How to help protect your home from burglars
Tips to help make your home and outbuildings more secure, to reduce the chance of burglars stealing your valuables.
Key points
- Simple oversights like unlocked doors, open windows and visible keys could make your home an easy target for opportunist burglars.
- Strong locks, secure doors and well maintained frames can make it much harder for burglars to gain entry to your property.
- Security lighting, alarms and CCTV can deter burglars and make your home less appealing. Using timers on lights can help make it look like someone is at home.
- Keep valuables out of sight and avoid storing them all in one place to reduce potential losses. Lock important items away and consider marking or registering them to make them harder to sell.
Our homes are the places we all retreat to and feel safe in. But that familiar feeling of security can quickly disappear after a burglary, so it’s important to think ahead about how best to protect your home.
Below, you’ll find some tips about how to protect your home from theft and details of some effective home security measures. As well as some good habits to get into that can help reduce the risk of your home being broken into. Of course, home insurance is most people’s first line of defence, and you can check which cover might suit you with Aviva Signature home insurance.
Some common home security risks
Some of the biggest home security risks are a matter of common sense. Open windows, unlocked doors and garden gates are all opportunities for burglars when they’re looking for buildings to break into.
Even if you’re at home or in your garden, you should keep your home and contents secure. Don’t leave your car or garage unlocked or spare keys lying around to be easily seen or picked up. Lots of thieves are opportunists. Join local community groups or Neighbourhood Watch so more of you are looking out for suspicious activity in your street.
Burglars look for signs that a home’s occupants are away. Lights off, piles of uncollected post, curtains drawn, these are things you should try to avoid if you’re not going to be at home for a while. And when you’re out, make sure there’s nothing to identify your home and car on your keys or in your wallet and purse, in case they’re stolen.
Distraction burglary
Some burglars may pretend to be someone they’re not to get into your home. If someone claims to be from a utility company or the council and asks to come in, insist on seeing identification first. If you have a door chain or doorbell camera, you can use these to keep visitors on the doorstep until you’re sure who they are.
Criminals might use an accomplice to distract you while they sneak into your home, or pretend they’re ill and need help or are trying to contact a neighbour. Don’t be embarrassed to keep the door shut if you feel unsure, or to call the company they claim they’re from.
How to secure your doors and windows
Make your doors and windows as difficult as possible for a burglar to access by using British Standard locks and concealed fixings on security bolts and hinges. British Standard locks are more likely to stand up to common burglary methods (such as drilling and picking) because they’re independently tested and certified to meet the high standards set by the British Standards Institution (BSI).
You could also consider security-rated doors, windows and anti‑lift patio door devices, all of which are designed to withstand forced entry.
If you can, fit locks to all accessible windows and double locks to your doors. You should also check all your door and window frames to make sure they’re in good condition; burglars will target any areas that look weak or worn out.
Help protect your garden from thieves
If your home is surrounded by gardens or outdoor areas, there are ways of making them harder for burglars to access. Keep hedges and walls at the front of your home low (under a metre) so burglars have nowhere to hide from passers-by. If you keep hedges, walls and fences around your back garden high (over 1.8 metres), burglars will be much less keen to climb over them. You could even plant prickly plants in your borders to make your garden an even less attractive access point for potential thieves.
Protect your shed
If you have a shed or outbuilding, it’s a good idea to install a BSI standard lock to protect it. A BS10621 lock is ideal because if a burglar gains entry through a window, the securely locked door makes their escape much more difficult. You should also keep expensive items like mowers and tools well out of sight. And don’t leave bins or tools in places that could help burglars gain access to your property.
We have more advice about helping to keep your shed and outbuildings secure, here.
Use lighting as a deterrent
Burglars don’t want to be seen, so security lighting is a useful addition to your other security measures. Lights with a motion sensor will light up the approach to your home if anyone is snooping around.
Position lights over your doors to improve safety and visibility if you're returning to your home at night.
Lighting inside your home can also be a deterrent to burglars. Put some lamps on timers if you’re away and it will give the impression that your home is occupied.
Extra layers of security
There are more technological tools available than ever to help you protect your home. Alarms and CCTV can be a good deterrent. Just seeing that they’re installed can put off casual thieves.
If you decide to fit alarms, use an accredited installation company and put up two boxes if you can, one at the front and one at the rear of your home. If they’re fitted high on the building, they’ll be much harder to tamper with. Once they’re up, you need to test them regularly.
There’s lots more information about home alarms here.
Catch thieves on camera
CCTV can also be a very useful back-up to your home’s security measures, and some systems can be linked to your smartphone, but make sure your cameras are placed where you’ll clearly capture someone’s face. There are laws controlling use of CCTV, so you’ll have to be aware of these and put up clear signage.
Smart technology allows you to monitor your home, even remotely. Doorbell cameras and motion sensors can add peace of mind and help gather evidence if someone breaks in, but are no substitute for traditional security measures.
Look like you’re in when you’re out
Homes that appear occupied can be less attractive targets for opportunist burglars. So try to get into a routine when you leave your home for any length of time that makes it look as if you’re still there.
Put lights and a radio on plug timers, so it looks and sounds like someone’s at home. You should also get into the habit of hiding any easily accessible valuables. Don’t make it easy for thieves.
If you have neighbours you trust, you could ask them to put out and collect your bins, pick post up off your doormat, close curtains and any other tasks that might help conceal the fact you’re away. If you have any deliveries arranged, remember to cancel them.
It’s also worth remembering that burglars are on social media, too. Don’t publicise the fact you’re going to be away from home.
How to protect valuables inside your home
If a burglar does manage to get into your home, they’ll want to get away as quickly as possible. So make your valuables hard to find. Keep them away from windows and entry points and don’t keep them all in one place, so you can lessen the impact of any losses.
Mark your valuables
Make burglars think twice about taking your valuables by marking them with pens or paint that can only be seen with UV light. Kits like these come with stickers that you can display, so criminals know your items are marked and will be much harder to sell.
Register them, free
You can register your valuables on Immobilise, a free-to-use database used by the police to find the owners of stolen property. Remember to include serial numbers, if your items have them.
Lock away items you can’t afford to lose
Passports, heirlooms, jewellery, essential documents. If you can’t live without them, you might want to consider investing in a home safe, bolted to the wall or the floor. It’s an extra layer of protection against a determined burglar.
Home insurance is part of home security
All policies are different of course, but home insurance has an important role to play in protecting your home.
Policies usually cover theft and damage, but check carefully to make sure your locks, alarms and other security measures meet your own policy’s requirements.
You should also check that any outbuildings you have are covered, as well as high value items that may need separate cover. If you’re often away from home, check you’re fully covered for the times you won’t be there.
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