Our apartment building had a few false fire alarms this past weekend. Not one, not two—but three false alarms, the third of which happened early Monday morning at 1:30 AM. No, they weren't running any awkwardly-timed fire drills or testing the system (we asked management). It was just a horrible technical mishap—and here's how it paid out for us.
Our apartment is wired up for safety.
When the fire alarm is set off at our apartment building, a piercing howl offensively screeches from the innocent little white safety boxes on the walls of each living and bedroom in the complex.
While this advanced safety gear is one of the reasons we chose our building (and we get a discount on our renter's insurance for it!), we don't take kindly to being woken up (twice!) by false alarms.
It turns out the network of safety alarms, like any tech, is prone to mishaps. But that doesn't mean you have to sit and take it.
If your apartment building is prone to technical problems (like frequent power outages, or something else you couldn't have seen before signing the lease), contact your landlord or building management to see if you can work out a deal for discounted rent.
After a few polite emails to our building's management, we're getting a break on January's rent!
Of course, we have some advice for you:
- Determine fault: Don't run to your landlord after a 45 second power blackout. Many mishaps like that are not the fault of the building or it's management. We spoke politely with our apartment's management office and discovered that the fire alarms were malfunctioning—not being repeatedly pulled.
- Pick your battles: You only have legs for discounted rent if the tech mishap was a serious problem, interfering significantly with your life. In our case, we were woken up from that precious, getting-ready-for-the-workweek Sunday night sleep—twice. When you speak with the landlord, mention exactly how you were impacted by your building's technical problems.
- Be polite: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Remember you're essentially asking for a big favor, here. So tread lightly, maintain composure and be extra polite.
- Offer a solution: You won't get anything if you don't ask for what you want. When you speak with your landlord, offer up an outcome that would make you happy. Be specific and, more importantly, be reasonable. We didn't ask for a free month's rent, but we did ask for a 10 percent discount. If you're paying any premiums (like a "community fee," pet rent or an upcharge for a high floor), those are usually a great place to ask for discounts.
(Images: Flickr member hellosputnik licensed for use under Creative Commons, Flickr member Mark Strozier licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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as a landlord....I don't like this post at all.
as someone who recently escaped the rental market... I think it's unreasonable to pay $750/month for a home that isn't a source of peace.
Nevermind what I had to put up with in the past, but it's very dangerous to have false fire alarms. In one place I lived, there were false fire alarms EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the first three weeks we lived there, that is until there was a real fire and then it became much less frequent.
But what happened after time is that we were the only people evacuating the building during a fire alarm. It just became a regular annoyance rather than a real warning of danger. If the building was actually on fire, that means hundreds of people might have died that night. But all landlords seem to care about is getting that rent every month. I don't miss getting eviction notices over fifty cents, that's for sure.
Ah, yes, the fire alarm. In my dorm days, we had a malfunctioning one as well. It alarmed 5 times that night. We had to get outside for everyone in the dead of winter. Except the final one happened right when my sleep was deep enough that I couldn't hear it as I developed a tolerance to it by that point and was even more sleep deprived than normal at that moment.
I never heard the RA banging on the door...I was out cold! Good thing it wasn't a real fire or else I may not be here right now.
we have had about 5 false fire alarms within the past month. No one in our building goes outside anymore, most just sit there and take it. Sometimes it goes off for stupid reasons..like the Advertisment office downstairs had someone put food in the microwave and made the whole building go haywire. Im pretty sure the local fire department hates our building and probably already knows its going to be false by the time they start to get ready. After a while, its just ignored. if there is ever something real that happens, I am pretty sure no one would notice. which is NOT cool.
jmilb, this post isn't advocating anything unreasonable. The point is that if people are paying you rent for a place to live, you need to make sure that place is up to a decent standards. If, as a landlord, you're maintaining your rental property/properties sufficiently, then there isn't anything in this post to dislike.
@KimberlyRose - I totally agree.
I work for a construction design and engineering company, and we push for properly designed, built and maintained buildings, since our field experience has proven it actually saves everyone a heck of a lot of money and heartache.
Our field experience also shows that tenants don't mind paying a fair rent (and on time!) if building management maintains the facility properly