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    • Faulty Fire Alarm
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Question from BillybobDylanNov-4
I live in an apartment building (approx. 120 units in my building) in Orange County, California, and they have a problem with the fire alarm.  In the 2 years I've lived there, I've counted more than 60 false alarms.  There have been approx. 20 false alarms in the last 3 weeks alone.

The management claims that the alarm system is not faulty - it is being set off as a prank.  I have approached the police, city hall and the fire department, but in each case, it appears that the management have not broken any laws or codes.

Is there any recourse for a tenant (or tenants) from a legal perspective?  Nuisance?  Endangering lives?


P.S. the local fire station that serves the apartment must send out both of their trucks and a paramedic crew due to the number of tenants involved.  The fire chief expressed concern that there could easily be a real emergency at the same time as a false alarm and they would have no resources available.  There is also the concern that "the boy has cried wolf" in that no-one - and I mean literally no-one - leaves their apartment anymore when the alarm goes off as it's always assumed to be yet another false alarm.

I am concerned for my safety as well as the safety of my fellow tenants.
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Fallen Nov-5 79786.2

You're free to file a petition in the local landlord-tenant court to see if the court will force the landlord to address the issue (even if it means having security cameras put up near the alarms to in fact verify whether there are pranksters or whether the system isn't properly set up such that cooking, etc. sets it off).  Not clear that the situation is endangering lives, unless folks ignore the alarms.  I would presume you'd go on the lack of quiet enjoyment issue.

"The fire chief expressed concern that there could easily be a real emergency at the same time as a false alarm and they would have no resources available."

Of course you provide this out of context, but I gather the discussion was talking about how the fire station sends truck(s) each time an alarm goes off.  Unclear why a fire chief in such a populous county wouldn't have the ability to cite the property owner after a certain number of false alarms even if the fire dept. believed the problem was pranksters (kinda like the police does with home alarms).

 

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BillybobDylan Nov-5 79786.3
Dear Fallen,

Thanks for the response.

Re: "endangering lives" - as I said, everyone does  ignore the alarm now.  It's always assumed it's just another false alarm.  This is what I meant by "endangering lives" and "the boy who cried wolf."  If there's actually a fire and the alarm does go off (which it may not if there's a fault!) no-one will react.  It will be dismissed as a nuisance.

I know the paragraph about the fire dept. was out of context.  I mentioned it in case this can be approached from another angle.  Like I said, they can't do anything as long as the apartment management stick to their story that it's pranksters, not a faulty system -- apart from fine them each time they're called out.  I assume the cost of the fines is far less than the cost of repair, and so they pay up each time, and if necessary, they'll just pass on the the cost to the residents in the form of higher rents.

Anyway, thanks again for your input.  I'll pursue the local landlord-tenant court.
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