How to Prevent a Burglary in Your Student Home

Individually, you might think that your possessions don’t make you a very attractive prospect to a thief. But, when you live in a houseshare, your belongings, combined with the other laptops, mobile phones, bikes and bank cards of your housemates, suddenly makes you and your student home a prime target.  

Here’s a few pointers and tips on how to keep you and your belongings safe:

Lock Your Windows and Doors

It might seem an obvious point, but in September of last year, Leeds Crime Statistics as reported by LSU revealed that “Students were the victims of 41 per cent of [the] month’s burglaries, of which 64 per cent were the result of homes being left insecure.”

Lock your windows and doors, and not just when you go out in the morning or to bed at night.

Most burglary crime is opportunistic, meaning a thief will spot your open window and empty room and chance nicking something from it. Don’t return from a shower to find your laptop and first class essay gone, secure your stuff any time you leave it.

Who’s At Home?

Keeping tabs on who’s at home and who’s out is almost impossible when you live in a large house-share.

Housemates and their friends will come and go at different times of day and it’s possible that unless you know who they all are, you’ll innocently invite a thief in and offer them a cup of tea.

If someone you don’t know comes to the house to see a housemate, make them wait outside while you go and fetch them.

For added security, it’s wise to use a free messaging service like WhatsApp to let each other know if you’re expecting friends or if you’re going away.

If you do go away, especially around holiday periods, take your valuables with you or put them in storage.

Keep in Touch

Make sure that you have up-to-date contact numbers for all of your housemates. If you’re in a lecture and remember you left your window or door open, you can text someone and ask them to close it.

Don’t make your house vulnerable to a theft. If you misplace your keys, get in touch with us, and your housemates as soon as possible in case they’ve been stolen, not lost.

Insurance

You can get specialist student insurance that covers the cost of replacing your stuff if you’re the unfortunate victim of a burglary. It’s always worth having, so use NUS recommended Endsleigh Insurance or shop around to find the policy that’s right for you.

If you ever return to the house to find signs of a break-in, don’t go in. Call the police and then notify us as soon as you can.

Burglary can be a distressing crime but we take your security seriously and do everything we can to make our student rental homes safe and secure.

Get in touch with the team at Pickard Properties if there’s any damage to property fences, doors or windows and we’ll make their repair a priority.

 
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http://www.pickardproperties.co.uk/

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