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Dougmal Harcourts - The Property People

Friday 5 December 2014

Protecting your Home Over the Holiday Season

We are fast approaching the festive season when many of us travel to see our families or head to our favourite holiday spots, leaving our homes unattended.

Statistics show that home burglaries are highest over the Christmas holiday and festive season. Thieves know that many families are away for an extended period of time, often leaving behind new goods from Christmas Day.

If you are planning to go away, it’s time to start thinking about how to best protect your home and contents while you’re away. An unoccupied house advertises itself to potential thieves without you even realising it!

Here are some great ideas to give your house a “lived-in” look that’ll leave no clue to thieves that you’re away. Before you go away you should:-
  1. Cancel any newspaper deliveries.
  2. Ask the post office to hold your mail, or get a neighbour to collect and hold it for you.
  3. Let your neighbours know you’re going away and ask them to keep an eye out for anyone around your home. Also ask someone to collect your mail (including catalogues etc).
  4. Give a neighbour your car keys and ask them to move your car out of the garage and leave in the driveway every couple of days. Alternatively you could ask them to park their car in the driveway.
  5. If you are away for an extended period of time, perhaps organise for a teenager or lawn mowing service to do your lawns and tidy the gardens.
  6. The garbage bin. If you don’t want to ask a neighbour to wheel it out and back in for you, put it away altogether.
  7. Install some electrical timers inside your home to turn selected lights on and off for a period every night.
  8. Turn the volume of your phone down and don’t leave a message telling people you’re away.
You may also have some ideas of your own. Remember, the key is to make your home look “lived-in”.