{ "source": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/", "publisher": "AlarmMonitoring.co.uk", "disclosure": "A quote-matching service, not an alarm installer or Alarm Receiving Centre. Holds no NSI or SSAIB certification of its own. Passes enquiries to third-party approved providers.", "reviewed": "2026-08-12", "count": 51, "questions": [ { "question": "What is alarm monitoring?", "answer": "Alarm monitoring means your intruder alarm sends a signal to a staffed Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) when it activates, and that centre takes action — calling you, calling your keyholders, or requesting police attendance — rather than the alarm simply making a noise at the property.", "detail": [ "An unmonitored alarm, usually called a bells-only alarm, relies entirely on someone nearby hearing the siren and choosing to do something about it. If the property is empty, or the neighbours are used to ignoring alarms, nothing happens.", "A monitored alarm adds a communication path. A signalling device wired into the alarm panel sends the activation to an ARC — a control room staffed 24 hours a day. Operators there follow a pre-agreed response plan for your property: typically attempting to reach you and your nominated contacts, and where the system qualifies, requesting police attendance.", "The monitoring is a service with an ongoing fee, separate from the alarm hardware. You can have a perfectly good alarm with no monitoring, and you can add monitoring to most existing alarms without replacing the whole system." ], "category": "Basics", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-alarm-monitoring/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC)?", "answer": "An Alarm Receiving Centre is a control room, staffed continuously, that receives alarm signals and acts on them under agreed procedures. In the UK, an ARC handling police-response signals must be certificated to BS EN 50518 by an approved inspectorate such as the NSI or SSAIB.", "detail": [ "The ARC is the part of the chain that does the thinking. It receives the signal, identifies which property and which zone it came from, and works through the response plan held on file for that property.", "ARCs handling police response are inspected. The standard for the centre itself is BS EN 50518, which covers the building, its physical security, power resilience, staffing levels and procedures. It replaced the older British standard BS 5979, which is now withdrawn — if a provider still advertises BS 5979 certification, that is a sign their marketing has not been reviewed in years.", "Because certification attaches to a specific inspected site and legal entity, it is worth asking which ARC will actually monitor your system and checking that centre on the inspectorate's own register, rather than accepting a general claim that a company is 'fully accredited'." ], "category": "Basics", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-an-arc/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "How does alarm monitoring work, step by step?", "answer": "A detector triggers the alarm panel, the panel sends a coded signal over a fixed line, mobile network or broadband to an Alarm Receiving Centre, an operator identifies the property and activation type, and then follows your agreed escalation list — contacting you and your keyholders, and requesting police attendance if the system qualifies for it.", "detail": [ "In sequence: a detector activates and reports to the control panel. The panel decides whether this is a reportable event, and passes it to the signalling device. The signalling device transmits it to the ARC over its configured path or paths.", "At the ARC, the signal arrives tagged with an account number, so the operator sees which property it is, which zone activated, and what response has been agreed. Many activations are resolved at this stage — a genuine user who has set the alarm off and can confirm their identity with a password, for example.", "If it is not resolved, the operator escalates. For a keyholder-response contract that means calling your nominated contacts or dispatching a response company. For a police-response contract, and where the activation meets the confirmation requirement, the operator passes it to the police using the property's Unique Reference Number.", "The whole chain is only as good as its weakest link, which is usually the information held on file. Out-of-date keyholder phone numbers are the single most common reason a technically perfect monitoring setup produces no useful response." ], "category": "Basics", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/how-does-alarm-monitoring-work/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Is a monitored alarm better than a bells-only alarm?", "answer": "A monitored alarm produces a response when nobody is there to hear the siren, which is the situation most burglaries happen in — so for an empty property, monitoring is the meaningful upgrade. A bells-only alarm is cheaper, has no ongoing fee, and still deters, but nothing follows the noise.", "detail": [ "The honest comparison is about what happens after activation. Both types make a noise and both deter opportunists. Only one of them results in a phone call or an attendance.", "Bells-only makes sense if the property is rarely empty, if neighbours are close and reliable, or if the budget genuinely does not stretch to a monthly fee. It is much better than no alarm.", "Monitoring makes sense if the property is regularly empty, if it is isolated enough that a siren goes unheard, if it holds high-value contents, or if an insurer requires it. It is also the only route to police attendance: no UK police force responds to a bells-only alarm as an alarm activation.", "Note that monitoring is not a substitute for the basics. A monitored alarm on a house with an insecure back door is still a house with an insecure back door." ], "category": "Basics", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/monitored-vs-bells-only/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What happens when a monitored alarm goes off?", "answer": "The signal reaches the Alarm Receiving Centre within seconds, an operator checks it against your response plan, and in most cases calls you first to see whether it is genuine. If they cannot reach you or the activation is confirmed, they escalate to your keyholders, a response company, or the police.", "detail": [ "Almost all activations are false — caused by users, pets, insects, draughts, or faults. ARCs are set up on that assumption, which is why the first step is usually verification rather than dispatch.", "You will normally be asked for a password. This matters: it is what distinguishes you from an intruder who has answered your phone. Choose one you will remember under stress and make sure everyone who uses the alarm knows it.", "If the activation qualifies as confirmed — broadly, two independent signals suggesting a real intrusion rather than one stray detector — and the property holds a valid police Unique Reference Number, the ARC will pass it to the police as a confirmed activation, which is treated more urgently than an unconfirmed one." ], "category": "Basics", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-happens-when-my-alarm-goes-off/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Will the police respond to my burglar alarm?", "answer": "Only if your alarm is professionally monitored and the property holds a valid Unique Reference Number (URN) issued by your local police force. The police do not respond to bells-only alarms, to self-monitored app alerts, or to systems without a URN — in those cases you are reporting a suspected crime yourself, like any other member of the public.", "detail": [ "Police response to alarms in England and Wales runs under national policy set by the National Police Chiefs' Council, applied locally by each force. