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Neighbour's alarm going off for 4 days

  • 12-07-2013 10:41am
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3


    My Neighbor is on holiday and her alarm has been going off since monday night. We're going insane!!
    I called the garda they cant help, town council cant help, noise pollution cant help, phonewatch cant help coz the neighbors owe money...
    What if there away for 2 weeks more?

    Any ideas on how to proceed?!


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,237 ✭✭✭✭djimi


    Ladder and a lump hammer? You cant live with that for the next fortnight.

    I thought that there was an EU regulation that says that alarms are not allowed to ring for more than a few minutes at a time?

    Maybe see if there are contact details for the installer on the alarm and give them a call?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 33,733 ✭✭✭✭Myrddin


    djimi wrote: »
    Ladder and a lump hammer? You cant live with that for the next fortnight.

    Criminal Damage unfortunately. It happened me once, was an alarm going off from a Friday to Monday morning. Lord knows, at the time I considered a criminal record a fair deal for peace & quiet :o


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 264 ✭✭Football Friend


    There has been one going off intermittently in Rathmines this week too..driving me crazy! Not sure how you should proceed but I would have no qualms with smashing the alarm myself.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,042 ✭✭✭zl1whqvjs75cdy


    Any mates who work with intruder alarms?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 315 ✭✭moyners


    If its a phonewatch alarm I'd concentrate your effort on them. Surely they have some responsibility since its their equipment? Maybe mention a solicitor and they might send a van round!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,237 ✭✭✭✭djimi


    EnterNow wrote: »
    Criminal Damage unfortunately. It happened me once, was an alarm going off from a Friday to Monday morning. Lord knows, at the time I considered a criminal record a fair deal for peace & quiet :o

    True I suppose. I wonder would there be a way of disabling it without damaging it too severely; a power line or something that could be disconnected and reconnected easily enough?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,130 ✭✭✭Idle Passerby


    Is there any way you could contact the neighbours and get their ok to do something about it?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 33,733 ✭✭✭✭Myrddin


    djimi wrote: »
    True I suppose. I wonder would there be a way of disabling it without damaging it too severely; a power line or something that could be disconnected and reconnected easily enough?

    Probably not given its purpose, & if the house was later robbed & it was found out you'd tampered with the alarm...would you be leaving yourself open to trouble? Really a nightmare situation :(

    As you mention above, I thought alarms had to have a limited activation time


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,289 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    Laura1982 wrote: »
    phonewatch cant don't want to help coz the neighbors owe money...

    Fixed that for ya.


    Firstly, what did the neighbours say when you called them? (I'll guarantee they've got their cellphone with them.)

    Second ... you need to find a way to make the installer / provider help. Don't stop with the person who answer the phone .. your want their manager, and perhaps their manager's manager. And maybe a journalist or TD to help.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3 Laura1982


    Didnt manage to speak to the neighbor no one in the neighborhood has heir number!

    Phonewatch gave us the keyholser number although they werent supposed to from what i understand but aince they havent paid since 2007 they cant so anything. So you think that if i talk to a manager they should be able to do aomething? Coz i tried twice and they're not budging... Sigh...
    Fixed that for ya.


    Firstly, what did the neighbours say when you called them? (I'll guarantee they've got their cellphone with them.)

    Second ... you need to find a way to make the installer / provider help. Don't stop with the person who answer the phone .. your want their manager, and perhaps their manager's manager. And maybe a journalist or TD to help.


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  • Administrators Posts: 54,421 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭awec


    djimi wrote: »
    True I suppose. I wonder would there be a way of disabling it without damaging it too severely; a power line or something that could be disconnected and reconnected easily enough?

    A house alarm wouldn't be much use if you could easily just pull a power cable out! :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,237 ✭✭✭✭djimi


    awec wrote: »
    A house alarm wouldn't be much use if you could easily just pull a power cable out! :D

    True! Would an installer be able to do something that your average joe wouldnt though?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,730 ✭✭✭Balmed Out


    Presume you've asked around in case someone has their telephone number?
    Have you tied ringing phonewatch constantly until they are really pissed off?

    Do you like camping?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,876 ✭✭✭Scortho


    djimi wrote: »
    True! Would an installer be able to do something that your average joe wouldnt though?

    They would alright. Thing is if they're owed money, they're not going to though.

