KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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listing address / 3 or more day notice / licensing
August 25, 2017
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listing address
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Ken
    I am planning on updated and ordering new contracts.  By law, are we able to list our PO Box as the address on the contract instead of the physical address in New York.  The physical address is also my home address and I wanted to separate the business from personal.  The business is an S Corp.  I am not sure if this would eliminate or help to eliminate any exposure.
Best regards,
Bryan
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Response
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    I believe in New York you can use a PO address rather than a physical street address.  That may not be the case in all states and you should check your state license and consumer laws.  We generally check that before preparing our customized Standard Form Agreements.  There is no effect on exposure from a liability point of view, no matter what your entity structure, regarding the address.
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3 or more day notice
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Ken
    In California we have the 3 day notice of cancellation.  Can we do more than 3 days, like 4, or is that legal?  I use your contract.
Thanks
 Niels 
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Response
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    California, like every other state, has a 3 day notice requirement for cancellation.  [some states require 7 day notice for PERS].  It's statutory and the law doesn't say "3 or more"; it says 3.  Even if you want to give subscribers 7, 30 or "anytime" right to terminate the agreement, you still need to give the 3 day notice.
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licensing
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Ken,
My boss just got off the phone with a director of a sales team of publicly traded manufacturer of CCTV's and security systems. The director stated the following: 
In the majority of the states, there are exemptions to licensing requirements for CCTV and/or Alarm monitoring contracts if the company does the following:
  • The company only sells over the phone. 
  • Collects zero money down from the consumer. 
  • Hires a sub tech that installs/provides maintenance to the system. 
  • Hires a central station to do the monitoring 
    He stated that those contracts are fully enforceable even though the sales rep/company is not licensed. 
    My boss was was wondering if you have heard anything like that? For me that raises a lot of questions/issues (i.e. what is 'a lot of states'; running into telemarketing licensing/inbound v outbound sales; states requiring licensing numbers on monitoring contracts to be enforceable; etc.). But according to the sales director, if you take those exact steps, that is a loophole to all the licensing requirements. 
Sincerely,
James
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Response
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    License requirements are different in all jurisdictions, and they change.  But if you are required to be licensed the first inquiry you should be making is what do you need to be licensed to do?  Cameras are often included in the alarm license, especially if the camera system is part of the alert system that causes signals to transmit to central stations resulting in First Responder dispatch.  A stand alone CCTV system that is not used for intrusion or other alert situations may not be included in an alarm license law.
    If you are required to be licensed then you can't hide behind your subcontractor's license; not if you are the one contracting for the licensed activity.  To be clear, if alarm monitoring requires a license then if you contract for the monitoring you have to have a license, even if you central station is licensed, which it should be.  You can't contract with the subscriber for installation of an alarm system if you don't have the license and then subcontract the installation out to a licensed subcontractor.  You won't be able to sue on your contract because you're not licensed, especially if the subscriber is a consumer.
    Generally you don't need a license to sell equipment if you are not installing it.  In the scenario you have above, you could sell cameras to end users without a license.  You could then recommend that the end user find a subcontractor to install and a central station to monitor.  Trouble is you won't make any money that way.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com