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Alarms

Environmental Health deals with complaints about noise from alarms.

Alarms ringing can be caused by bad weather, a low battery, a fault, or because the alarm has not been checked to make sure it is working properly.

We can take action against you if your alarm rings continuously and causes disturbance to your neighbours. In some cases, we can get a warrant to enter your premises and switch off the alarm, the person responsible for the alarm would have to pay our costs for doing this. These costs may be more than £300.

What should you do if you are being disturbed by an alarm?

New alarms should be fitted with a device that automatically stops it from ringing after 15 minutes from when it started. Some older alarms may have a 20-minute cut-off.

Most problems can be resolved by politely telling the person about it, but the person who lives at the property may be away or on holiday. You can check with the police as they may have a registered key-holder for the address.

If the problem continues you can make a complaint to us on-line by filling in the

Tell us about your alarm and register your key-holders (free of charge)

Our district is not an Alarm notification area, which means you do not have to register your details with us by law.

But to avoid the problem of your alarm causing a noise nuisance, we would recommend that when having a new alarm fitted or if you move to a property where there is already an alarm you should register your key-holders with us.

Provide the name and phone numbers of at least 2 people who can switch off the alarm if you are not at home.

Registration is free and you can do this by completing our on-line form