Any advice? Smoke alarm beeping...

[Jillyhilly]

Got a tricky issue. I rent out a flat which is managed by an agent. Last night people in the flat above mine emailed me to say that the smoke alarm is beeping constantly, battery needs to be changed, v disturbing for them obviously. Tenant presumably not there at the moment. Agent is closed due to Corona virus, but I have emailed their emergency email (which seems to be the only way I can contact them) asking for urgent help / someone to access the flat. I’ve also emailed the tenant. Contract states tenant is responsible for upkeep of the smoke alarm, and I don’t think I can legally authorise emergency locksmith (if indeed they are working during this period) to enter without tenants permission. Is this correct? Is there anything else I can do? I feel awful for the people disturbed by this. Thank you!

If the agent is supposed to be managing it then they're responsible; if you end up fixing it then you should ask for a repayment of some description. It could just be a battery change, depending on the smoke alarm which anyone can do.

The thing is, you could claim that there were concerns about fire in the property, as smoke alarms beeping. Which would mean that an emergency locksmith might be acceptable. What would you do if water was flooding the flat or an animal trapped? Possibly use the same protocol.

Tenant presumably not there at the moment

First thing to do would be verify that. They might just be ignoring the noise themselves.

If the tenant agrees you can go in it's not a problem. It'd really help everyone if you can get the key of course.

If the tenant won't let anyone in and won't fix the issue themself, all you can do is advise the disturbed neighbours to contact the council to complain about the noise. Even though it's really shit for the neighbours, I doubt it's not going to meet the threshold for an "emergency repair" justifying you forcing entry.