Thank you all. Yes, I will mplore son to contact the landlord. He’s only lived in university-owned apartments before to this is new for him. And will buy a detector. Kiddie makes a CO and smoke combo detector that shouts instead of beeping. It has a 10 year battery and 10 minute nuisance shutoff. (There were two CO detectors in the apartment, one with not batteries and the other with no lit up LED.). And I’ll confirm fire escape door isn’t locked from the outside or some such nonsense.
Welcome to Boston! Lots of those types of units in the city. Give your kids a few smoke detectors and install them yourself ASAP.
@LBowie and @younghoss , I was referring to landlords like Anwar Faisal, whose ownership of multiple derelict apartments in Boston has been well documented.
Thanks for the name @Massmomm . It is owned by an LLC that has the name of the building in it. It s managed by a realty/property management company. Yes, I am quite familiar with these types of buildings having lived in a couple myself as a student, including one not too far away from this one. Funny what 30 years does to change ones perspective on what constitutes acceptable living quarters!
Just checked and I don’t think it’s a Faisal property based on the map in this article but maybe he’s bought it since. (It isn’t totally awful inside. It even has a dishwasher. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/05/landlord-anwar-faisal-has-thousands-student-rentals-and-many-complaints-part-shadow-campus-globe-spotlight-investigation/6QCwDxN1WTIGI4edPOvjoN/story.html
fwiw: if the landlord is difficult to contact/respond, there is always social media for a critical review, while purchasing a detector at the local hardware store and installing it yourself. Even a couple of battery operated ones for the hallway outside the bedrooms.
I would advise everyone to refrain from jumping to conclusions about the possible sketchiness of the landlord, the previous tenants, or to speculate about the relative reliability of owner managers vs. professional managers.
I’ve managed my own rentals and used property managers, and purchased rentals that had been owner managed and professionally managed and can confidently state that the vast majority of owners and managers would appreciate being informed of the problem and would treat it with due seriousness.
I would immediately buy 2 or 3 battery operated smoke detctors. We have several in our house in addition to some hard wired detectors. Now why is that? I think I was told the current code is more strict than when the house was built and we need one in every room. I don’t even remember why!! but now we have them everywhere.
Largely agree with Sherpa, but the Op here in this thread speaks specifically of a hardwired unit that is missing. Yes, I would want to know of a missing or defective unit. But think about it: the tenant that deliberately disables or steals one is not likely to tell me. I have had tenants remove batteries to stop the beep, or even to put in another electronic device of theirs!
Absolutely, telling the LL (and documenting that notice) should be step 1.
Some here immediately jumped to the conclusion that the uncaring LL knew, I think scumbag LL was the phrase, yet chose to operate a slum. As a LL myself with over 20 yrs in the biz, I wanted to point out why they are often missing, and how blame after-the-fact of a fire or fire damage is often misplaced.
Logic would dictate that if a unit had hardwired smoke detectors, the LL has shown his good intentions to provide them as required- at least, until proven otherwise. If a unit is missing however, it is just wrong to automatically assume LL knew it was missing and refused to replace it.
And I largely agree with younghoss, but would reinforce that none of us know what happened here. The fact that there had previously been a hardwired unit is informative but not conclusive; the wired unit may have been removed years ago in favor of an (inferior) battery unit…
Like younghoss, I bristle at the assumption that the landlord is to blame and agree that solving the problem is of prime importance.
I also know that some landlords are less than fully diligent, just as tenants can be.
After all, we all suffer from the flaw of being human.
My husband and I installed the Kiddie smoke detector which allows us to record our voices calling out to our children in a brief, urgent call to each of them to awaken, alert the others and leave the house.
Years ago we heard a radio report which stated that even moreso than a beeping alarm, each of us responds more readily to someone calling out to us than to a repetitive or blaring sound which could easily become ambient noise. We had them about 7 feet apart, with the spoken-alarm being right outside of the oldest child’s bedroom door.
thank you sherpa.
Never heard of an alarm that could record voices but I can understand how that would more effective in rousing folks even when sleepy than a beeping alarm that could be added to your dream or you could assume I’d a neighbor’s.
There are 8 units in the building. I think code here in MA is for connected smoke detectors. That is the requirement in single family homes, at least. But with 8 kitchens in an apartment building and no way to figure out if it is a false alarm because you can’t get into other apartments, I could imagine a lot annoyance alarms. Frustrated tenants may have decided to disable. It kind of makes sense even though it is a huge safety risk, especially on upper floors.
Pretty much sure a tenant removed the smoke detector. I can’t even imagine landlords not having put one up if they knew it was missing. Smoke detectors are cheap and tenants love to remove them. We buy them by the caseload.