Top tips for keeping your belongings safe in shared accommodation

Burglars target shared houses, particularly during times when students are likely to return home for festive seasons (e.g. Easter, Christmas, New Year) – because student houses can tend to have more high-end equipment (4 bedrooms = 4 potential laptops, 4 monitors, at least 4 mobile phones…).

And it is easy to tell shared houses in most towns with a high student population.  Just look at the state of the front gardens.  Front gardens that look overgrown with weeds, with rubbish on the floow, or where bins are haphazardly placed, or overflowing, or not pulled back from the edge of the street where collection points are, or ones with letting boards – all these are tell-tale signs of student properties.

For this reason, we pay attention to, and ask that all our tenants pay attention to how the front gardens are left.  We also get them to:

1. Use the double lock that’s in all our properties to secure the property regardless of whether there’s anyone in the house.
2. Remember to lock kitchen exits
3. Lock their bedrooms when they leave the house
4. Leave all valuable equipment out of sight in ground floor rooms – whether these are bedrooms, lounges or kitchen.

Why make it easy for burglars?  They tend to go for easy targets, things that they can see.

So, keep your laptops, phones and other valuables away from windows that are open or without curtains.  As an added precaution, take out contents insurance.

And if you’re intending to be away from the house (leaving it empty) for more than a few days, just drop us a line.  We will send someone round to make sure that nothing’s gone amiss.