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own equivalent arrangements.", "The conditions are consistent in outline. The system must be installed and maintained by a company certificated by an approved inspectorate — in practice the NSI or SSAIB. It must be monitored by a certificated ARC. And the force must have issued a URN for that specific address.", "Without a URN there is no police response to the alarm itself. That does not leave you helpless: if you have evidence of a crime in progress you can call the police directly, and they will respond on the basis of that report. But the alarm activation alone will not generate an attendance.", "This is the single most misunderstood point in the category, and it is worth being blunt about it: buying a camera-based DIY system with an app does not get you police response, whatever the marketing implies." ], "category": "Police response", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/will-the-police-respond/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is a URN (Unique Reference Number)?", "answer": "A URN is the reference a police force issues to a specific monitored alarm system at a specific address, which lets the Alarm Receiving Centre pass activations from that system to the police. It belongs to the address and the police force, not to you or your installer, and it can be suspended or withdrawn if the system generates too many false calls.", "detail": [ "The URN is the mechanism by which the police agree, in advance, to treat signals from one particular system as worth acting on. It is issued by the force covering the address, against an application from an approved installer or ARC — you cannot apply for one directly.", "Forces usually charge for issuing a URN and for its annual maintenance, and those fees are set locally, so they differ from force to force. Expect the cost to be passed through in your monitoring contract.", "Crucially, a URN carries conditions. Excessive false activations can get it suspended, and continued problems can get it withdrawn, at which point police response stops until the system is fixed and the URN reinstated. Because the URN attaches to the address, a history of false alarms at a property can follow it.", "If you move house, the URN does not come with you. A new address needs a new application." ], "category": "Police response", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-a-urn/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "How do I get a URN for my alarm?", "answer": "You cannot apply yourself. An installer or Alarm Receiving Centre certificated by an approved inspectorate applies to your local police force on your behalf, once your system meets the required standard and is under a monitoring contract. The force issues the URN to the address, usually for a fee.", "detail": [ "The practical route is: appoint an NSI- or SSAIB-approved installer, have the system installed or upgraded to the required standard with confirmed-activation capability, put a monitoring contract in place with a certificated ARC, and let them handle the application.", "The system generally needs to be designed to reduce false alarms — in the UK that means the confirmation principles in BS 8243 — because forces will not accept systems that predictably generate unconfirmed calls.", "Timescales vary by force and there is often a fee both to issue the URN and to maintain it annually. Ask your provider to itemise those police charges separately from their own, so you can see what you are paying for.", "If your existing alarm was installed by a non-approved company or a previous owner, it may still be possible to bring it into scope: an approved company can inspect it, and either certify it as-is or specify what needs changing." ], "category": "Police response", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/how-do-i-get-a-urn/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is a confirmed alarm activation?", "answer": "A confirmed activation is one where more than one independent signal indicates a genuine intrusion — typically two separate detectors triggering, or a detector plus audio or video verification — rather than a single detector firing once. Police forces treat confirmed activations as a higher priority than unconfirmed ones.", "detail": [ "The idea exists because single-detector activations are overwhelmingly false. A spider on a lens or a balloon in a draught produces one signal. A person moving through a building produces several, in a pattern.", "In the UK, system design for confirmation is covered by BS 8243. In practice it means the system is configured so that the ARC can distinguish a lone stray signal from a sequence consistent with someone actually inside.", "The consequence for you is about equipment and layout, not paperwork: a system with one detector in a hallway cannot produce a confirmed activation, however good the monitoring contract is. If police response matters to you, detector coverage needs to be planned for it from the start.", "Audio and video verification can also serve as confirmation, which is part of why remote CCTV monitoring is often paired with intruder monitoring on commercial sites." ], "category": "Police response", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-a-confirmed-activation/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What happens if my alarm has too many false alarms?", "answer": "Your police response can be suspended and eventually withdrawn. Forces operate a false-alarm allowance over a rolling twelve-month period, and once you exceed it the URN is suspended until the cause is fixed. The exact threshold and how it is applied are set by each force, not nationally.", "detail": [ "The principle is national: police response is a finite resource and a system that cries wolf loses access to it. The numbers are local. Some forces publish their thresholds, some do not, and the way suspensions and reinstatements are handled differs, so the only reliable figure is the one your own force gives you.", "A suspension is not usually permanent. The normal path is that the installer diagnoses and fixes the cause, demonstrates a clean period, and applies for reinstatement — sometimes with a further fee.", "The causes are boringly consistent: user error, pets, poorly sited detectors, insects, unsecured doors and windows moving in draughts, and ageing sensors. Most are cheap to fix once identified, which is why it is worth reporting a false alarm honestly to your provider rather than resetting and hoping.", "Because the URN attaches to the address, a bad false-alarm history is inherited by whoever occupies the property next." ], "category": "Police response", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/too-many-false-alarms/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Can I get police response without paying for monitoring?", "answer": "No. Police response to an alarm activation requires a URN, and a URN requires the system to be monitored by a certificated Alarm Receiving Centre under a maintenance contract with an approved installer. There is no route to police response for an unmonitored or self-monitored system.", "detail": [ "This trips people up because the alternative sounds reasonable: if my app tells me the alarm has gone off, why can I not just have the police attend on that basis?", "The answer is that the police are agreeing in advance to act on signals from a system they have conditions over — installed to standard, maintained, monitored by an inspected centre, with a false-alarm record they can hold someone accountable for. A self-monitored system offers none of that.", "What you can always do is report a crime yourself. If your app shows someone in your property, that is a report of a burglary in progress and the police will respond to it as such. The difference is that you are the verification step, and you must be awake, in signal, and looking at your phone." ], "category": "Police response", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/police-response-without-monitoring/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is a keyholding service?", "answer": "Keyholding means a security company holds keys to your property and attends when the alarm activates, so that somebody checks the building without you having to go yourself or the police being involved. In the UK it is covered by BS 7984, and staff should be screened to BS 7858.", "detail": [ "It answers a practical problem: an alarm activates at 3am, the ARC cannot reach you, and there is no police response because the activation is unconfirmed. Without a keyholder, nothing happens until morning.", "A keyholding provider attends, walks the perimeter, checks for signs of entry, resets the alarm if it is a false activation, and secures the building or escalates if it is not. For commercial sites this also covers opening and locking up, and attending for other reasons like fire alarm activations or floods.", "Two things to check. First, screening: BS 7858 covers vetting of people who will hold keys to your property, and you want it. Second, response time and geography: a keyholding contract is only as good as the distance from the nearest patrol to your building at 3am on a Sunday, so ask what the realistic attendance time is for your postcode rather than the headline figure.", "Keyholding and police response are not alternatives — many sites have both, with the keyholder handling everything that does not meet the confirmed-activation bar." ], "category": "Response options", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-keyholding/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is the difference between keyholder response and police response?", "answer": "Keyholder response means a security company or a nominated person attends the property with keys, for any activation, under a commercial contract you pay for. Police response means the police attend, only for confirmed activations at a property with a valid URN, and only under conditions