruption so they say…)

Another route is to report to the council as a noise nuisance.

You'll only have to declare it if you raise it as an antisocial behaviour dispute. If you call the HA and ask them to contact the homeowner to let them know, rather than complaining of ASB or noise nuisance then you wont need to declare it.

Thanks @MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel ! I’ll email them tonight and keep my fingers crossed 🤞

is it possible that the person who lives there has gone away on holiday? there are no rules saying that they must occupy the flat 365 days/year. you are also entitled to go away on holiday - what would you expect the HA to do if your smoke alarm battery ran out while you were away?
either it's empty right now or the occupier is deaf/Deaf - otherwise the noise would be even more annoying for them than it is for you.

@Longtimelurkerfinallyposts
definitely possible they’re away on holiday (hence leaving it for a couple of weeks).
If they’re away and coming back, then I’m happy to put up with the noise until they come back of course, but I would ideally like to know that it’s going to be resolved as soon as they’re able to do something about it IFKWIM. I wouldn’t expect the HA to do anything further in that case…
In case of deafness, then the same goes I suppose. If they’re made aware, then I would hope they would fix it. Either way, I think best that they’re informed of it.
I think I would personally like to know in either case but I can be a bit sensitive about noise (as I’m sure the thread implies 😂).

Hardwired ones still have battery back up and they need when the battery is low. You can't even take the battery out to shut them up.
We have hard wired ones and they're also awkward to change the battery as they're stuck to the ceiling so if they're elderly they may not be able to do it.

I'd call the police and ask them to do a welfare check on the flat, on the grounds that the alarm has been going off for so long,@Stigo.
They will have to do it eventually, and will either discover that the flat is no longer occupied or that the resident(s) are ignoring it. Either way, it will be sorted.

@MargaretThursday and @vipersnest1 , I’ve never met the neighbours in question but my OH did when we first moved in and he did mention that they were in their 80s (which is another reason why I’m reluctant to make a formal complaint / ASB type thing). Maybe a welfare check would be a good idea 🤔. All their windows are open (I can see from the outside, which is unusual in this weather 🥶) , so it must be either that nobody is in or there’s something amiss inside…