Keyholding and alarm response

What is a keyholding service?

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.

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.

What is the difference between keyholder response and police response?

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.

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.

Who can I nominate as a keyholder?

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.

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.

What is BS 7858 screening?

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.

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.