the force controls.", "detail": [ "They cover different failure modes. Police response is for the case where there is good reason to believe a crime is in progress. Keyholder response is for everything else — the majority of activations, which are unconfirmed or false and which the police will not attend.", "Availability differs too. You can buy keyholder response for any property, immediately, with no standards test. Police response requires an approved installer, a certificated ARC, a compliant system and a URN the force can withdraw.", "Cost differs in shape. Police response adds relatively modest police fees and the cost of meeting the standard. Keyholding is an ongoing service with staff and vehicles behind it, so it costs more per month, and more again for a rural address a long drive from the nearest patrol.", "For most homes, monitoring with nominated personal keyholders — a neighbour or family member — plus police response where it qualifies, is the common arrangement. Paid keyholding is more typical on commercial sites and on high-value or isolated homes." ], "category": "Response options", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/keyholder-vs-police-response/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Who can I nominate as a keyholder?", "answer": "Anyone you trust who can get to the property reasonably quickly, has keys and the alarm code, knows the ARC password, and is willing to be called at any hour. Most providers ask for at least two nominated keyholders so there is a fallback when the first cannot be reached.", "detail": [ "The usual candidates are a partner, an adult family member nearby, a neighbour, or for a business, a manager and a deputy. The test is not formal, it is practical: will this person answer the phone at 4am and actually go?", "Set expectations with them honestly. A keyholder should not confront anyone. The job is to look from a safe distance, and call the police if something is obviously wrong. Anyone who would feel obliged to be brave is the wrong choice.", "Keep the list current. Keyholder details going stale — a changed mobile number, a neighbour who has moved away — is the most common reason a monitoring contract fails to produce a response, and it is entirely avoidable. Review it annually, and whenever someone on it moves or leaves.", "If nobody suitable is local, that is the case for a paid keyholding service." ], "category": "Response options", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/who-can-be-a-keyholder/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is NSI approval?", "answer": "The National Security Inspectorate is a UK inspectorate body that audits security and fire companies against the relevant standards and lists those that pass on a public register. NSI approval is one of the two routes — the other is SSAIB — by which an installer or Alarm Receiving Centre qualifies to obtain police response for its customers.", "detail": [ "NSI operates tiers, of which NSI Gold is the best known. Gold adds a certificated quality management system on top of the technical standards, so it indicates the company has been audited as a business as well as on its installations.", "What matters for you is narrower than the marketing suggests. Approval is what makes a company eligible to apply for URNs and to have its work accepted for police response. It also means somebody independent has inspected the work rather than taking the company's word for it.", "Approval is granted to a specific legal entity for a specific scope of work. A company approved for intruder alarms is not automatically approved for CCTV or fire, and a group company's approval does not extend to a subsidiary or a subcontractor. Check the register for the exact entity that will sign your contract.", "The register is on the NSI's own website and is the only claim worth relying on. A logo on a van or a website is not evidence." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-nsi-approval/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is SSAIB?", "answer": "SSAIB is a UK certification body for security, fire and telecare providers, and the main alternative to the NSI. An SSAIB-certificated installer or Alarm Receiving Centre is equally able to obtain police response for its customers, and SSAIB maintains a public register you can check.", "detail": [ "SSAIB and NSI do the same essential job — independent inspection against the applicable standards — and police forces accept both. SSAIB has historically been used more by small and medium installers, and NSI by larger firms and corporate ARCs, but that is a tendency rather than a rule and it should not be read as a quality difference.", "As with NSI, certification is scoped. Check that the certificate covers the specific service you are buying, whether that is intruder alarms, remote CCTV monitoring, keyholding or fire detection, and that it names the company you are contracting with.", "The register is on SSAIB's own site." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-ssaib/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "NSI or SSAIB — which is better?", "answer": "Neither is better. Both are recognised UK inspectorate bodies, both are accepted by police forces for URN purposes, and a company certificated by either can arrange police response. What matters is that the certification is current, held by the entity you are contracting with, and covers the specific service you are buying.", "detail": [ "The question comes up because installers use whichever body they belong to as a selling point, which implies a hierarchy that does not exist for this purpose.", "The one nuance worth knowing is that NSI's Gold tier includes an audited quality management system, so it tells you something additional about how the business is run. That is a real difference, but it is a difference between NSI tiers as much as between the two bodies, and it is not what determines whether you can get police response.", "Judge providers on the things that actually vary: whether the certification covers your service, who the monitoring ARC is, what the contract term is, what happens at renewal, and what the realistic response arrangement is for your address." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/nsi-vs-ssaib/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "How do I check an alarm company is genuinely approved?", "answer": "Look the company up on the NSI or SSAIB register directly, on the inspectorate's own website, using the exact legal entity name and company number from the quote — not the trading name and not the logo on the website. Confirm the certificate is current and that its scope covers the service you are buying.", "detail": [ "Logos are trivially copied, and expired certification does not remove them from a website. The register is the only check that means anything, and it takes about a minute.", "Do this specifically:", "Get the legal entity name and Companies House number from the written quote. Search the NSI and SSAIB registers for that entity. Confirm the certificate is in date, and read its scope — intruder alarms, CCTV, keyholding and fire are separately certificated. If the quote comes from a different entity than the one on the register, ask why in writing.", "Then check the ARC separately. Your installer may be approved while subcontracting monitoring to a centre you have not been told about. Ask which ARC will monitor the system and confirm that centre's own certification.", "Finally, check Companies House for the entity itself: incorporation date, filing history, and whether it is the same company that has been trading under that brand. A brand with a long history and a company incorporated last year is worth a question." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/how-to-check-a-provider-is-approved/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is BS EN 50131?", "answer": "BS EN 50131 is the European and British standard series for intruder and hold-up alarm systems, covering system requirements, equipment and installation. It defines the four security grades used to match a system to the risk at a property, and compliance with it is expected for any system intended to have police response.", "detail": [ "It is a series rather than a single document, with parts covering the system as a whole, individual detector types, control equipment and power supplies.", "For a buyer, the practical content of BS EN 50131 is the grading system, and the fact that a compliant installation must be designed against a documented risk assessment rather than assembled from whatever was in the van.", "You should expect an installer to tell you which grade they are designing to and why, and to leave you with documentation. If a quote does not mention a grade, ask." