Tom Doyle :: TALK

I got a letter in the door a couple of weeks ago from The Private Security Authority who were investigating the alarm installed in my home.

In a nutshell, they wanted me to provide them with information on the name and address of the person that installed my alarm, a copy of all invoices and the exact date in which the work took place. The reason for this is that all alarm installers now need to be licensed to do install alarms.

Initially I was quite concerned as good friend of mine had installed the alarm as a favour.

Although he is licensed with his company to install alarms, he is not licensed to do it himself outside of his job (which for me means this is an obvious cause of double taxation). I don’t know why someone can be licensed in their full time job to install alarms, but if they do it in their spare time they’re not, it just doesn’t make sense to me.

Anyway, If I didn’t comply and provide his details, I was liable to a fine of over €3,000.

So I contacted the PSA and told them how a friend had helped me install the alarm as a favour. The very helpful guy at the end of the phone asked told me that because no money had crossed hands, the person installing the alarm was not required to have a license. This made sense since there are so many alarms available online now that would enable someone with no knowledge of alarm systems, to install alarms quite easily. So if you have installed the alarm DIY style, you are fine.

The nice guy at the end of the phone apologised for scaring the living daylights out of me with the letter, but he said the letter was also intended to bring awareness to home owners. But personally I don’t think scaremongering is a good way to get the public to help them in their fight against unlicensed installers. They should be trying to get the consumer to help them tackle this, not frighten them into thinking that they are in serious trouble for getting an alarm installed by a friend of theirs!