(a) Except as provided by Section 7599.56, every agreement, including, but not limited to, lease agreements, monitoring agreements, and service agreements, including all labor, services, and materials to be provided for the installation of an alarm system, shall be in writing. Except as provided by Section 7599.56, all amendments subject to the provisions of this section to an initial agreement shall be in writing. Each initial agreement shall contain, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) The name, business address, business telephone number, and license number of the licensed alarm company operator and the registration number of any alarm agent who solicited or negotiated the agreement.
(2) The approximate dates when the work will begin and be substantially completed.
(3) A description of the work to be done, a description of the materials to be used, and the agreed consideration for the work.
(4) A disclosure that alarm company operators are licensed and regulated by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, Department of Consumer Affairs, including the bureau’s current address and contact information.
(5) A description of the alarm system including the major components thereof and services to be provided to the purchaser once the alarm is installed, including response or monitoring services, if any.
(6) Other matters agreed to by the parties of the contract. The agreement shall be legible and shall be in a form as to clearly describe any other document which is to be incorporated into the contract, and, before any work is done, the client shall be furnished with a copy of the written agreement signed by the licensee.
(7) A statement setting forth that upon completion of the installation of the alarm system, the alarm company shall thoroughly instruct the purchaser in the proper use of the alarm system.
(8) In the event a mechanic’s lien is to be utilized, a notice-to-owner statement which shall describe, in nontechnical language and in a clear and coherent manner using words with common and everyday meaning, the pertinent provisions of this state’s mechanics’ lien laws and the rights and responsibilities of an owner of property and a contractor thereunder, including the provisions relating to the filing of a contract concerning a work of improvement with the county recorder and the recording in the office of a contractor’s payment bond for private work.
(9) For residential agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2017, that include an automatic renewal provision renewing the agreement for a period of more than one month, a clear and distinct disclosure shall be included separate from the terms and conditions of the agreement advising the consumer that the agreement he or she is entering into contains an automatic renewal provision. The disclosure shall include the length of time of the renewal term and specify that failure to provide notification of nonrenewal to the licensee, as required in the agreement, will result in the automatic renewal of the agreement. The consumer shall acknowledge being advised of the automatic renewal provision by signing or initialing the disclosure. The disclosure may be included on the same document as the three-day right to cancel form required by Section 1689.7 of the Civil Code. The automatic renewal provision shall be void and invalid without a separate acknowledgment of the disclosure by the consumer.
(10) In addition to the above, every initial residential sales and lease agreement, the total cost which over the time period fixed by the agreement exceeds two hundred fifty dollars ($250), including the cost of all labor, service, or material to be provided by the licensee for the installation, shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(A) A schedule of payments showing the amount of each payment as a sum in dollars and cents. This schedule of payments shall be referenced to the amount of work for services to be performed or to any materials or equipment to be supplied.
(B) If the payment schedule contained in the agreement provides for a downpayment to be paid to the licensee by the owner or the tenant before commencement of the work, that downpayment shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) or 10 percent of the contract price, excluding finance charges, whichever is the lesser.
(C) In no event shall the payment schedule provide that the licensee receive, nor shall the licensee actually receive, payment in excess of 100 percent of the value of the work performed on the project at any time, excluding finance charges, except that the licensee may receive an initial downpayment authorized by subparagraph (B). A failure by the licensee, without legal excuse, to substantially commence work within 20 days of the approximate date specified in the contract when work is to commence, shall postpone the next succeeding payment to the licensee for that period of time equivalent to the time between when substantial commencement was to have occurred and when it did occur.
(D) A notice-to-owner statement which shall describe, in nontechnical language and in a clear and coherent manner using words with common and everyday meaning, the pertinent provisions of this state’s mechanics’ lien laws and the rights and responsibilities of an owner of property and a contractor thereunder, including the provisions relating to the filing of a contract concerning a work of improvement with the county recorder and the recording in the office of a contractor’s payment bond for private work.
(E) A description of what constitutes substantial commencement of work pursuant to the contract.
(F) A disclosure that failure by the licensee, without legal excuse, to substantially commence work within 20 days from the approximate date specified in the agreement when the work will begin is a violation of the Alarm Company Act.
(G) A disclosure informing the buyer of any potential permit fees which may be required by local jurisdictions concerning the monitoring of an existing alarm system.
(H) This section shall not be construed to prohibit the parties to a residential alarm system sale contract from agreeing to a contract or account subject to Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1801) of Title 2 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.
(b) A violation of this section or failure to commence work pursuant to subparagraph (F) of paragraph (10) of subdivision (a) may result in a fine of one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation and a fine of five hundred dollars ($500) for each subsequent violation.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 573, Sec. 41. (SB 800) Effective January 1, 2018.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018