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-bs-en-50131/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What are alarm grades 1 to 4, and which do I need?", "answer": "The grades in BS EN 50131 describe the level of intruder a system is designed to resist, from Grade 1 for low risk to Grade 4 for high-value or high-risk premises. Most UK homes are specified at Grade 2, and most commercial premises at Grade 2 or Grade 3.", "detail": [ "Grade 1 assumes an intruder with little knowledge and no tools, and is rarely specified for anything that matters. Grade 2 assumes an intruder with some knowledge and basic tools — the normal domestic specification. Grade 3 assumes an intruder who understands alarm systems and carries a range of tools, and is typical for commercial premises and higher-value homes. Grade 4 covers high-risk sites where the intruder is expected to plan and to bring specialist equipment.", "The grade drives real requirements, not just a label: detector types and tamper protection, how much standby battery is needed, how quickly a lost signalling path must be noticed, and how the system must behave when part of it fails.", "Grade is chosen from a risk assessment of your property and contents. Your insurer may specify a minimum, and if so that specification wins — ask them before you buy rather than after a claim.", "Higher is not automatically better for you. A Grade 3 system on a normal house costs more, and its stricter tamper and fault requirements can mean more nuisance faults, without a corresponding gain." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-are-alarm-grades/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is EN 50136, and what do ATS categories mean?", "answer": "EN 50136 is the standard for alarm transmission systems — the signalling path between your alarm and the Alarm Receiving Centre. It classifies paths by how quickly a failure is detected and reported, which is why a monitored system notices a cut line or a lost mobile signal rather than simply going quiet.", "detail": [ "Signalling is the part of a monitored system that an intruder attacks, so the standard is mostly about resilience and supervision. A supervised path is polled: if it stops answering, the ARC knows within a defined time and can treat the silence itself as an event.", "Higher categories mean shorter detection times and more redundancy, typically achieved with dual-path signalling — for example broadband plus a mobile network — so that losing one path does not lose the connection.", "The category you need follows from the system grade and, often, from your insurer's requirements. The question to ask an installer is not 'is it monitored' but 'what happens, and how fast, if this path fails' — and to get the answer in writing." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-en-50136/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is BS 8243?", "answer": "BS 8243 is the British standard for designing and installing alarm systems so that activations can be confirmed, in order to reduce false alarms. It is the standard behind the confirmed-activation requirement that police response depends on.", "detail": [ "Where BS EN 50131 covers the system and EN 50136 covers the signalling, BS 8243 covers the logic that decides whether an activation looks real: how detectors are combined, sequenced and timed so that a single stray signal is not reported as an intrusion.", "Its relevance to you is that it is the reason detector coverage and layout matter for police response. A system that cannot generate a confirmed activation cannot get a confirmed-activation police response, regardless of how good the monitoring contract is.", "If police response is a requirement, say so before the survey, so the design accounts for it from the beginning rather than needing extra detectors afterwards." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-bs-8243/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Is BS 5979 still a valid certification?", "answer": "No. BS 5979, the old British standard for alarm receiving centres, has been withdrawn and replaced by BS EN 50518. A provider still advertising BS 5979 certification is quoting a withdrawn standard, which usually means their marketing material has not been reviewed for years.", "detail": [ "This matters mainly as a dating signal. It is not evidence of a bad ARC — many centres certificated under BS 5979 transitioned to BS EN 50518 without any change in quality — but it tells you the website has not been maintained, and it is fair to ask what else has not been.", "The current question to ask about a monitoring centre is whether it is certificated to BS EN 50518, by which body, and for which category.", "The previous website on this domain advertised BS 5979 among its claimed certifications, which is one of several reasons its content was rebuilt from scratch rather than migrated." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-bs-5979/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is BS 8484?", "answer": "BS 8484 is the British standard for lone worker services and devices, covering how a personal safety alarm is provided, monitored and escalated to police. A lone worker system monitored to BS 8484 by a certificated centre can obtain a police response level normally reserved for confirmed alarm activations.", "detail": [ "It exists because a lone worker alarm is a different problem from a building alarm: there is no fixed address, the user is the sensor, and the response needs to reach a person who may be moving.", "The standard covers the device, the service around it, how the user is trained, how the monitoring centre verifies an activation, and how it passes the call to the police. Compliance is what makes the police escalation route available.", "It is relevant to employers with staff working alone — lettings agents, care and housing staff, engineers, retail managers doing cash runs — and is often part of demonstrating that an employer has met its duty of care." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-bs-8484/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is BS 7858 screening?", "answer": "BS 7858 is the British standard for security screening of people working in environments where the security of assets or people is at stake. It covers identity, employment history, and criminal record checks, and it is what you should expect for anyone holding keys to your property or working in your Alarm Receiving Centre.", "detail": [ "The reason to care is straightforward: monitoring and keyholding involve giving strangers knowledge of when your property is empty, and in the case of keyholding, the means to enter it.", "Ask whether staff are screened to BS 7858 and whether that includes the subcontractors who may actually attend. A response company covering a wide area at night often uses local subcontractors, and their screening is the one that matters at your door.", "For keyholding specifically, pair this with BS 7984, which covers the keyholding service itself." ], "category": "Standards and approval", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-bs-7858/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is a signalling device or alarm communicator?", "answer": "A signalling device, also called a communicator, is the unit that connects your alarm panel to the Alarm Receiving Centre and transmits activations to it. It is a separate piece of hardware from the alarm panel, and it is usually the only thing that needs adding to make an existing alarm monitorable.", "detail": [ "It is the part of the system that determines how signals travel — over broadband, over a mobile network, or both — and how quickly a failed path is detected. Its specification is what EN 50136 categories describe.", "Practically, this is good news for anyone with an existing alarm: adding monitoring is often a matter of fitting a communicator to a panel you already own, not replacing the system. Whether that is possible depends on the panel's age and whether it has a suitable output.", "The communicator is normally supplied on the monitoring contract, and this is worth reading carefully. Some are supplied outright, some are rented, and some are locked to one ARC. That distinction determines how easily you can change provider later." ], "category": "Signalling and connectivity", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-a-signalling-device/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What happened to BT Redcare, and what replaced it?", "answer": "BT closed its Redcare alarm signalling service in 2025, after announcing its withdrawal in 2023. Systems that used Redcare had to be migrated to an alternative signalling provider — the main UK options being CSL, WebWayOne and Chiron — and any system still described as Redcare-signalled has either been migrated or is no longer transmitting.", "detail": [ "Redcare was, for decades, the default UK alarm signalling path, and it was closely associated with the analogue phone network it grew up on. Its withdrawal was part of the wider retirement of that network.", "If you have an older monitored alarm and have