I just talked to the Madison County (Alabama) Sheriff’s department. They confirmed that if a house is located outside all city limits (like mine is), no alarm permit is required. I know that inside the city of Huntsville, a permit is mandatory (see this URL), and for the city of Madison, it’s voluntary until after the first false alarm, when it becomes mandatory (see this URL). I don’t know about other cities in the area.
Thanks for reaching out! Yes, permits are typically required based on the responding authority if you use 24/7 monitoring. Some cities require permits even for self-monitoring though that is rarer. It is more common for cities to have permit requirements than at the county level.
If a permit is required in a user’s location, typically the user fills out any application and provides a permit number to Surety. That wouldn’t be required in your case.