Make sure your home is safe when you’re out and about
As we reach the height of summer holiday season have you given some thought to keeping your home secure when you are away.
Even if it is just for a day trip, it pays to make sure you have your house safe and secure when you are not around.
It’s an ideal time to take a look at your home and ways you can make it safe and secure when you are relaxing by a pool somewhere exotic.
Time to make a checklist of tasks you can work your way through from chores you have been putting off in the house and in your garden, to checking your burglar alarm and windows are safe.
Here are some things to check before you pack your bags and head off to the sunshine this summer.
1. Check your household insurance
Make sure you have the cover you need and that it remains valid while you are away. While buying an adequate level of cover for your possessions may seem obvious, are there any exclusions in your policy that could render it void if, for instance, you are away from home for more than a certain number of days?
2. Don’t leave the house looking unoccupied
Cut the grass before you leave so that it doesn’t look like a meadow by the time you get back.
Bring in washing from the line, and from drying racks that can be seen through windows.
Leave curtains and blinds open – nothing reveals that a house is unoccupied so much as curtains drawn during the day.
Cancel milk and newspapers and any other regular deliveries.
Ask a neighbour to remove free newspapers and post from your doormat if they can be seen through a glass panel or through the letterbox.
Alternatively, you can sign up to Royal Mail’s Keepsafe service, which holds letters and parcels for up to 66 days while you are away and delivers them once you return.
Install a light on a timer switch that comes on in the evening.
3. Keep your valuables safe
Keep valuables out of sight and don’t leave them where they can be seen through a window.
Avoid obvious hiding places such as your sock drawer, in a fake food can in the kitchen.
4. Don’t tell everyone you are away on holiday
Don’t tell people outside immediate friends and family that you are going away or for how long.
You’ll have plenty of opportunity to show off your tan or tell your fisherman’s tales when you get back.
Avoid bragging about your upcoming holiday on social media such as Facebook or Twitter – you don’t know who can read your comments, or who they will tell.
5. Protection for you on your travels
Make sure you have adequate travel insurance and that you have declared anything that could, if an insurer found out about it later invalidate your claim.
So this summer be sure to take small steps to keep your home safe and give you peace of mind while you relax on holiday.