not heard from your provider about a signalling migration, that is worth chasing. The failure mode is quiet: an alarm whose signalling path has gone still sounds its siren locally, so a property can look protected while nothing is reaching an ARC at all.", "The check is simple. Ask your monitoring provider, in writing, which signalling provider and path your system currently uses, and when it was last successfully polled. A monitored system is polled regularly by design, so they can answer that precisely.", "Because this migration coincided with the phone network switch-off, some properties needed both a signalling change and a change of connection type at once. Treat any pre-2024 monitored alarm as needing confirmation." ], "category": "Signalling and connectivity", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-happened-to-bt-redcare/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "How does the phone network switch-off affect my alarm?", "answer": "The UK's analogue phone network is being retired and replaced with digital voice over broadband, which means alarms that signal over a traditional phone line stop working reliably. If your monitored alarm uses a landline, it needs migrating to broadband or mobile signalling — this does not happen automatically, and a failed path is silent.", "detail": [ "The old analogue network, the PSTN, carried its own power and stayed up when the mains failed. Digital voice does not: it runs over your broadband router, so it goes down when the power or the internet does. An alarm that dials out over a line like that has a much weaker path than it used to.", "Some older alarm communicators also simply do not work over digital voice, because they expect analogue signalling tones. In those cases the alarm can appear entirely normal while being unable to reach the ARC.", "The switch-off has been rescheduled more than once, and communications providers are migrating customers in batches, so the date that matters is the one your own provider gives you for your line. Do not rely on a national date.", "The action is the same either way: ask your alarm monitoring provider to confirm in writing what your system signals over now, and whether it is affected. If it is, the fix is normally a new communicator using broadband, mobile, or both." ], "category": "Signalling and connectivity", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/pstn-switch-off-and-alarms/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Do I need a landline for alarm monitoring?", "answer": "No. Modern alarm monitoring signals over broadband, over a mobile network, or both, and a landline is no longer required or even preferred. Mobile-only signalling is a normal choice for properties with poor or no broadband.", "detail": [ "This is one of the most out-of-date beliefs in the category, and it comes from an era when the analogue phone line was the only path available.", "Today the common configurations are broadband as the primary path with a mobile network as backup, or mobile-only where broadband is unreliable. A mobile path uses a SIM inside the communicator, and better units use roaming SIMs that can select whichever network has coverage rather than being tied to one.", "For a rural property, ask specifically about mobile coverage at the building rather than in the area, and about whether the communicator supports multiple networks. That single question resolves most rural signalling problems before they happen." ], "category": "Signalling and connectivity", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/do-i-need-a-landline-for-alarm-monitoring/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is dual-path signalling, and do I need it?", "answer": "Dual-path signalling means the alarm can reach the Alarm Receiving Centre by two independent routes — typically broadband and a mobile network — so that losing one does not leave the property unmonitored. It is standard for commercial premises and for any property where an insurer specifies a higher signalling category.", "detail": [ "The point is not speed, it is that single paths fail, and that an intruder who understands alarms will try to make one fail. Cutting a broadband line is easy. Cutting a broadband line and jamming a mobile signal is not.", "Both paths are supervised, so if either drops the ARC is notified and can treat the loss itself as an event needing attention.", "Whether you need it depends on the risk and on what your insurer requires. For a typical home, a single well-supervised path is often accepted. For commercial premises, stock, cash, or anything an insurer has taken an interest in, dual-path is usually the expectation — and it is worth asking the insurer directly rather than guessing." ], "category": "Signalling and connectivity", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-dual-path-signalling/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What happens to my monitored alarm if the power or internet goes down?", "answer": "The alarm panel runs on a standby battery, so it keeps working through a power cut for a period set by its grade. Signalling depends on the path: a mobile path usually survives a broadband failure and vice versa, and on a supervised path the Alarm Receiving Centre is told when a path is lost rather than simply hearing nothing.", "detail": [ "Standby battery duration is a graded requirement, not a manufacturer whim, which is one of the practical consequences of system grade. It is finite, so a multi-day outage is a real limit worth knowing about.", "A digital voice line dies with your router, which is exactly why landline-based signalling is no longer appropriate. A mobile path has its own power inside the communicator and its own network, so it is independent of your broadband and your electricity in a way a router-based path is not.", "The supervision point is the one people miss. On a properly configured monitored system, silence is itself information: if the ARC stops being able to poll the system, that is an event. Ask what the detection time is for your configuration and what the ARC does when it triggers." ], "category": "Signalling and connectivity", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-if-i-lose-internet-or-power/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "How much does alarm monitoring cost in the UK?", "answer": "Typical UK alarm monitoring runs from roughly £12 to £25 a month for digital monitoring, £20 to £40 with police response, and £25 to £70 where keyholder attendance is included. Remote CCTV monitoring costs more and varies widely with camera count and hours. These are indicative market ranges, not quotes — your actual price depends on the system, the risk and the response level.", "detail": [ "The variables that move the price are the response level, the signalling configuration, the number of zones or cameras, whether the communicator is bought or rented, and the contract length.", "There are also costs that are not the monitoring fee, and they are the ones that surprise people. Police URN issue and annual maintenance fees are set by each force and charged to you. A signalling device supply and install is typically a few hundred pounds one-off. Alarm maintenance — required if you want to keep police response — is usually a separate annual charge.", "Ask for a written breakdown that separates monitoring, maintenance, police fees, hardware and any early-termination terms. Two quotes with the same monthly figure can differ substantially once those are visible.", "Because we match you with providers rather than selling monitoring ourselves, we set none of these prices. The ranges above exist so you can tell at a glance whether a quote is normal, and they are reviewed periodically rather than continuously." ], "category": "Costs and contracts", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/how-much-does-alarm-monitoring-cost/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Do I have to sign a long contract for alarm monitoring?", "answer": "Usually yes — twelve months is common and longer terms are often used to subsidise hardware — but terms vary and are negotiable. The details that matter more than the headline length are the notice period, what happens at automatic renewal, and whether price increases are capped.", "detail": [ "Longer terms are not automatically bad. A provider absorbing the cost of a communicator has to recover it somehow, and a three-year term with the hardware included can be cheaper overall than a rolling contract you pay upfront for.", "The clauses to read before signing: the notice period required to end the contract and the exact form notice must take; whether the contract auto-renews and for how long; how and by how much prices can rise mid-term; whether the communicator is yours or rented, and what happens to it at the end; and any early-termination charge.", "Auto-renewal on a long term with a short notice window is the combination that causes most