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HOA security contract checklist: what a California board should check before signing
A 14-point checklist for HOA boards comparing security proposals. It covers the operator’s license, its insurance and the contract terms, each guard’s registration, and the Davis-Stirling steps for voting and record-keeping. Each item is marked as law or industry practice.
Printable checklist
The answer in brief
Before an HOA board signs with a security company, three things are worth checking on paper: the company’s state license, the registration of every guard it will send, and its insurance. After that come the contract terms, which California law mostly leaves to the parties, and the board’s own steps under the Davis-Stirling Act for voting on the contract and keeping it on file.
The 14-row checklist below pulls these together, and each row says whether it rests on a statute or on industry practice. The statutes were read on the state’s official code site in November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; your association’s attorney and insurance broker can tell you how it applies to your community and its CC&Rs.
Checking the company and its guards
Under Business and Professions Code 7582.1, a company that supplies guards or patrol for pay to protect people or property has to hold a private patrol operator (PPO) license. A guard is an employee of that operator working on the client’s property, and a guard who patrols public streets on a route serving more than one property, as on a roving HOA route, is a street patrolperson under the same section. The bureau’s PPO requirements include being at least 18, guard and management experience, an exam and a DOJ and FBI background check, and the license runs for two years.
Each license and registration can be looked up on the state license search:
- Open the search and choose the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services as the board.
- Pick the license type: Private Patrol Operator for the company, Security Guard for a person, Exposed Firearm Permit for an armed guard.
- Search by name or license number.
- Read the status (current, expired, suspended or revoked) and look for any discipline on the record.
On duty, a guard carries a current registration card, or the bureau’s approval printout with a photo ID while the card is pending, and an armed guard also carries a current firearms permit. Only guards employed by a PPO, or by a government agency, can carry a firearm or baton on duty. A guard who fires a weapon on duty has to report it to the employer within 24 hours, so ask in the contract for that report to reach the board or manager as well.
Insurance: the state minimum and what boards add
Every PPO has to carry commercial general liability of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence for bodily injury, death included, and property damage, placed with an insurer that holds authority to do business in California (Bus. & Prof. Code 7583.40). The policy stays on file with the bureau, which is listed as certificate holder and told of policy dates and cancellations. If coverage lapses, the license is suspended automatically after a 30-day notice.
Boards commonly ask for more than the state minimum. None of these is required by state law for an HOA vendor; they are industry practice:
- A certificate naming the association, and the manager if you choose, as additional insured by endorsement
- Limits at least matching the association’s own coverage levels in the next section
- A workers’ compensation certificate
- Auto liability when the company patrols in vehicles
- Written notice to the association if the policy is cancelled
HALO is insured, carries workers’ compensation, is bonded, and gives every client a certificate of insurance.
The association’s own insurance levels
Two Davis-Stirling sections tie protection for directors and owners to the association’s own insurance. These are the association’s coverage levels, not limits the guard company has to carry.
| Civil Code section | Community size | Coverage the association carries | What it protects |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5800 | 100 units or fewer | General liability and D&O, at least $500,000 each | Volunteer directors and officers from personal liability above the insurance, when they acted in good faith and within their duties |
| 5800 | More than 100 units | General liability and D&O, at least $1,000,000 each | The same director and officer protection |
| 5805 | 100 units or fewer | General liability of at least $2,000,000 | Owners from suits arising only from common area held as tenants in common |
| 5805 | More than 100 units | General liability of at least $3,000,000 | The same owner protection |
The director shield also requires that the director was not grossly negligent, and it does not limit the association’s own liability. The association has to tell members as soon as reasonably practicable if a policy in the budget report lapses, is cancelled or is cut back significantly.
Contract terms to look for
No state agency publishes a model guard contract, so these terms are industry practice rather than law, apart from the code sections noted:
- Parties: the operator’s legal name, PPO license number and address, with the association, not the manager, as the client
- Scope and post orders: posts, patrol routes and duties such as gate control, patrol, parking enforcement and lock-ups, plus the things guards are not to do, such as towing decisions outside board policy
- Hours and staffing: the schedule, minimum staffing, and armed or unarmed posts
- Guard records: names and registration numbers on request, and replacement of a guard the board asks to remove
- Reports: the incident report format and delivery time, daily activity logs, and who gets a call when something happens
- Subcontracting: only with the board’s written consent, and only to a company holding its own PPO license
- Term: renewal, termination for convenience and for cause, notice periods and how rates change
Our post orders checklist covers the duties side in more detail.