    Local authority are best bet under noise regulations to make a complaint to.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 855 ✭✭✭Evolution1


    1) it's an eircom alarm so it's unlikely that there is an external sounder .

    2) phone watch had no business discussing financial details with anyone other then the account holder

    3) if they are willing to discuss financial details then you can more than likely get a key holders phone number off them .
    Keep ringing them . If the alarm was installed properly this shouldn't be happening .

    4) if the key holder has a code then they can ring the number the alarm dials out on and use their phone to turn it off .


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭username123


    It happened once where I live. Both internal and external alarms screaming no end. The apartment was between tenants. It was going on for 4 days before the management company managed to track down the landlord and he came by at 11pm the saturday night before Christmas and switched it off. 15 minutes later it went off again and we couldnt contact the management company until Monday. Again, they were unable to contact the owner and an entire block faced Christmas with this unending screaming. We tried council, guards, alarm company etc...

    Two neighbours (nearest to it) took matters into their own hands. They climbed over onto his balcony, found the back sliding door unlocked, went in and removed the speaker from the alarm boxes and then left. That was 6 years ago now and that apartment has had a number of tenants through and I have never once heard the alarm since. I dont know if anyone even knows the alarm has no speaker in it, the guys who removed it are long gone also.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,216 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    I had this problem before, Got out a ladder and disconnected the power to the siren.

    Didnt stop the internal alarm buzzing in the house, alas it made the overall noise minimal so there was some relief.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,858 ✭✭✭Bigcheeze


    If it was me and I couldn't sleep I'd just get a ladder and the old American screwdriver.

    I'd deal with the (unlikely) consequences later. If it was my alarm I'd be too embarrassed about the inconvenience caused to neighbours to make an issue of it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,513 ✭✭✭Ray Palmer


    awec wrote: »
    A house alarm wouldn't be much use if you could easily just pull a power cable out! :D

    True but actually it is that simple. They do have a battery also but the alarm on the outside just needs power to ring. Disconnect that and it works!

    It is low voltage DC so you won't notice the power on a quick snip. Very easy to repair afterwards. Some connections can be just pulled out and reconnected by hand.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,064 ✭✭✭Chris_5339762


    The guards could do something as well (disturbance of the peace) as could the council (noise pollution) but neither could be arsed by the sounds of it. Push them.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,799 ✭✭✭StillWaters


    Don't know if it's anything to do with eirc


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,896 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    awec wrote: »
    A house alarm wouldn't be much use if you could easily just pull a power cable out! :D

    they are that simple, except there s a battery back up that won't last to long and is just as easily pulled out


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 200 ✭✭Citycap


    Had the same problem and could do nothing. When the neighbour returned she was completely dismissive of her neighbours. I made it my business to ring her phone number on a continual basis when I was out late at night as well as ringing her door bell on my way home. I think she got the message.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    ted1 wrote: »
    they are that simple, except there s a battery back up that won't last to long and is just as easily pulled out

    Its normally internal, on a trickle charge and mostly installed next to the fuse box. It depends on the age of the battery- but typically, it could well last a day or even more.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,101 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    EnterNow wrote: »
    Criminal Damage unfortunately. It happened me once, was an alarm going off from a Friday to Monday morning. Lord knows, at the time I considered a criminal record a fair deal for peace & quiet :o

    Are you sure? I though there was a case a good few years ago where someone was being done for hammering a alarm box off the wall. They got off as the alarm had been ringing for a couple of days and the judge said that it was a nuisance. Could have been in the UK though.

    A can of expanding foam into the box wouldn't be as noticeable;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 156 ✭✭koheim


    Found this small notice on KFM news a few weeks back, looks like "the Private Rental Tenancies Board" are the ones to contact...

    "Kildare Faulty Alarm Owners Face €3K Fines
    2013-06-26 09:47:13
    Kildare householders whose faulty alarms ring incessantly face fines of up to €3,000.

    That's under the Environment Protection Act, which also provides for up to 12 months in prison.

    In addition, the Private Rental Tenancies Board will pursue the owners of rental properties if tenants are proving a nuisance of this type.

    Cllr. Tony O'Donnell says these alarms impact negatively on neighbours quality of life"


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,347 ✭✭✭No Pants


    Ladder and hammer. After four days of this, there should be no witnesses.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 4,621 Mod ✭✭✭✭Mr. G


    Alarms must meet EN50131 standard as it is now a legal requirement, first came in years ago for commercial properties but applies for all now as far as I know.

