KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and white list ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ************************************ Auto renewal in Florida and elsewhere May 6, 2020 ****************** Auto renewal in Florida and elsewhere ******************* Ken, We have been using your contracts for many years, Commercial All-in-One, Residential All-in-One and Fire All-in-One. I have a commercial customer that wants to change their system burg monitoring to us. They signed a contract in 2013 for 5 years and they figured they were out of contract by now. The contract was sold to a different company at about 3 years in. He called the current monitoring company today to cancel and they say he is still under contract. I told him to ask for the contract. The sent him a very shrunk down copy of the contract from 2013 and with a magnifying glass was able to read that the 5 year term will renew for another 5 year term and then for 1 year after that. Now the current security company has refused to let him out of the now renewed contract. This is a commercial customer. My question is, can there be a Florida contract that can renew for the original term length? Name withheld ********************* Response ********************* About 30% of the states have laws affecting automatic renewal of alarm contracts. You need to check your state law, and you can start here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-law-issues As you can see, Florida is one of the states with a law on auto renewal. In Florida a renewal for more than month to month would require a conspicuous auto renew provision in the contract and would also require a written notice of renewal to be sent by the company to the consumer. But, this law applies only to consumers, and that does not include commercial subscribers. Therefore, there is no statutory prohibition rendering the automatic renewal clause unenforceable. That is not to say that there may be other reasons the auto renewal provision is not going to be enforced, but you didn’t ask that, and I don’t regularly assist subscribers to get out of their alarm contracts. In fact, my job is to draft contracts that hold subscribers to their contract and go after them if they don’t perform their obligations. You have to be very careful with automatic renewal. On the one hand, you should have automatic renewal because neither you nor your subscriber wants the contract to abruptly end. You would have to end performance and that could put life and property at risk. You should also not be burdened with having to let the subscriber know that the contract is ending. That’s just one more contractual duty you could miss or mess up, the all you may have to show for your diligence is a “thanks for letting me know, but I did know, and already have another alarm company ready to take over”. So the burden of terminating a contract before it automatically renews is the subscriber’s burden. Some states require the company provide some form of notice, either in the contract itself or by separate notice just before renewal is to take effect. Most alarm companies that are required to give notice of automatic renewal, don’t. And some that do give the notice don’t comply with the notice requirement, so they haven’t really given an effective notice. Failure to comply with the notice requirement permits a subscriber to terminate any time, not pay for whatever comes due after the renewal starts, possibly get back any money paid during the renewal period, may be have a claim against you for loss that will not be covered by the contractual protection in the contract that is not unenforceable. And, if that’s not enough deterrent, when you go to sell your accounts you are going to find buyers unwilling to buy accounts in renewal when you haven’t complied with notice requirements. That could be most or all of your accounts. So what should you do? Use the Kirschenbaum Contracts ™ because they all have a month to month automatic renewal provision. Why? Because month to month automatic renewal is exempt from every automatic renewal statute. Now’s a great time to update your contracts and have your subscribers sign new contracts; contracts you can actually sell for top dollar one day; contracts your central station will accept and your insurance company will accept and thank you for. ****************** Reaching K&K during the lock down ********************** During this crisis the most efficient way to reach our attorneys is via email. You can also call and if not picked up, leave a message and your call will be returned promptly. Here are a few departments to contact directly: alarm / security / pers / fire department: Ken - Ken@Kirschenbaumesq.com or call and leave a message with return number at 516 747 6700 x 301 health care professionals: Jennifer Kirschenbaum,Esq 516 747 6700 x 302; jennifer@kirschenbaumesq.com Alarm contracts: Eileen Wagda 516 747 6700 x 312 Alarm licensing: Alison Gallub,Esq 516 747 6700 x 317 AGallub@Kirschenbaumesq.com; or Eileen Wagda, Licensing Administrator, 516 747 6700 x 312 EWagda@Kirschenbaumesq.com Employment issues: Kieran Bastible 516 747 6700 x 315 kbastible@kirschenbaumesq.com; or Jennifer Kirschenbaum,Esq Concierge Alarm Clients have full access through our Concierge Program Coordinator, Stacy Spector, Esq 516 747 6700 x 304 or SSpector@Kirschenbaumesq.com Collections: [courts are shut down at this time, so don't expect much progress. We will however continue to prepare papers on our end so that we will be ready when the courts normalize] Kathleen Lampert 516 747 6700 x 319 KLampert@Kirschenbaumesq.com Pending litigation: Caroline Wallet,Esq CWallett@Kirschenbaumesq.com 516 747 6700 x 305 and Maureen Biel,Esq 516 747 6700 x 303 MBeil@Kirschenbaumesq,com Bankruptcy and debt collection issues: Steve Sheinwald,Esq 516 747 6700 x 309 SSheinwald@Kirschenbaumesq.com or Scott Dillon,Esq 516 747 6700 x 318 **************** To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements, click here:www.alarmcontracts.com ************************* CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** NOTICE: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles *********************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE
This area is reserved for alarm classifieds, alarm company announcements, solicitations, offers, etc. There is no charge to post a listing here.Include your contact information, phone, email and web site. If you would like to submit a post, please send an email to ken@kirschenbaumesq.com. To create a reciprocal link to our website, click here. ************************************************ Getting on our Email List / Email Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. You can read articles and order alarm contracts on our web site www.alarmcontracts.com ************************** 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 www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
