Holidays are always exciting, but leaving your home empty can be worrying. There are several things you can do though to give you peace of mind that your home is safe while you take a well-deserved break.
Use your security system regularly & report faults as soon as you can
Believe it or not, some people have a security system but choose not to use it regularly. Not only does it mean your property is unsecure, but it also means you might not realise your system has a fault. So, when you go on holiday and set your alarm it might not be working correctly, leaving your home unprotected.
Use your security system regularly and report faults as soon as you notice them to make sure they are fixed as soon as possible.
We’ve had situations where a customer’s security system has been going off the whole time they were away and irate neighbours have called us up to ask if we can turn it off. As annoying as the alarm is for the neighbours, we are not allowed to turn an alarm off without the customer’s permission.
We get booked up very quickly, especially in the summer months as people want to make sure their home is safe while they’re away, so the sooner you let us know about a problem, the sooner we can fix it.
Have your security system serviced regularly
Servicing your security system doesn’t guarantee that your system will be 100% fault free when you go on holiday, but it will identify and allow any issues to be fixed that are present when your system is serviced. This reduces the likelihood of a fault occurring while you’re away.
Most insurance companies will also insist that your security system is serviced regularly. If it isn’t, you may find that you can’t make a successful claim because you didn’t do what you agreed to do.
Lock up and ask someone to double check
We’ve all been there: your plane takes off and your brain decides now is a good moment to wonder if you locked the back door. You spend the rest of the flight fretting and have to call a friend or neighbour to ask them to check as soon as you get off the plane.
Make sure all your doors and windows are locked, and don’t forget about your garage, shed or any other outhouses you may have. If your windows haven’t got locks on them, though most do now, purchase window locks.
To give you peace of mind, ask another member of your household to check all the doors and locks after you’ve locked them, so you can all set off happy and worry-free.
Light and lamp timers
A house sat in darkness at 9PM is a good indicator to burglars that no one is home. Lights and lamp timers are a cheap way of creating the illusion that someone is home.
Cancel milk and newspaper deliveries
It’s a sure sign to burglars that you’ve gone away if there’s four days’ worth of milk sat going off on your step and a three day old newspaper sticking out the letterbox.
Deliveries are things that are easy to take for granted or forget about when you’re going away. If you think you might forget, put reminders on your calendar for a couple of weeks before you go.
Ask neighbours to park on your drive
If your drive will be empty while you’re away, ask a neighbour to park on your drive to make it look like someone’s in.
[Source: pr-alarms.co.uk]