Protecting your home from thieves

Keep your home safe from criminals

When you’re a home owner, tenant or lodger, there is a variety of excellent routes you can take to ensure your home and property are always fully protected and safe from burglars or intruders. Be sure to check our advice and put into action any areas that need improvement.

As surprising as it is, many people still leave spare home keys outside in case they lose or forget their own keys. Storing additional keys in an outside location such as a shed, garden area, garage or under a doormat is inviting a thief inside. Many criminals will check the most obvious hiding places and by leaving keys easily accessible you are making life simple for a potential intruder. Always attempt to keep sheds, garage areas and other exterior buildings locked and secured, alarming these with a battery powered system if possible.

Night time hours are favoured by burglars

Many burglaries occur during the evening hours or at night time; in fact 58% of break-ins are carried out after dark, with only 34% of burglaries at the weekend period. Ensure you keep curtains or blinds closed during the night, carefully removing any items of value out of sight so they may not be seen outside your property.

Remember not to leave door or window keys in place, within their locks. Always make sure that car keys or outside property keys (like a garage) are hidden from view and especially out of sight from a thief who could be looking through a letterbox.

If you are away or out for any period of time, especially during the night hours, it is a good idea to utilise timing devices for radios, lights and other household appliances. They can give the illusion that someone is resident at home to a thief by switching items on and off, even if the property is empty at the time.

Secure doors and windows

Externally opening doors are recommended to always consist of three points which are lockable. Locks of a mortice nature can add significantly improved safety to a door, purchase these online or via any reputable DIY shop. Deadlocks fitted to doors can prevent a thief from exiting your home after stealing, but never compromise your personal safety and ensure security improvements do not ever prevent a safe exit in case of emergency such as fire.

Remember to close doors and windows, even if leaving your home for a short period, thieves only need a moment to steal! When new metal or PVC built windows and doors are fitted to a property, check if these will come with an included chain and locks attached, adding these afterwards can sometimes be expensive and difficult.

Older windows or those that have no security can be easy routes inside, look into safeguarding these further with window locks. They can be a preventative nature in stopping a thief from entering your property, particularly where windows in place are single glazed or of older designs. Specially designed locks for patio doors and openings should be used at all times and added to unsafe areas, a locksmith or online service can advise further.

Lighting and CCTV

To discourage a thief from checking your property, well lit areas using security lighting and other means are advisable, alongside a good burglar alarm system which is highly visible to any unwanted visitor. Always ensure that lights do not affect your neighbours or cause any unwanted nuisance and alarm systems have an automatic cut off after a twenty minute period. CCTV systems can also be an excellent deterrent in stopping thieves in your locality.

Spy holes fitted to doors can be an excellent way in which to first see who is on the doorstep, before a door is opened. Always remember, Stop, Chain and Check especially when not expecting a visitor to call or if they are unknown.

Garden and outside property security is vital, do not place temptation within an easy route for thieves, remove this from sight and keep in locked garages or sheds. Leaving ladders and garden tools outside can be equipping the thief with an easier method of break in. Fit quality built padlocks to secure outside property areas if they have no locks in place.

Installing secure fences, shrubbery, trees and walled areas to protect your home can inadvertently lead to giving a wary thief the needed protection to go unseen whilst breaking in to a property. Consider replacing these with trellis areas, fencing of chain-link nature or shrubs that are prickly and sharp.

Security mark personal items and valuables

Remember to always security mark your property and possessions with a marking product, these are easy to obtain and can be an excellent way in identifying or recovering stolen property.

Finally, neighbourhood watch schemes that operate in your communities are an excellent source of further advice and help, as is your local police service or crime prevention officer.