Davis-Stirling steps for the board
The board cannot act on an item outside a board meeting, and email exchanges do not count as a meeting except in an emergency where every director consents in writing (Civil Code 4910), so a guard contract should not be settled by email chain. Forming contracts with third parties is one of the subjects the board can discuss in executive session, with the matter noted generally in the minutes of the next open meeting (Civil Code 4935). Holding the vote itself in the open meeting is good practice.
Once signed, an executed contract that is not otherwise privileged is an association record members can inspect, and so is the board’s written approval of vendor proposals or invoices (Civil Code 5200, as amended effective January 1, 2026). Write the contract expecting owners to read it. No section of the Act tells an association to hire security or sets guard standards; whether and how to provide it comes from your CC&Rs and your attorney’s advice.
Red flags before signing
- No PPO license on the state search, or a status other than current
- Guards who cannot show a registration card, or armed guards with no firearms permit
- A certificate of insurance below $1,000,000 per occurrence, or one that has lapsed
- No written post orders, or duties described only in a sales conversation
- Subcontracting to another company without the board’s written consent
- Pressure to sign by email before a board meeting
The printable checklist
Download the checklist to take to your next board meeting. Each row has a box to tick and the basis for it, so directors can see which items come from the code and which are industry practice.
| Item | What to check | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Company license | A current private patrol operator (PPO) license with no discipline, found on the state license search | Bus. & Prof. Code 7582.1 |
| 2. Guard registrations | Every assigned guard holds a current BSIS registration and carries the card on duty | Bus. & Prof. Code 7583.3(a) |
| 3. Armed posts | Armed guards hold a firearms permit tied to their registration and work for the PPO | Bus. & Prof. Code 7583.3 |
| 4. Liability insurance | General liability of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, kept on file with BSIS | Bus. & Prof. Code 7583.39 and 7583.40 |
| 5. Additional insured | The association, and the manager if you wish, named on the policy by endorsement | Industry practice |
| 6. Workers’ comp and auto | Certificates for workers’ compensation, and auto liability when patrol vehicles are used | Industry practice |
| 7. The association’s own cover | General liability and D&O at the levels in Civil Code 5800 and 5805 (table above) | Civ. Code 5800, 5805 |
| 8. Post orders | Written duties, posts and routes, and what guards are not to do | Industry practice |
| 9. Hours and staffing | The schedule, minimum staffing and how a missed shift is covered | Industry practice |
| 10. Incident reporting | Daily logs, a deadline for incident reports, and any firearm discharge report passed to the board | Bus. & Prof. Code 7583.3(d) and industry practice |
| 11. Subcontracting | Only with the board’s written consent, and only to a company with its own PPO license | Bus. & Prof. Code 7582.1 and industry practice |
| 12. Indemnity and termination | Indemnity for guards’ negligence, and the terms for ending the contract for cause or for convenience | Industry practice |
| 13. Board vote | Negotiate in executive session if needed; decide at a board meeting, never by email | Civ. Code 4910, 4935 |
| 14. Records | File the signed contract as an association record owners can inspect | Civ. Code 5200 |
Get help
HALO’s HOA and gated community security covers gate posts and community patrols, and our mobile patrol checks common areas and parking on a set route and sends photo reports. Officers hold BSIS guard cards, contracts are month to month, and the on-site security review is free with a guard quote. When your board is ready to compare proposals, request a quote and HALO follows up on the details.
Resources
Related guides
A few useful answers
Common questions
How do we check a California security company’s license?
Use the state’s license search at search.dca.ca.gov, choose the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, and search the company as a Private Patrol Operator by name or license number. Check that the status is current and look for discipline.
How much liability insurance must a guard company carry in California?
At least $1,000,000 per occurrence in commercial general liability, kept on file with the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. Many boards ask for more, plus additional insured status, as industry practice.
Can an HOA board sign a security contract by email vote?
No. Civil Code 4910 bars the board from acting outside a board meeting, and email exchanges count only in an emergency with every director’s written consent. Negotiations can happen in executive session, with the vote at a meeting.
Can homeowners read the association’s security contract?
Yes. Under Civil Code 5200, executed contracts that are not otherwise privileged are association records members can inspect, along with the board’s written approval of vendor proposals and invoices.
Does the guard company have to name the HOA as additional insured?
State law does not require it. Naming the association, and often the manager, as additional insured by endorsement is a common board request and belongs in the contract if you want it.