complaints in this category. If you miss the window, you can be locked in for another full term.", "Get the whole thing in writing before committing, and be wary of any pressure to sign at the survey visit." ], "category": "Costs and contracts", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/is-there-a-contract/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Can I switch alarm monitoring providers?", "answer": "Yes. You are not obliged to stay with the company that installed your alarm, and switching monitoring provider is routine. The practical constraints are your current contract's notice period and whether your existing signalling device is locked to your current Alarm Receiving Centre.", "detail": [ "Two things need to move. The monitoring contract itself, which is a matter of notice and paperwork. And the signalling, which is a technical question: some communicators can simply be re-registered to a new ARC, while others are locked to one provider and need replacing.", "If you have police response, the URN also needs handling. It is issued to the address but administered through the approved company that applied for it, so a switch involves the new provider taking that over with your force. A competent incoming provider will manage this, but ask specifically how continuity of police response will be maintained during the changeover.", "Before you commit to switching, get from your current provider: your contract end date, the notice required, whether the communicator is owned or rented, and any outstanding charges. Get from the new provider: whether your existing hardware can be reused, and what the total cost of changeover is including any new communicator." ], "category": "Costs and contracts", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/can-i-switch-monitoring-provider/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Can a monitoring company take over an alarm someone else installed?", "answer": "Usually yes. A takeover means an approved company inspects an existing alarm, confirms it meets the required standard or specifies what needs changing, and then maintains and monitors it. It is normally much cheaper than replacing a working system, and it is the standard route when you move into a property with an alarm already fitted.", "detail": [ "The inspection is the crux. The company has to be willing to put its own certification behind a system it did not install, so it will check the panel's age and type, detector coverage, whether documentation exists, and whether confirmed activation is achievable if you want police response.", "Outcomes are usually one of three: taken over as-is; taken over after specified remedial work, which might be as small as repositioning a detector or as large as a new panel; or declined, typically because the panel is obsolete or unsupported.", "If you have just moved in, be aware you may have no history for the system: no documentation, no engineer code, no knowledge of what has been changed. Say so up front, because it affects the survey.", "A takeover does not inherit the previous occupant's URN automatically, and a poor false-alarm history at the address can still be relevant." ], "category": "Costs and contracts", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/can-i-take-over-an-existing-alarm/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Do I have to use the company that installed my alarm for monitoring?", "answer": "No. Installation and monitoring are separate services and can be bought from different companies. In practice they are often bundled because it is simpler, and because police response requires both an approved installer for maintenance and a certificated Alarm Receiving Centre — but you are free to choose each.", "detail": [ "Bundling has genuine advantages: one contract, one number to call, and no argument about whether a fault is the panel or the signalling. It is a reasonable default.", "The reason to separate them is usually price or service quality. If your installer is good but their monitoring is expensive, or their ARC is unresponsive, you can change one without the other.", "The constraint is that for police response you need an approved company holding the maintenance contract as well as a certificated ARC doing the monitoring, so both parties still need to be approved and to work together on the URN. Check before splitting that each is willing to." ], "category": "Costs and contracts", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/do-i-have-to-use-my-installer-for-monitoring/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What happens if my alarm monitoring company goes out of business?", "answer": "Your alarm keeps sounding locally, but monitoring may stop, and the failure can be quiet. Certificated Alarm Receiving Centres are expected to have contingency arrangements to transfer monitoring, but the installer holding your contract going under is a separate risk — and your police URN depends on an approved company holding the maintenance contract.", "detail": [ "Distinguish two failures. If the ARC fails, transfer arrangements usually exist, because a certificated centre has to plan for continuity. If the installer or reseller you contracted with fails, you may find the ARC has no direct relationship with you at all.", "The URN is the part most likely to lapse. It requires a current maintenance contract with an approved company; if that company disappears, the condition is no longer met and police response can be withdrawn until a new approved company takes the system on.", "Reduce the exposure now, cheaply: know which ARC actually monitors your system and its certification, keep your own copy of the system documentation and the communicator details, and know your account or URN reference. If you have those, a new provider can pick the system up quickly. Without them, a takeover survey starts from nothing.", "This is also a reason to check Companies House on the entity you are contracting with, not just the inspectorate register." ], "category": "Costs and contracts", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-if-my-monitoring-company-goes-bust/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Does my insurer require a monitored alarm?", "answer": "Sometimes, and if they do, the requirement is usually specific — a stated system grade, a signalling configuration, professional installation and maintenance by an approved company, and often police or keyholder response. Check your policy wording, because an alarm that does not meet a stated condition can affect a claim.", "detail": [ "Domestic policies often have no alarm requirement at all, or offer a discount for having one. Higher-value homes and commercial policies are much more likely to impose conditions, and to be precise about them.", "Where conditions exist they are typically expressed as a specification: a minimum grade under BS EN 50131, a signalling category under EN 50136, installation and maintenance by an NSI- or SSAIB-approved company, and a defined response level. Some also require the alarm to be set whenever the premises are unoccupied — a condition that is easy to breach without realising.", "Get the requirement from your insurer in writing before buying, and give it to whoever quotes. Specifying a system and then discovering it does not satisfy the policy is an expensive sequence.", "If you are relying on an alarm for a premium discount, confirm what evidence the insurer needs — usually the installation certificate and a current maintenance contract." ], "category": "Business and insurance", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/does-my-insurer-require-monitoring/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is different about alarm monitoring for a business?", "answer": "Commercial monitoring usually involves a higher system grade, dual-path signalling, open and close reporting so the Alarm Receiving Centre knows whether the premises were set on time, and a paid response arrangement rather than personal keyholders. Insurers are also far more likely to impose specific conditions.", "detail": [ "The operational differences matter more than the technical ones. A business has staff who set and unset the alarm, which means user error, shared codes and leavers who still know the code. Open and close reporting addresses part of this: the ARC expects the premises to be set within a window and raises an exception when they are not, which catches both a forgotten lock-up and a member of staff being held back at closing.", "Response is normally contracted rather than personal. Few managers want to be the 3am keyholder, and a business needs cover during holidays and turnover.", "Multi-site operations should ask about consolidated reporting — one view across sites, with per-site escalation — because managing ten separate contracts with ten separate ARCs is how sites end up unmonitored without anyone noticing.", "Fire alarm monitoring, remote CCTV and