    All alarms installed must meet this standard now and the regulations state that the alarms now must stop after 15 minutes. There is a setting inside the box that makes it shut off after 15 minutes.

    I would have gone mad if it was me. Its only 12 or 24 volts inside so if you want to have a go, just disconnect all the wires including the battery and it will stop. The internal alarm inside the house usually near the control panel will keep going but there's nothing that you can do about that. I would get permission before hand though to be honest.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,896 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    Its normally internal, on a trickle charge and mostly installed next to the fuse box. It depends on the age of the battery- but typically, it could well last a day or even more.

    N its usually in a box under the stairs, fuse boards are usually in the top cornering the hall


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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    ted1 wrote: »
    N its usually in a box under the stairs, fuse boards are usually in the top cornering the hall

    In houses. In apartments- we normally just used the ducting in situ- and put them together. Often its in the kitchen (no idea why- and I'm not sure that its a good idea).


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    Mr. G wrote: »
    Alarms must meet EN50131 standard as it is now a legal requirement, first came in years ago for commercial properties but applies for all now as far as I know.

    All alarms installed must meet this standard now and the regulations state that the alarms now must stop after 15 minutes. There is a setting inside the box that makes it shut off after 15 minutes.

    I would have gone mad if it was me. Its only 12 or 24 volts inside so if you want to have a go, just disconnect all the wires including the battery and it will stop. The internal alarm inside the house usually near the control panel will keep going but there's nothing that you can do about that. I would get permission before hand though to be honest.

    All alarms installed after a certain date have to meet this standard. Particularly with apartments/houses built at the start of the boom- it was the wild-wild west, and pretty much anything went.
    Whats happening now in a lot of complexes- is the original batteries installed in alarms 10-15 years ago, are failing, and if the circuits note that the battery isn't charged- it triggers the alarm.

    Obviously- if people had their alarms serviced every so often- this wouldn't be a problem- however, you'd be surprised the number of people who haven't had their alarm checked since the day it was installed.

    I'm not in a particularly forgiving mood with my neighbours- as I have warned them all- they are being unfair on all the residents here. I'm one of the few owner occupiers here- we've 4 owner occupiers out of 33 units, and its always the let apartments and townhouses that have this problem- and often when they're unoccupied. The gardai don't want to know- unless its one of our commercial tenants- and even then, other than a cursory drive-by to ensure nothing looks untoward- they don't do a lot.

    There really should be some exercise put in place- to ensure that people who installed alarms over the past 10-20 years- are forced to maintain them- with consequences similar to those in the recent act, for those who don't.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,643 ✭✭✭SHOVELLER


    Agree they should be maintained regularly.

    I had this problem a few years back. Next door apartment was empty and the alarm was sounding for 3 days and nights. The resident management company were and are useless. I tried the hammer routine but even going near it nearly blew my eardrums off!

    Finally the solution was turning off the electricity to said apartment. Useless landlord who lives abroad still hasnt updated or changed the alarm.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 22,430 CMod ✭✭✭✭Pawwed Rig


    Contact a solicitor and ask them. I would imagine there is some kind of nuisance claim that could be made. Then move to a nice hotel until the neighbour comes back and send them the bill.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3 Laura1982


    Hi guys,

    The alarm finally stopped on Saturday morning, and the neighbors have been back since Saturday evening so we'll have a talk tonight!
    Not sure how it stopped! :)

    Thanks for your comments, I do believe that it's INSANE that no dept anywhere could help me with this and that there is no actually information anywhere on what to do in this situation!!

    Thanks again!
    Laura


  • Posts: 5,121 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I had the same problem once in my previous apartment - after one night of no sleep I decided to go sleep in my parents house.

    I was talking to a neighbour who asked if they could come with me.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,221 ✭✭✭✭m5ex9oqjawdg2i


    Second ... you need to find a way to make the installer / provider help. Don't stop with the person who answer the phone .. your want their manager, and perhaps their manager's manager. And maybe a journalist or TD to help.

    I don't understand this approach.

