Seasonal property security
Property security is important all year round, but there are times of the year where it’s even more crucial to secure your home
Property security is important all year round, but there are times of the year where it’s even more crucial to secure your home.
The highest number of burglaries take place during the dark winter months. With this in mind, here’s how to secure your home for winter.
Very few burglaries are impulsive or opportunistic. Most burglars will stake out a home or neighbourhood before trying to gain entry. Which makes sense, when you think about it.
Burglary is risky, and can result in a long prison sentence. Breaking into homes on a whim is pretty likely to get you caught.
If they really want to, a burglar can smash a window and climb through fairly easily. Deterring a would be burglar is all about making the task seem as high-risk and low-reward as possible.
The more security measures you put in place and the less accessible you make your property seem, the more likely the burglar is to think twice and walk away.
All the security measures listed above (lights on timers, locks on doors and windows, activating alarms, making your front garden as noisy as possible, keeping valuables out of sight) become even more crucial during the winter.
Long nights mean there are more hours of darkness – and therefore more opportunities for burglars. Timed lights and radios are a great way of making your property look inhabited when you’re out.
Christmas time is peak burglar season.
Thieves know that houses are likely to be full of Christmas presents and goodies at this time of year, which is why it’s particularly important to keep all valuables hidden out of sight.
If your tenants have bought a fancy new computer or the latest console, they need to think about where they’ll put the empty boxes.
Placing them out the front with the rest of the recycling is a sure fire way to let burglars know there are attractive valuables indoors.
In addition to this, all the usual security rules listed above apply – particularly lighting.
One thing burglars don’t want is to be illuminated and visible.
The more you can offset the darkness of winter with lighting, the better protected your property will be.
If you don’t have outdoor lights, it’s a good idea to invest in some.
Similarly, if you don’t have timers for your lights, we recommend buying some before winter sets in; they’re a cheap and effective way to deter burglars.
Another important measure is to encourage your tenants to let you know if they’re going away during the festive season (and at other times of the year).
This is one of the reasons it’s a good idea to develop a strong relationship with your tenants.
If they know and trust you, they’ll be much more likely to communicate with you and let you know if they’re going away.
Knowing when your property will be empty is key to keeping it secure and protected against burglary.
You can make regular checks and pick up mail that’s sticking out of the letterbox, open and close curtains, and replace the bins while your tenants are away.
All of these measures will help to give the appearance that the property is occupied.
A simple way to make sure your tenants let you know if they’re going away is by including it in your tenancy agreement.
For example: the tenant must inform you if the property is going to be vacant for a given period of time(you might want to make this seven or 14 days).
This is useful for landlord insurance purposes (particularly if the tenant will be absent for over 30 days), but also enables you to have a conversation with your tenant, before they go away, about keeping the property secure and how they can be contacted in an emergency.
