Summer holidays are on the horizon, and as we Brits prepare for our annual escape to sunnier climes, our empty homes become tempting targets for opportunistic intruders.
With break-ins typically increasing during the holiday season, ensuring your property remains secure while you’re away should be as essential to your pre-holiday checklist as remembering your passport.
The excitement of planning your getaway can easily overshadow the importance of home security, but returning to find unwelcome visitors have helped themselves to your belongings is guaranteed to shatter that post-holiday glow. Fortunately, with some thoughtful preparation and a few clever tricks, you can significantly reduce the risk of becoming a target.
Whether you’re heading to the Mediterranean for a fortnight or escaping to the countryside for a long weekend, these practical tips will help keep your home and possessions safe while you’re enjoying that well-deserved break.
Give The Impression That Someone’s Home
The old ‘leave a light on for a fortnight’ tip doesn’t work so well when the sun remains steadfastly up late into the evening, but there are still measures you can take to imply someone is home even when you’re on holiday.
Try to do so in a way which doesn’t use excessive electricity – we have an environment to think of, after all. The most common way for a burglar to evaluate your home prior to attempting a break-in is through ground floor windows or glass panelled doors. Firstly, make sure they’re locked tightly and securely prior to going on holiday. After that, it’s all a matter of leaving your home looking a little ‘lived in’ while you’re away.
Though no one wants to return from holiday to an untidy house, a big giveaway that the home is unoccupied is that it’s been left spotless for days. Instead, consider leaving the remnants of breakfast out (the mugs and cereal bowls – not the half finished croissant) to suggest people are around. Perhaps enhance the impression of activity by leaving the newspaper opened on the kitchen table – though it might be wise to obscure any obvious signs that it’s last week’s news!
A totally modern, totally nifty trick is to remotely play the sound of a dog barking through your smart stereo from time to time, controlled from afar via your smartphone.
You can also avoid the visual impression that the house is unoccupied in other ways…
Avoid Doorstep Pileups
Once upon a time, holidaying homeowners were most concerned by a collection of full milk bottles on the doorstep revealing that they were out. Of course, this advice could easily be modernised by applying the same logic to Amazon deliveries, – a build-up of stuff on your doorstep indicates either an extremely lazy resident lives here, a decomposing body lies inside, or more likely, no one is present.
As such, don’t order items from Amazon to arrive while you’re away – several sitting on the doorstep or piled up in the postbox will be an immediate giveaway that you’re elsewhere. You should also give directions for packages arriving from the Royal Mail, ASOS et al, to be placed in a secure, hidden location for the same reason.
Don’t Share Your Location Publicly
We understand that you’re keen to share snaps of your staycation to all your followers, but unless you’re scrupulous about your privacy settings, some of your social media accounts will likely be accessible to every burglar and his dog.
As such, you should be cautious about revealing (or even tagging) your exact location in photos you publish online, as you’ll be alerting the world to the fact that your house is unoccupied if you do so. Just as you can harness the power of tech to keep your house safer, so would-be burglars can use it to their advantage, too. Remember that.
Install Smart CCTV
Once the preserve of mafia bosses on the run from the law, domestic CCTV has gone mainstream, and recently, it’s also turned rather intelligent.
Installing cameras inside and out which can be monitored through your smartphone acts as both a deterrent and a way to keep your home safer. The best smart CCTV systems will send you alerts when there’s been a potential intruder, which doesn’t sound like much of a holiday for you, but may bring peace of mind, nonetheless.
Some smart CCTV systems can be aligned with motion sensor activated lights, enabling lights to come on around the home whenever a person is captured approaching the house. Or, of course, you could row back on the paranoia. Everything will be ok.
Everybody Needs Good Neighbourhood Watch
Enlisting the help of friendly neighbours to keep their peepers on proceedings in your absence is a good way of achieving a certain serenity while you’re away, as they can keep you posted on goings on.
Within reason, of course; ‘house still not burgled’ isn’t a necessary daily update while you’re tanning by the pool. Their presence though, for instance in your garden doing a bit of watering, can act as a deterrent to would-be burglars, as well as a source of supervision. Remember to give your neighbour a spare set of keys just in case they need access to the house.
If you’d rather not hand out a spare, consider upgrading your home security system with a smart lock door. These clever locks allow you to unlock the door remotely, using your smartphone from the comfort of your sun lounger. You can grant temporary access to your neighbours with expiring codes or set access codes for specific days and times.
Manage Your Garden & External Areas
Your garden can provide either cover for potential burglars or act as an additional deterrent. Ensure hedges and shrubs near windows and doors are trimmed back to eliminate hiding spots. Store away ladders, garden tools, and heavy objects that could be used to break windows or force entry.
Consider installing motion-activated garden lighting and keep pathways visible from the street – burglars prefer to work unseen, so good visibility from neighbouring properties and the road can be a powerful deterrent. If you have a garden gate, ensure it has a secure lock and consider adding a visible bell or alarm to deter casual intruders.
Don’t Neglect Your Outbuildings
I don’t know about you, but ‘don’t neglect your outbuildings’ sounds strangely obscene. You know what? So did ‘manage your garden and external areas’. But even more obscene is the lack of security afforded to these often valuable parts of the home…
Great segue, we think. Indeed, while securing your main home is essential, don’t forget those vulnerable outbuildings dotted around your garden. Sheds, garden rooms, and garages often house valuable tools, bikes, and garden equipment that are just as appealing to thieves as your indoor possessions.
These structures typically have less robust security than your house, making them easy targets for opportunistic burglars. Ensure all outbuildings have proper locks and consider installing battery-powered alarms that trigger when doors are opened. Motion-sensitive security lighting around these areas can also be an effective deterrent.
With Keyed Alike Padlocks, one key opens all your locks. Whether it’s your side gate, garage, storage unit, or shed, you’ll only need a single key. This practical system not only simplifies your life by reducing key clutter but also increases the likelihood that you’ll actually secure everything properly before departing.
Remember that tools stored in unsecured outbuildings could potentially be used to gain access to your main property, so securing these spaces isn’t just about protecting their contents – it’s an essential part of your overall home security strategy.
Secure Your Windows & Doors
We end with perhaps the most pertinent point of all, just so it’s fresh in your mind: Windows and doors are the primary entry points for burglars, with many break-ins occurring through unsecured openings. Before departing, double-check that all windows have functioning locks and are properly secured. Consider installing additional window locks, particularly on ground floor windows which are most vulnerable to opportunistic thieves.
For doors, ensure deadbolts are engaged and consider installing a door brace for added security on your main entrance. If you have a conservatory or garden doors, these typically have weaker security features and may benefit from additional reinforcement. Remember that even small bathroom windows can provide access to determined intruders, so don’t overlook these when securing your property.
The Bottom Line
Holiday security doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. A combination of common sense, a few smart gadgets, and some help from trusted neighbours can make all the difference. Taking a few hours to secure your property before departure is a small price to pay for the peace of mind that comes with knowing your home is protected. After all, the only surprise you want upon your return is how quickly your holiday tan starts to fade.