    Managers tend to be the people you don't want to talk to. If you're going to request anything, request contact information for their legal team if they have one.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 4,621 Mod ✭✭✭✭Mr. G


    I had this problem at a relatives house. We called the gardai and they came out but they couldn't go into the property. It really gets on my nerves as I regularly stay there, the last time it was 6am but before that it was something like 3am. It's insane and really isn't fair on everyone else. It's a credit union that is next door to the house. When you think about it there isn't much you actually can do to shut the alarm off without breaking the law.

    Glad to see you got sorted anyway!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,513 ✭✭✭Ray Palmer


    I was told by an alarm installer today that the PSA are the people to contact. Personal Security Authority. Apparently they can force people to get the 15 minute limiter if there has been one instance of a nuisance alarm. Good to know for next time.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,817 ✭✭✭Tea drinker


    Laura1982 wrote: »
    Hi guys,

    The alarm finally stopped on Saturday morning, and the neighbors have been back since Saturday evening so we'll have a talk tonight!
    Not sure how it stopped! :)

    Thanks for your comments, I do believe that it's INSANE that no dept anywhere could help me with this and that there is no actually information anywhere on what to do in this situation!!

    Thanks again!
    Laura
    Welcome to Ireland. It's the owners responsibility to ensure correct alarm function - something which should have been tested before going on holiday. Can't expect potentially 100's of people's quality of life to be ruined on account of one carelss person. Alarm should have been removed from the house by authorities to stop an assault on citizens.
    But no one really cares to enact anything like that... sure t'will be grand - it might stop in an hour :rolleyes:


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 22,430 CMod ✭✭✭✭Pawwed Rig


    I see little purpose for a person to set an alarm where it is not monitored by someone, whether a paid company or a friend/relative. Anyone who sets an alarm with the knowledge that it may go off indefinitely is just an asshole imho.

    Why 15 minutes? Why not 5 minutes or less? I had a neighbour once whose alarm was prolific. It used to go off regularly. I called the Guards the first couple of times but they couldn't/wouldn't do anything. The neighbour didn't give a crap. Unfortunately I was working nightshift at the time so everytime it went off I would lose a days (nights) sleep as the internal alarm would keep hammering all day even after the external one stopped. The walls were so thin it was like torture.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,188 ✭✭✭✭jmayo


    EnterNow wrote: »
    Probably not given its purpose, & if the house was later robbed & it was found out you'd tampered with the alarm...would you be leaving yourself open to trouble? Really a nightmare situation :(

    As you mention above, I thought alarms had to have a limited activation time

    Ahh for fecks sake.
    After the alarm has been going off for hours a guy could drive a van up, load it with half the contents of the house and no one would pay any attention.
    if an alarm has been going off incestantly it defeats the purpose of an alarm.

    It's a bit like the lad who continually cried wolf.
    Nobody pays attention after awhile.

    Also if one alarm is going off non stop, it probably makes another alarm sounding less of a deterent.
    If you had a good barister one could argue that their alarm continually sounding negated the affectiveness of your own alarm.

    I am not allowed discuss …



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,438 ✭✭✭Crazyteacher


    My neighbours has has been going off two hours now. They'd better not be gone on holidays again, it went off for two weeks last time :(


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,438 ✭✭✭Crazyteacher


    Ringing the guards worked....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,175 ✭✭✭angeldelight


    Ringing the guards worked....

    What did they do?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,717 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    Ray Palmer wrote: »
    I was told by an alarm installer today that the PSA are the people to contact. Personal Security Authority. Apparently they can force people to get the 15 minute limiter if there has been one instance of a nuisance alarm. Good to know for next time.

    Is that the Private Security Authority ? I can't find anything for the personal security authority. The formers website mentions something about "Investigating security services being provided by any person" so maybe that would exclude alarms that aren't monitored by an external company ? Still good to know there is a way of forcing Eircom Phonewatch to do something.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,513 ✭✭✭Ray Palmer


    Yeah the Private Security Authority. Haven't tried it but apparently you contact them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3 Spritzer


    Stumbled upon this... and am curious to know what the outcome was...
    When did the neighbours return. Hope you got an apology and something nice for putting up with the racket for so long.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,438 ✭✭✭Crazyteacher


    What did they do?


    The appeared to have rang some sort of security company and they must have had the authority to go in to the premises. It went off a few times after . I'd say they were trying to reset it. I'd have went crackers if it had gone all night. I had rang everyone in the neighbourhood I could think hoping they'd have a number but neighbours are not as friendly as they were years ago.


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