Home Security System Requires a Permit Where I Live

I found out today that having a home security system in my municipality requires a permit. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall seeing anything about this during ordering, setup, or installation. Apparently this is pretty typical across the country.

If I missed the notice, my bad. If I didn’t, Wyze you really need to add that users must check with their municipality if anything additional is required when installing a home security system. It’s $45 to register, $25 for annual renewal, and $25 for each false alarm where I live. Between Wyze and Noonlight, I would have expected enough warning that this would not have been a complete surprise to me (i.e. don’t only put it in the fine print no one reads entirely).

I got a false alarm due to a comedy of errors in my household (our fault). It could have been avoided really easily if I could have just added my wife as another primary contact. I made the mistake of assuming that very basic features would be available with this product when I ordered since it’s essentially an industry standard to have multiple contacts as an option. Having only one contact for a household with multiple occupants is not a good strategy for home security systems.

Anyways, the alarm was on us and I had my phone on do not disturb so missed the call from Noonlight. The extra insult to injury was the $45 permit and $25 false alarm fee that came with the whole situation.

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Here is some info from the Wyze HMS Support pages on this topic.

https://wyzelabs.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360053343251-Do-I-need-a-permit-to-use-Wyze-Home-Monitoring-

Do I need a permit to use Wyze Home Monitoring?

Check with your local police department.

Your city or locality may require you to obtain an alarm permit for activating and operating a monitored alarm system. These requirements are often in place to reduce the number of false alarms and unnecessary utilization of police, fire, and EMS resources.

Failure to obtain a required alarm permit may result in municipal fines or refusal by an emergency agency to respond to an alarm at your premises. To find out if a permit is required in your area, contact your local police department, using their non-emergency telephone number, or look them up online.

The length of your permit will vary depending on where you live. Some jurisdictions only require an initial registration and the permit will not need to be renewed unless there is a change to your address or contact information. Other jurisdictions will require you to renew your permit on a yearly basis.

If you have questions about requirements or obtaining your alarm permit, you can contact Noonlight at permits@noonlight.com and our team will assist you.

When filling out the application, if the form asks for contact information for the Monitoring Company or Dispatch Center , enter:

Noonlight
911 Washington Ave.
Suite 230
St. Louis, MO 63101
314-626-4733

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Thanks. I’m glad it’s somewhere but it needs to be part of the setup. It’s not optional in the eyes of the municipality to confirm whether or not you need a permit, and it shouldn’t be buried in a FAQ.

Depends where you live, I have no alarm permit requirements in my area of the county but the city does require a permit.

I guess it’s up to the user to verify the legality of products or services for their area they use. I looked for my area but couldn’t find any restricting info.

It’s also in the TOS for the HMS. Scroll down to “Permit and Registration Requirements”.

https://services.wyze.com/terms/hms

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OP, maybe check several sites like Guardion and Eufy? How do they provide this information? Wyze may provide comparable or even better information? If not, then you can quantify your complaint.

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This is good information regarding permit requirements. However, to find it you need to do a fair bit of a search. There is a small section in the FAQs but, in my opinion, this information should be highlighted so that the cost of any permits can be factored into a purchase decision. In many cases the cost of the permit may not be that substantial, but it is an ongoing cost to owning and using the system. The need for permits should be presented long before activating the service nor do I think it should be up to the user to find out.

Providing further info, it is also mentioned in the user guide that came with HMS. Thanks to one of my cats for holding the page down for the photo.

PXL_20210510_131824964

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Today I attempted to register my system with the local sheriff. The online form requires the company name, but NoonLight isn’t in the list. Sent an email to permits@noonlight.com to see if they will be helpful with this. I can submit a printed form, but not sure if it might be rejected since the locals no nothing of Noonlight.