8 Tips To Secure Your New Home

Moving into a new home is an exciting experience – don’t let it get ruined by intruders or burglars.

A burglary is committed every 108 seconds, making it one of the most common crimes in the UK. Here are our top tips to secure your new home.

1. Stay alert on moving day

Most people move the majority of their possessions into a new home over the course of a day with the help of friends, family or professional movers.

With so much activity (in what is probably a new area for you), it can be easy to miss eagle-eyed burglars casing your home and possessions for valuables worth stealing or weak entry points. Some may even try to use the commotion of moving day to steal items from your home without you knowing.

Make sure you know exactly who is in your home at all times by shutting and locking any entry points when they’re not in use, and try to move items inside as quickly as possible rather than leaving them outside where burglars can see them.

2. Change the locks

One of the first things you should do when you move into a new home is to change your locks. You have no way of knowing how the developer or previous owner looked after their lock security and you can’t be sure there aren’t people with keys to the existing locks.

Protect your home from unwanted (and sometimes undetectable) intrusions by simply changing the locks. It takes less than a day and is much more cost effective than being robbed.

3. Don’t advertise expensive possessions

Whether your unpacking existing possessions from your last home or unpacking new ones you’ve treated yourself to, don’t leave the packaging for expensive items out where anyone can see it. This signals to burglars that you’ve got something worth breaking in for!

Fold packaging down (ideally inside out) to fit in your recycling bin, take it to your nearest recycling centre, or only put it out right before it’s due to be collected.

Read more: What do burglars look for?

4. Add deadbolts to exterior doors

Intruders will often try to pick or snap the locks on your outer doors to get into your home. While you can invest in anti-snap locks to prevent this from happening, it’s also wise to add a deadbolt to your door as it cannot be interfered with from the outside and makes it more difficult (even if they manage to snap your main lock) for intruders to get through.

5. Get to know your neighbours

Your neighbours are some of the best assets you can have when it comes to home security. If they see someone they don’t recognise around your home, they’ll be able to alert you or the police. But if they don’t know who you are or what you look like they’re less likely to be able to spot and stop intruders.

When you move into a new home, make the effort to introduce yourself to your neighbours and get to know them better over the next few weeks.

6. Install CCTV

CCTV is great deterrent to intruders considering breaking into your home and can help to identify those that do. Make sure you place your security cameras in visible positions out of easy reach to others.

7. Install a security light

Similarly to CCTV, security lights placed around your home can act as both a deterrent and an effective way to spot anyone trying to break into your home. They come on when they detect movement nearby and can be quickly and easily installed.

8. Secure your garden

If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, make sure you take the time to secure it. Even if you have no valuables in the garden itself, they are frequently used by burglars to gain access to the main home.

Read more: How to secure your garden

Your home is where you and your family should feel safest but we often expose ourselves to more risks than we know. For more advice on securing your home or to upgrade your home security, visit our store or call our friendly team on 0115 9780141.