Alarm Permit in Houston, TX
Permit Summary
Alarm Permit Basics
Alarm Systems Covered
Houston's alarm ordinance covers burglar, panic, holdup, local, audible and silent alarm systems designed to generate alarm notifications, and includes certain systems that transmit video images of current conditions at an alarm site to an alarm company. The current application offers residential burglar permits and non-residential burglar, panic, or combined burglar-and-panic permits. Personal emergency response system alarms, fire-only alarms, and motor-vehicle theft alarms are excluded from this article.
Who Must Register
The person who operates, uses, causes, or allows operation of the alarm system must have the permit, and the alarm subscriber and persons-in-control are responsible for duties and penalties under the ordinance. For an occupied individual residential unit in a multi-unit housing facility, the lessee, tenant, or other adult occupant applies for the residential alarm permit.
Monitoring Rules
Before generating a burglar-alarm notification, an alarm systems company must verify the signal and determine the permit status at the alarm location. Houston defines verification as attempts to contact the alarm site and the subscriber or other person-in-control by telephone calls of at least six rings each to two separate telephone numbers. The notification to the Houston Emergency Center or police must include required information such as verification status for burglar alarms, signal type, permit number and permit-holder name, and alarm-site address.
Registration & Renewal
Registration Timing
A valid alarm permit must be in effect before a covered alarm system is operated or used. The ordinance does not provide a post-installation grace period; installation companies must provide permit-application information upon installation or activation.
Permit Validity
Each alarm permit is valid for 12 months from the date of issuance stated on the permit.
Renewal Rules
The City must give at least 30 days' written notice before expiration. A permit holder seeking renewal must file the renewal fee with the director not less than 10 business days before expiration. If the permit is not renewed by its expiration date, a new permit must be obtained and non-permitted-alarm penalties apply until a new permit is issued.
Multiple System Rules
Each alarm system requires a separate alarm permit, and one alarm system may not protect more than one alarm site. In a multi-unit housing facility, each occupied individual residential unit with an alarm is a separate residential alarm site. Non-residential individual facilities are separate alarm sites requiring separate permits, separate monitoring, and facility identification; a map or diagram is required with the application for those facilities.
Transfer / Change Rules
Updated application information must be submitted in writing within 15 days after information changes or becomes outdated. A residential permit holder who relocates may transfer a current residential permit to the new residential alarm site without a fee by submitting updated application information; residential permits are otherwise nontransferable. Non-residential permits are not transferable to another person, premises, alarm system, or subscriber and terminate when those circumstances change, requiring a new permit and fee.
Alarm Company Requirements
Alarm Company Rules
Alarm-system companies must maintain required records of systems they install or render capable of activation for at least two years and provide periodic system lists to the police chief and director as required. Upon installation or activation, the installation company must provide information on permits, system operation, false-alarm prevention, and applicable law, and must train the person-in-control on proper use of panic, holdup, duress, or burglar alarms. Before notifying police of a burglar alarm, the company must verify the signal and permit status and provide the information required by section 11-72.
False Alarms & Penalties
False Alarm Allowance
For burglar alarms, the first three false alarms in the preceding 12-month period do not incur the section 11-68 false-alarm penalty; charges begin with the fourth. For residential and non-residential panic or holdup alarms, the first false alarm in the preceding 12 months is not charged; charges begin with the second. A qualifying series caused by one technical difficulty or malfunction may be counted as one false alarm if all section 11-69 conditions are met, including repair, licensed-company documentation, no repeat from the same cause during the following 30 days, a valid permit, and no unpaid alarm fees or penalties.
False Alarm Penalties
Burglar false-alarm penalties are $50 for the 4th and 5th false alarms in the preceding 12 months, $75 for the 6th and 7th, and $100 for the 8th and each additional alarm. Residential panic/holdup penalties are $140.09 for the 2nd, $280.20 for the 3rd, $420.29 for the 4th, and $560.39 for the 5th and each additional false alarm. Non-residential panic/holdup penalties are $280.20 for the 2nd, $560.39 for the 3rd, and $700.50 for the 4th and each additional false alarm. The ordinance authorizes permit revocation for more than seven burglar false alarms in the preceding 12 months and for specified excessive panic/holdup false-alarm frequencies.
Unpermitted Alarm Penalty
For each alarm notification from a system without a valid permit, whether or not the alarm is false, the penalty is $116.75 for a residential burglar alarm, $233.50 for a non-residential burglar alarm, $308.21 for a residential panic/holdup alarm, and $490.34 for a non-residential panic/holdup alarm. These are separate from the section 11-70.1 exclusion election, under which no permit is required but a $250 penalty applies for each Houston Police Department response requested by the alarm-system monitor.
Dispatch & Appeals
Dispatch / Response Rules
The police chief may refuse to respond to a burglar-alarm notification from a system that records show does not have a current valid permit. Alarm companies must verify burglar signals and permit status before notification and provide the required permit and site information; incomplete or erroneous notifications may be assigned lower priority or receive no officer dispatch. Upon revocation or expiration, the system is treated as non-permitted, and the police department may decline or terminate response subject to state-law limits.
Appeal Rules
A denial or revocation of an alarm permit may be appealed by written request delivered to the director no later than 30 days after the first mailing date of the notice; a hearing officer conducts the appeal and the decision is final. A false-alarm or non-permitted-alarm determination may be contested by written hearing request with supporting documents received no later than the 30th day after the City mails the notice. The appellant bears the burden by a preponderance of the evidence, and any fees or penalties upheld by the hearing officer are due within 15 days after notice of the final decision.
What Alarm Users Need to Know
Requirements
A valid alarm permit must generally be in effect before operating or using a covered alarm system in Houston. Submit the City application with the required information and fee, obtain the permit for the specific alarm system and site, keep application information current, and provide the permit number to the alarm company. Each alarm system requires a separate permit and may not protect more than one alarm site.
Exemptions
A property owner or person-in-control may formally elect under Houston Code section 11-70.1 to exclude the City from receiving alarm signals; when that election is in effect, the City may not require an alarm permit or permit fee, although a $250 penalty applies for each Houston Police Department response requested by an alarm-system monitor. The ordinance also excludes personal emergency response system alarms, fire-only alarm systems, and motor-vehicle theft alarms from this alarm-permit article.
Documents / Information
The application requires applicant and alarm-site contact information, billing information, alarm-system type, monitoring-company information, permit-holder information, and two local contacts able to respond to the site when requested. Non-residential applicants must provide at least one identifying number such as a federal employer identification number, Texas sales-tax number, or corporate charter number. Multi-unit non-residential facilities may also require a map or diagram identifying each separately permitted facility.