edit: thanks people! You were all a lot of help. I'm going to give it a try with a garbage bin, but if it's too short I'll hunt down a local handyman with a ladder. Found a .pdf of the renters rights and responsibilities too, so that's some worry of my shoulders because I can check things easier now.
if my housemate wants to email them he can do it. I'm not very good at being a spokesperson.

Quick question.

But my real estate company didn't pass me a full contract detailing who covers/is liable for what.

My fire alarm keeps beeping. They're hardwired but I turned the power off and they kept beeping so I'm assuming it's a battery problem. This wouldn't be an issue if the roof wasn't so high that I can't reach it even when standing on a table. I don't have a car and no-one I know has a ladder. It's been 4 nights of beeping so far. @_@

I phoned my real estate lady to ask what I'm meant to do and found out 1) our property manager left the company and no-one informed us and 2) they won't do anything - "don't do battery replacements".

And I was wondering if they're meant to help out if I can't reach or if it is something I just need to work out with creative table and chair placements? I mentioned it to my housemates (who are all overseas right now) and they told me to email the landlords, then tell the real estate people I have and that we're not happy with their service (other reasons included) and that my housemate will contact RTBA when he gets back.

Is this the right method? I don't even know what the RTBA is and I'm only versed in ACT renting.

At the very least I'm annoyed I don't have a visible contract beyond the initial renting and bond ones...Like a check list of what they do and a check list of what I do.

that wasn't a quick question. sorry!