You want to relax fully on holiday, so here are some tips to help you beat the burglar.
- When travelling, do not leave your home address visible on luggage tags. If possible use your workplace address instead.
- On long winter nights as well as before you go away, set outdoor lights to operate with motion detectors and indoor lights on a timer.
- Lock up wheelie bins and ladders so that they cannot be used to scale fences or reach windows.
Unfortunately even the most secure home is not immune to a really determined thief, so the following advice may prevent you losing out heavily in the event of a claim when you would have to prove both that you owned the stolen items and their value:
- Walk round your home and video your belongings. Without labelling the file with your address, upload it to the cloud or leave a copy of the file offsite (in case of fire) at a relative’s property, in the bank or with your broker.
- Ensure that jewellery and other valuables are regularly valued by a manufacturing or wholesale jeweller, not a retail jeweller.
- Review your insurance policy wording to check that you are complying with all policy warranties and requirements.
- Don’t lock internal doors. Do as much as you can to protect the perimeter of the house, but if a burglar gets in, locked internal doors won’t deter him, it will just result in more damage.