lone worker cover are often added to the same contract, which is usually cheaper and always simpler than separate arrangements." ], "category": "Business and insurance", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/commercial-alarm-monitoring-requirements/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is remote CCTV monitoring?", "answer": "Remote CCTV monitoring means cameras are watched or reviewed by a monitoring centre, either continuously or when an analytic or detector triggers, so an operator can see what is actually happening and respond — often including a live audio warning to an intruder. It also provides the visual verification that can confirm an alarm activation.", "detail": [ "It is normally event-driven rather than someone watching a wall of screens: an analytic or detector triggers, the operator gets the relevant camera, assesses it, and acts. That is what makes it affordable, and it is also why camera siting and analytic tuning matter so much to the cost.", "Audio challenge is the feature that changes outcomes on commercial sites. Being addressed by name and told the police have been called moves most intruders on before anything is taken.", "For alarm purposes, video gives verification, which can support a confirmed activation. That is a large part of why commercial sites pair CCTV monitoring with intruder monitoring.", "There are data protection obligations. Operating CCTV, especially where it covers areas beyond your own boundary or captures audio, brings duties under UK data protection law, and the ICO publishes guidance on it. Ask a prospective provider how they handle recording retention, access requests and audio — a provider who cannot answer is a risk to you, since the obligations sit with you as the operator." ], "category": "Business and insurance", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-remote-cctv-monitoring/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What are my data protection duties if my CCTV is monitored remotely?", "answer": "If you operate CCTV for a business, or domestically in a way that captures areas beyond your own property, you have duties under UK data protection law — including signage, a lawful basis, retention limits, and responding to requests from people recorded. Using a monitoring company does not transfer those duties away from you.", "detail": [ "For businesses, CCTV is processing of personal data. That means the usual obligations: telling people it is happening, keeping footage no longer than necessary, keeping it secure, and being able to respond when someone asks for a copy of footage of themselves.", "For homes, recording within your own boundary is generally treated as domestic use. Recording a neighbour's garden, a shared driveway or the pavement can take it outside that exemption, and doorbell cameras with audio are a common flashpoint.", "Remote monitoring adds a processor: the monitoring centre handles footage on your behalf, so you need a contract that covers what they may do with it, how long they keep it, and how they keep it secure.", "The ICO publishes guidance covering both business and domestic use, and it is the authoritative source. Ask any prospective provider to explain their retention period and their process for footage requests before signing." ], "category": "Business and insurance", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/cctv-and-data-protection/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is fire alarm monitoring?", "answer": "Fire alarm monitoring connects a fire detection system to an Alarm Receiving Centre so that an activation is passed on when nobody is on site to hear it. The centre alerts your nominated contacts, and depending on the arrangement, the fire and rescue service — though many services now require verification before attending an automatic signal.", "detail": [ "It matters most for unoccupied buildings and out-of-hours periods, where a fire can develop for hours before anyone notices. For commercial premises it is frequently an insurance requirement.", "An important practical point: policy on attending automatic fire alarm signals has tightened, and many UK fire and rescue services now filter or require verification for automatic alarms at non-domestic premises, precisely because so many are false. That means the realistic value of fire monitoring is often the fast alert to your own people, who then verify and call, rather than an automatic appliance dispatch. Ask your provider what actually happens for your building and your local service.", "Fire detection is a separate certification scope from intruder alarms, so check that whoever you use is approved for it specifically." ], "category": "Business and insurance", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-fire-alarm-monitoring/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What is a lone worker alarm?", "answer": "A lone worker alarm is a personal device — a fob, app or badge — that an employee working alone can use to raise an alert, which goes to a monitoring centre that can listen, locate and escalate to the police. Where the service is provided and monitored to BS 8484, it can access a police response level normally reserved for confirmed alarm activations.", "detail": [ "Devices vary: a discreet button, a badge that also detects a fall or a period of no movement, or an app on the worker's phone. Most combine a manual alert with automatic triggers, since a worker who has been knocked unconscious cannot press anything.", "On activation the centre typically opens an audio channel to assess what is happening, uses location data, and escalates according to a plan — to a manager, or to the police.", "The BS 8484 point is what makes it more than a phone call: compliance is what gives the monitoring centre its police escalation route.", "It is commonly used by lettings and estate agents, housing and care staff, engineers and drivers, healthcare visitors, and retail staff handling cash or closing alone. For employers it forms part of demonstrating that lone working risk has actually been managed rather than noted." ], "category": "Business and insurance", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-a-lone-worker-alarm/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Should I self-monitor my alarm with an app instead of paying for monitoring?", "answer": "Self-monitoring is cheaper and genuinely useful, but it makes you the control room: you must be awake, in signal, and willing to act. It cannot obtain police response, has no fallback when you are unreachable, and no record of who did what — so it suits low-risk properties rather than replacing professional monitoring where the stakes are higher.", "detail": [ "The honest case for self-monitoring: for a modest-risk home, an app alert plus a camera plus a neighbour is a real improvement over bells-only, at no monthly cost beyond the hardware. Many people are well served by it.", "The limits are structural rather than technical. You cannot get a URN, so there is no police response to the activation. There is no escalation when you are asleep, abroad, in a meeting or out of signal. There is no verified log for an insurer. And you are the one deciding, at 3am on partial information, whether to drive to the property.", "There is also a quiet failure risk: a self-monitored system that stops reporting usually tells nobody, because there is no supervised path being polled and no centre noticing silence.", "The middle option people miss is professional monitoring with nominated personal keyholders instead of a paid response contract. That gets you supervision, escalation and the URN route at the lower end of monitored pricing." ], "category": "Self-monitoring", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/self-monitoring-vs-professional/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Do smart home alarm systems get police response?", "answer": "Not on a self-monitored basis. A DIY smart alarm that only sends alerts to your phone cannot obtain a URN, so there is no police response to its activations. Some brands offer a paid professional monitoring add-on, and whether that reaches police response depends on the installer and Alarm Receiving Centre behind it being approved — which is worth verifying rather than assuming.", "detail": [ "Marketing in this space is frequently loose, with wording like 'professional monitoring' or 'we can request police dispatch' that stops short of the specific claim.", "The specific claim to ask for is: is this system installed and maintained by an NSI- or SSAIB-approved company, is it monitored by a certificated ARC, and can you obtain a police URN for my address? A provider that can do that will answer plainly. A provider that cannot will change the subject to response times and app features.", "There is also a self-installation problem. Police response conditions require professional installation and maintenance by an approved company, so a