KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Do subscribers on long term contracts need to sign new contracts yearly
September 21, 2026
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Do subscribers on long term contracts need to sign new contracts yearly
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Ken,
Every one of our customers is on a signed Kenny Kontract, no exceptions. As a general rule, we update our contracts about once per year. We feel this threads the needle of balancing the protection of our company without hemorrhaging money on new contracts every two weeks. We also take advantage of the free contract update as well as the Concierge Program. We fell this is the right recipe for a smoothly running kitchen.
But I notice about once per year your contract verbiage undergoes significant changes due to new case law or new legislative developments. Our term-length for the Commercial Fire All In One is always 10-years, unless the customer throws a hissy-fit at signature time. Ten years is a long time for contracts to become legally “stale” or, worse yet, unenforceable.
Now, I know its nice to say “just have the customer sign a new K&K contract every year!” but the reality is that just getting a customer to sign once is often challenging, costly and time consuming without having to constantly repeat it year after year.
What should our philosophy be regarding those customers currently on older Kenny Kontracts?
Thank you!
Eric G
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Response
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You have the right philosophy, but perhaps not quite the right conclusion. You are way ahead of most alarm companies because every subscriber is on a signed Kirschenbaum Contracts TM form. That is the first rule and there really is no second rule that matters as much: don’t provide alarm, fire, monitoring, inspection, repair, guard response, camera, access control or other services without a proper signed contract.
That doesn’t mean you need to get every existing subscriber to sign a new contract every year. In a perfect world every subscriber would sign the newest form the day it is released. In the real world, as you point out, getting the first signature can be hard enough. Trying to repeat that process annually with every subscriber may not be practical, and it may not be necessary.
Your existing signed contracts do not become stale merely because a newer form is available. In most situations courts will enforce the contract that has been signed by the parties using the law that existed at the time the contract was executed. But be careful about renewals terms because I am not as confident that old law will be accepted into a renewal term, especially with consumer contracts and particularly with auto-renew statutes. A properly drafted contract, which is what the K&K Contract will be when you buy it, signed by the subscriber, with the protective provisions you need, remains the contract you rely on. The problem is that law changes, technology changes, services change, courts issue decisions, legislatures pass statutes and subscribers’ lawyers come up with new arguments. That is why the Kirschenbaum Contracts TM are updated. Not because the old contract evaporates, but because the newer form is designed to meet today’s risks, today’s subscribers and today’s services.
So what should you do with subscribers on older contracts? Use common sense and a system. New subscribers get the newest Kirschenbaum Contracts TM form, no exception. Existing subscribers should sign the new form whenever there is a meaningful opportunity: an upgrade, takeover, new equipment, additional services, change in monitoring, inspection added, video added, access control added, fire service added, change of ownership, change of location, change of legal entity, renewal negotiation, rate adjustment or any dispute or collection issue that brings the account back to your attention.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a ten year term means you can put the contract in a drawer and forget about it for ten years. The ten year term protects your RMR and contract value; it is not a promise that you will never update documentation when the relationship changes. Any time you touch the account in a material way, you should be thinking: is this the time to get the current contract signed?
The annual updates, K&K’s free update policy [free for 6 months and half price within a year of purchase] and Concierge Program are there for exactly this reason. You want to be using the current forms going forward and you want a plan for migrating older subscribers when the opportunity presents itself. You don’t need to start a panic campaign and antagonize good subscribers for no reason. But you also don’t want old forms hanging around forever when the subscriber is buying new services, adding equipment or otherwise changing the relationship.
Bottom line: keep every subscriber under contract; use only the current Kirschenbaum Contracts TM for new subscribers; use every legitimate business opportunity to move existing subscribers to the current form; and never, never provide services without a signed contract. That is the recipe for the smoothly running kitchen and successful alarm company.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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