Home safety advice

House and intruder alarms

Malfunctioning alarms can cause serious noise nuisance and great distress to a large number of people.

Are your premises alarm registered?

Many homes are now fitted with intruder alarm systems designed to deter criminals from breaking in and stealing valuable possessions. Problems can arise when the system malfunctions and the alarm sounds continuously.

The industry now follows a code of practice approved by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The Council, under The Environmental Protection Act 1990 and The Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1933 are allowed to turn off intruder alarms if they are causing a nuisance. An alarm, which has been sounding for more than 20 minutes and is affecting residents, is deemed to be a nuisance. Once a nuisance has been established the Council can serve a Noise Abatement Notice on the owner or occupier or if the owner or occupier cannot be found we post the Notice at the property. This requires the owner or occupier to deactivate the alarm within one hour.

The Council can switch off alarms but it is expensive, anything between £120 - £350 and the cost is passed on to the householder to pay.

If you have an alarm you should:

• Contact the Council on envhealth@broxbourne.gov.uk  or 01992 785577 and register your alarm. This gives the Council a list of key holders who can be contacted in your absence. The registration form is available to download.
• Have your alarm serviced to make sure the 20 minute shut off mechanism is in place.
• Alarms are a great deterrent but can disturb a whole neighbourhood if the above steps have not been carried out. Even if you do not have an alarm but your neighbour does, make sure it is registered and you could save your neighbour money as well as your own sleep.

Vehicle alarms

Many vehicles are now fitted with alarms designed to deter criminals from breaking in. Problems can arise when the system malfunctions and the alarm sounds continuously.

The legal requirement for vehicle alarms is that they terminate after five minutes. If this fails to happen the Council can disconnect the alarm, but it is expensive, at least £120 and this cost is passed to the vehicle owner.

In some cases the vehicle may be removed and taken to a place of storage, this will create additional costs which will also be passed to the vehicle owner and must be paid before the vehicle can be returned.