system you fitted yourself generally cannot qualify however good the hardware is.", "None of this makes smart alarms bad. They are convenient, they deter, and they give you eyes on the property. Just do not buy one expecting police attendance." ], "category": "Self-monitoring", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/do-smart-alarms-get-police-response/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Can I get alarm monitoring in a rented property?", "answer": "Yes, though you will usually need your landlord's written permission because fitting a communicator and any new detectors involves altering the property. Where an alarm is already installed, adding monitoring is often possible with minimal change, and the monitoring contract can be in the tenant's name.", "detail": [ "Two situations. If an alarm already exists, a takeover survey can often add a communicator with little or no alteration, which is the easy case. If there is no alarm, installation means cabling or fixing devices, and that needs the landlord's consent.", "Sort out in advance who holds the contract and what happens when the tenancy ends: whether the monitoring transfers, whether the hardware stays, and who pays any early-termination charge. A twelve-month monitoring contract on a six-month tenancy is a predictable problem.", "If you want police response, note that the URN attaches to the address, and the maintenance contract requirement means the landlord will need to be comfortable with an ongoing arrangement on their property.", "For landlords, monitoring on an empty or between-tenancy property is often worth more than during a tenancy, since that is when nobody is there to hear anything." ], "category": "Practical situations", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/alarm-monitoring-for-rented-property/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "Is alarm monitoring worth it for an empty or holiday property?", "answer": "This is the case where monitoring is most clearly worth the money, because an empty property is precisely where a bells-only siren achieves nothing. Monitoring plus a local keyholder or a paid response contract is the standard arrangement, and insurers often require it for unoccupied buildings.", "detail": [ "Unoccupied property insurance frequently carries conditions that occupied policies do not, and those conditions commonly include a monitored alarm, a defined inspection frequency, and specified response arrangements. Check the wording, because unoccupancy clauses are where claims get declined.", "Practical priorities differ from an occupied home. You care about supervision — knowing the system is still alive, since nobody is there to notice a dead panel — and about response, since there is no one on site. Environmental monitoring for water leaks and low temperature is often worth adding, as burst pipes in an empty building cause more loss than burglary.", "For a holiday let, add open and close awareness so changeovers and cleaners are visible, and be realistic about who attends: 'a keyholder' who lives two hours away is not a response plan." ], "category": "Practical situations", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/alarm-monitoring-for-empty-property/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "How long does it take to get alarm monitoring set up?", "answer": "Adding monitoring to a suitable existing alarm is often a single short visit to fit and register a communicator, sometimes within a week or two of the survey. A new system takes longer, and if you need police response, the URN application adds time on top — that part depends on your police force, not your installer.", "detail": [ "The sequence is survey, quote, install or takeover inspection, ARC registration and testing, then URN application if police response is wanted.", "The URN step is the least predictable, because it sits with the force. Ask your installer what they are currently seeing for your area rather than accepting a general figure.", "Monitoring is live from the point the system is registered and tested with the ARC, so you are not unprotected while waiting for a URN — you simply have keyholder escalation rather than police response until it is issued.", "Do not let urgency push you into signing at the survey. A day spent checking the register and reading the contract terms is cheap compared with a three-year auto-renewing agreement." ], "category": "Practical situations", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/how-long-does-installation-take/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What questions should I ask an alarm monitoring company before signing?", "answer": "Ask which Alarm Receiving Centre will monitor the system and its certification, whether the company is on the NSI or SSAIB register under the exact legal entity on your quote, whether police response is achievable at your address, what the total cost is broken down by element, and what the notice and renewal terms are.", "detail": [ "A specific list worth taking to a survey:", "Which legal entity am I contracting with, and what is its company number? Are you on the NSI or SSAIB register under that entity, and for which scope? Which ARC will monitor the system, and what is its BS EN 50518 certification? Can I get police response at this address, and will you make the URN application?", "What grade are you designing to, and why that grade? What signalling path or paths, and what happens — and how quickly — if a path fails? Is the communicator sold or rented, and is it locked to your ARC?", "What is the total first-year cost, itemised into monitoring, maintenance, hardware and police fees? What is the contract term, the notice period, and the renewal behaviour? How can the price rise during the term? What is the early-termination charge?", "If a salesperson is reluctant to put any of these in writing, that is your answer." ], "category": "Practical situations", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/questions-to-ask-a-provider/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What does AlarmMonitoring.co.uk actually do?", "answer": "We are a free quote-matching service for UK alarm monitoring. You tell us what you need and roughly where you are, and we match you with monitoring companies covering your area so they can quote. We are not an installer, we are not an Alarm Receiving Centre, and we do not monitor alarms ourselves.", "detail": [ "Being clear about this matters, because plenty of sites in this category present themselves as the provider while actually operating as introducers. We would rather tell you up front.", "What we do: match you with providers covering your postcode, free of charge, and publish reference material on how UK alarm monitoring and police response actually work — free to read, with no form to fill in first.", "What we do not do: install alarms, monitor alarms, hold certification from the NSI or SSAIB, issue URNs, or set prices. Any accreditation relevant to your installation is held by the company that ends up quoting, and you should verify it on the inspectorate's register yourself rather than taking our word or theirs.", "We are paid by providers for the introduction, never by you, and your quote is not marked up because you came through us. That is worth knowing when you read anything here — and it is exactly why our reference pages are written to help you interrogate a quote, including one that arrives through us." ], "category": "About this service", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/what-is-this-service/", "reviewed": "2026-08" }, { "question": "What happens to my details when I submit an enquiry?", "answer": "Your details are emailed to us and matched to alarm monitoring companies covering your area so they can contact you with quotes. We never sell your details for unrelated marketing, and you can ask us to delete them at any time. Full detail is in our privacy notice.", "detail": [ "In practice: you submit the form, we receive it, and we match it to providers who cover your postcode and offer the service you asked about. They contact you directly, and you should expect to hear from more than one — comparing is the point.", "We ask for the minimum needed to get you a useful quote — what you need, roughly where the property is, and how to reach you. Please do not include anything sensitive in the message field, such as alarm codes, passwords, or details of your existing security arrangements.", "Your rights under UK data protection law apply: you can ask what we hold, ask for it to be corrected or deleted, and object to its use. The privacy notice explains how, and who to contact.", "And if you would rather not be contacted by anyone, simply do not use the form. Every reference page on this site is free to read and asks nothing of you." ], "category": "About this service", "url": "https://www.alarmmonitoring.co.uk/questions/how-is-my-data-used/", "reviewed": "2026-08" } ] }