Audible intruder alarms & noise nuisance

We often receive complaints of noise from persistent ringing of audible intruder alarms installed in homes. Here is what usually happens if an alarm sounds:

• If they hear an alarm, neighbours may contact the police who will only usually visit if someone is trying to break in at the time of the call. The police may also hold key holder details.

• If there is no evidence of a break in but an alarm is sounding, please contact Environmental Health who are on duty 24 hours a day.

• We will visit your neighbour's home to assess the noise level of the alarm. We will also try to find out when the alarm owners are due to return. If we discover that the owners are likely to be away for more than a few hours and the noise is deemed to be a "statutory noise nuisance" we will take formal action. This will involve serving a noise abatement notice (Environmental Protection Act 1990)

• After this, we will obtain a warrant from a magistrate to enter the property. We will arrange for a locksmith and an alarm engineer to silence the alarm. We will take all reasonable precautions to ensure that the property is left secure but this doesn't necessarily mean re-setting the alarm

• We will recover from the owner any costs we incur in stopping the alarm noise. This can be expensive, particularly during bank holiday weekends

• It is essential that our environmental health officers have access to the names, addresses and 24 hour contact numbers of at least two key-holders who may be contacted while the owner is away from the property. Key-holders should be able to silence the alarm within 20 minutes of receiving a call from us. Alarms should be fitted with an automatic cut out device to silence them after a certain period of time, not exceeding 20 minutes. This should be supplemented by a flashing light which continues to operate after the ringing stops, indicating that the property is still in alarm condition. If a cut out device is fitted, householders must inform their insurers

Should you have any queries about noise from intruder alarms, please contact us at regulatory@fareham.gov.uk or on 01329 236100.