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Our top five tips to avoid returning home to a nasty surprise!

Published 21.8.2017 in the Blog.

Amid the excitement of planning and packing for your adventure away, checking your security measures at home can sometimes slip your mind.

But arriving home to find that you’ve been burgled can quickly dampen the holiday spirit.

Whether you’re heading for a weekend away or jetting off for several weeks, taking even the smallest security steps can make a difference to your home security.

We’ve rounded up our top five tips to help keep your home safe.

Secure your door


This probably sounds like we’re stating the obvious, but a burglar will look for the quickest and easiest way to enter your home – and a weak door lock will provide just this.

Burglars will use various methods to gain entry into your home through manipulating your lock. And if your cylinder has no additional security features, it can take a burglar just seconds to break into your home!

The cylinder is the part of the lock that your key goes into and many are unaware of how important it is in protecting against common lock breaking techniques. Before setting off on your adventure, check to see whether your cylinder has a BSI Kitemark.

There are many security features you should look out for when upgrading your lock, find out more here.


Why break in when they can use your spare key?


Most of us at some point have been guilty of it; putting a spare key under the door mat or plant pot.

No matter how secure you think your hiding place is - don’t risk it - burglars know it!

Leave your spare key, as well as any alarm codes with a trusted neighbour or friend to check on your home whilst you’re away.


Is anybody home?


A pile of unopened letters, curtains open and lights turned off; a sign to the opportunist burglar that you’re away.

Some burglars will even go to the lengths of peeking through your letterbox for signs of an empty house.

Having a neighbour or nearby relative draw your curtains or blinds is a great deterrent. Ask whoever is checking on your home to move your post out of sight from the front door or porch to avoid unwanted attention.     

Having a well-lit house is a simple yet effective way of making it appear that your home. Fool the burglar with timer light switches. You can set your lights to automatically come on and off at certain times.


Out of sight, out of mind
 

You wouldn’t put a sign on your front door listing your valuables, but by leaving your valuables on show, you are sending a similar message to opportunist burglars.

Before jetting off on your adventure away, make you home less appealing by hiding your valuables and car keys from the view of passers-by.

Why not consider a home safe? This way you’ll have the reassurance that your valuables and car keys are locked safely away.


Think before you tweet


Burglars constantly keep their eyes out for signs of an empty property – and often social media posts can provide them with this information.

With this in mind, save uploading your envied holiday snaps until you get home.

If you are to post your summer ‘selfie’, check your privacy settings on social media otherwise you could be putting your home at risk. ‘Protect your tweets’ on Twitter and set your Facebook profile to ‘friends only’ to control who can see your posts. Turn off your location settings to avoid social media sites revealing where you are.

Above all, think before you press post!