Alarm fitting license

O

OhPinchy

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I know a guy who has fitted a good few alarms as nixers in his spare time. He did a FAS course over a few months and then started putting flyers in peoples’ doors and fitting alarms in residential properties where the wires were already in place.

I asked him if he was still doing it the other day and he said he’s not allowed do it anymore as he doesn’t have a license. He said getting a license costs around €6,000 in total, and he compared it to the security industry where all bouncers must have a license before they get a job.

What is this alarm fitter license he is talking about? Is it a self-regulatory step by the alarm industry or is it actually illegal for him to fit alarms without this license?

It all sounds very suspect to me as I would see this as a step by the industry to protect their vested interests by effectively pricing part-timers out of the market. I don’t see how this could be allowed in a free market economy. Fair enough, your insurance company might choose to not give you a discount for having an alarm unless it was fitted by someone with this license, but, as long as he pays his taxes, how can it be illegal to be hired by somebody to install something as simple as a house alarm?

As far as I’m aware the bouncer license is actually a self-regulatory measure, not an actual law of the land, which was brought in to pre-empt the legislation the government were thinking of introducing.
 
Wow! thanks for that ClubMan....seems fairly tight legilsation alright...I'd say there's plenty of small time alarm installers that will be out of business due to that....which, if it cleans up the industry, may be a good thing though.
 
It looks like the licence fee for installing alarms is only €180. Where does the €6000 come from?

It seems a bit ridiculous to say that a fully qualified electrician has to have a license to install an alarm, especially if it cost 6000k for the licence.
 
I think the doc also mentions additional fees/levies depending on the turnover of the business in question.
 
seems fairly clear, a part time installer will have to pay €180 every 2 years. Not a huge burden. Mis-information may have been put about though???


And it does protect the public, you can be fairly sure the guy you ring to fix a fault with your alarm is not a convicted burgular......
 
If he's a sole trader then presumably the individual fee will apply. Otherwise the contractor fees will presumably apply.
 
Will try get time to look at that file again, but first time round I thought it meant your company must pay €2,500 if earning under 2.5k and then €180 per employee. Only skimmed it though, will check again later.
 
Just re-read it:

You can't be an employee in isolation from a company so for my mate this would require him getting a Sole Trader's license costing €2,250. Anyone he employed as an alarm fitter would need an Employee's License, costing €180 - both prices are for a 2 year license.

It doesn't become an offence to install security equipment without a license until 1st August 2006.

I don't like the aspect of this where it states that it will also be an offence to hire someone who does not have a license. Do they really expect your average punter to scrutinize their alarm installer's credentials to verify their license is real? How? Shouldn't it be up to me if I want to hire someone I know, an electrician with no alarm fitters license for example, to fit an alarm in my private property and pay them for their work?

I assume, but cannot tell from that site, that its still not illegal for me to fit my own alarm myself without a license?
 
The license will be issued by the goverment, you have to have a tax clearance cert to qualify. The minimum payment is € 2,250 / € 1,000 is admin fees. The alarm industry is a very big black market that the goverment can't get its hands on ( nixer money not taxed ) so this is the reason why we now have a license. Also it will be the customers responsability to check that whoever installs thier alarms/cctv/access etc is licensed as you can also be fined the € 3,000 & or imprisoned.
It's a load of Bull but no way around it. As it stands at the moment they are looking for a license for alarms and one for cctv and one for access, the industry wants just one license, all this because a bouncer killed someone, so the whole security industry is to be licensed.
Hope this clears things
 
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