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Whether you will be away for only a few days or for several weeks, do not forget to ensure that your home is safe and secure. An estimated 80 per cent of burglaries occur when no one is home, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Do not risk remembering a holiday for all the wrong reasons—follow these six pieces of guidance to help you achieve peace of mind during your holiday by protecting your home:
- Set up automatic timers that turn on your lights, radios, televisions, etc, when it gets dark. If you do not have automatic timers, you can also ask a trusted friend to stop by at least once per day to check on the house.
- Verify that you have locked all your windows and doors, and use a metal rod or heavy wood dowel to block the tracks on sliding windows and glass doors.
- Cancel any newspaper or other regular deliveries. In addition, you may want to consider using the Royal Mail’s ‘Keepsafe’ service, which holds your mail for up to two months while you are away.
- Collect all of your extra keys that you may have hidden outside your home and store them somewhere safe inside. Alternatively, you may want to leave a spare key with a trusted friend.
- Contact your security system company to notify them that you will be gone, and provide them with contact information if they need to reach you. In addition, if your security system has video streaming, make sure that it is working properly before you leave.
- Avoid discussing your holiday plans on social media—such as Twitter and Facebook—as burglars could use this information to their advantage.
Follow the link to find out more or to get a quote for our Home insurance Policies.