Houston, TX Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Houston regulates burglar, holdup, and panic alarms through an alarm-permit system administered by the department of administration and regulatory affairs, requiring a permit, false-alarm fee schedule, and revocation process under Chapter 11, Article II. That article, however, carves out car alarms by name. " That means an owner does not need an alarm permit for a factory or aftermarket car alarm, is not subject to Chapter 11's false-alarm fees, and cannot have a permit revoked over a car alarm going off. A car alarm that repeatedly wakes a neighborhood instead falls under Chapter 30's general noise rules: Section 30-4 makes it unlawful to operate a vehicle so out of repair that it creates a loud, unreasonable sound "regardless of whether the sound so created by the motor vehicle is within the permissible levels" set elsewhere in the chapter, and Section 30-5 sets maximum sound levels measured from the receiving property line. Houston police and the department of neighborhoods, not the alarm-permit office, are the enforcement contacts for a persistent car alarm complaint.