The Houston alarm permit your property needs
The Burglar Alarm Administration issues the permits. Residential, non-residential and government sites are separate classes, burglar and panic alarms are permitted separately, and each permit runs 12 months. A permit whose fee is over $50 also carries a $33.56 administrative fee.
| Property | Alarm | Permit, 12 months | With the $33.56 administrative fee | No permit: charged per notification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | Burglar | $50 | none: not over $50 | $116.75 |
| Residential | Panic or hold-up | not listed | — | $308.21 |
| Non-residential | Burglar | $134.28 | $167.84 | $233.50 |
| Non-residential | Panic or hold-up | $134.28 | $167.84 | $490.34 |
| Non-residential | Burglar and panic | $268.56 | $335.68 | $233.50 burglar, $490.34 panic |
Without a permit, every notification is charged, false or not. Government sites are a permit class of their own; our register lists no fee for them, and none for a residential panic permit.
When a false alarm counts, and what a year of them costs
Houston police are dispatched to a burglar alarm nobody has verified, and the City names no verification requirement. A false alarm counts against your permit only if police arrive within 65 minutes of the notification. Each 12-month permit period comes with three free false burglar alarms and one free false panic alarm. After that, each one is fined, and enough of them cost the property its permit.
| False alarm | Burglarany site | Panicresidential | Panicnon-residential |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Free | Free | Free |
| 2nd | Free | $140.09 | $280.20 |
| 3rd | Free | $280.20 | $560.39 |
| 4th | $50 | $420.29Revoked if all within 1 month | $700.50Revoked if all within 1 month |
| 5th | $50 | $560.39Revoked if all within 3 months | $700.50Revoked if all within 3 months |
| 6th | $75 | $560.39Revoked if all within 6 months | $700.50Revoked if all within 6 months |
| 7th | $75 | $560.39Permit revoked | $700.50Permit revoked |
| 8th | $100Permit revoked | revoked at the 7th | revoked at the 7th |
| No false alarms | $0Permit kept | $0Permit kept | $0Permit kept |
From the 8th on, each false burglar alarm is $100. A residential panic false alarm stays at $560.39 from the 5th, and a non-residential one at $700.50 from the 4th.
- Where the permit is lost
- More than seven false burglar alarms in the preceding 12 months, or false panic alarms over 3 in one month, 4 in three months, 5 in six months or 6 in twelve.
- Unpaid fines
- 30% is added to a penalty still unpaid on the 61st day. Not paying within 60 days also revokes the permit, with no hearing.
- Getting it back
- Reinstatement takes an administrative hearing, and the permit starts again with its allowance already spent down to three burglar and one panic.
Filing HPD’s trespass affidavit
With the affidavit on file, HPD may enter the property and, in your absence, enforce trespass law under Texas Penal Code section 30.05 against anyone who is not a patron in the normal course of business.
- Pick the right form. HPD has separate business and residential versions.
- Sign as the owner, or as the owner’s authorized agent. Nobody else may file it.
- Have it notarized.
- Fill in the Complainant Data Sheet. The person you name on it is the person subpoenaed for court.
- Post “No Trespassing” signs at every entrance.
- Affirm that you will cooperate with prosecution.
- File it on paper at the HPD station or storefront that covers the property. The original affidavit and the Complainant Data Sheet go together.
- Refile when anything on it changes. The form states no expiration and no fee.
Houston’s entry in our trespass enforcement database quotes the form and sets it beside the programs of other US cities. This is general information, not legal advice.
The paperwork needs someone to see it
One night at a Houston property, two ways.
The alarm on its own
- The alarm sounds.
- HPD is notified.
- If police arrive within 65 minutes and it was a false alarm, it counts against the permit: one more on the year’s count.
- Nobody from the property is there to see what set it off.
Someone watching
- An operator sees someone on the lot on live video.
- The operator speaks to them over the property’s speakers.
- The people your plan names are told while it’s happening.
- Police are called, with the affidavit on file.
- Officers warn first and arrest on refusal or return, and the warning is documented.
- The footage and an incident report follow.
What the affidavit can’t do on its own
Texas affidavits rest on Penal Code section 30.05’s definition of notice, which includes a communication from someone with apparent authority to act for the owner. The affidavit makes every officer that someone. But an authorization on file does nothing until someone sees the trespasser and calls it in. Officers warn first and arrest on refusal or return, each warning is documented, and someone from the property signs the complaint.
At 2 a.m., with nobody from the property there, a live operator watching the cameras can be the one who sees the trespasser while it’s happening.
Free · no site visit
A free remote assessment of your Houston property
We assess the property from satellite imagery and the cameras already up, so nobody needs to come out, and send you a written plan for watching it.
- Send the address and your camera list. The cameras already up, and where they point.
- We look at it remotely. From satellite imagery and your list.
- You get the written plan. The places and hours to watch, what happens when someone is seen, and who is told.
Request the assessment
The address and the cameras already up are enough to start.
Where these figures come from
The alarm figures are those of our US alarm permit database, compiled from the City of Houston Burglar Alarm Administration’s “Ordinance at a Glance” and HPD’s Burglar Alarm Administration page, under the Houston Code of Ordinances, Chapter 11 and the alarm ordinance effective 30 April 2008, and retrieved 4 September 2026. houstontx.gov refused every connection when we compiled them, so those sources are named here rather than linked.
The affidavit terms are those of our trespass enforcement database, retrieved 7 August 2026 from dated archive copies of HPD’s business form (effective 21 January 2021) and residential form, and the HPD registrations page that lists both.
Ordinances and forms change, and the City’s own text governs. If you find a figure out of date, tell us and we will correct it. This page is general information, not legal advice.