12 travel tips to protect your home whilst you're away
Posted July 16th, 2022 by SimpliSafe
12 travel tips to protect your home whilst you're away
Getting away from your regular routine is one of the best ways to relax and unwind, but worries about your home security can spoil the experience. After all, you don’t want to come home only to find that someone has broken into your home and taken your valuables!
Home security concerns aren’t the only thing that can play on your mind whilst you’re on holiday. The possibility of house fires and water leaks can also cause anxiety, especially if you’re the type of person who always worries about whether you’ve remembered to turn the oven, lights or taps off.
By going through a checklist before you go on holiday, it can help you check off all the home security and safety essentials before you leave so you can relax and enjoy yourself more easily while you’re away. Plus, you’ll help to reduce the risk of getting that dreaded call on holiday telling you that your home has been burgled or there’s been a fire.
But you don’t need to create your own checklist – we’ve done the work for you and listed our top 12 travel tips for protecting your home whilst you’re away on holiday.
1. Invest in a home security system
Our number one piece of advice is to install a home security system before you leave. Not only will this reduce the risk of break-ins whilst you’re on holiday, but it’ll also give you peace of mind all year round.
At the very least, you could install a basic outdoor security system like our ‘The Tower’ package to cover vulnerable access points to your home whilst you’re away. This security system includes essentials like entry sensors, a motion sensor and a wireless outdoor camera to catch criminals in the act if an opportunistic thief attempts to break in. Download the SimpliSafe app to watch live footage from your cameras, arm or disarm your system, and receive push notifications if anything unusual is detected.
If you want to improve your home security even further, you can opt for more advanced systems or build your own home security system with the exact features you need, such as indoor cameras, glassbreak sensors, video doorbells and more. You can then enjoy your holiday in peace knowing that your home is totally covered.
Professional monitoring
If you’re worried that you won’t see notifications from your security system in time whilst you’re away, or simply want to enjoy your travels without worrying about security issues, you can get a professional monitoring subscription with your SimpliSafe system. This will mean that security alerts are sent directly to a 24/7 professional monitoring centre, where the team will review your security footage (if you’ve given permission by enabling our video verification service) and call you to check if the threat is real or a false alarm. If a break-in has been detected, the professional monitoring centre will call the police for you.
Want to learn more? Check out our blog post explaining how professional monitoring works in more depth.
2. Make sure your security system is armed
Your home security system can only do its job if it’s armed. Right before you leave, make sure you arm your home security system as the last step on your going on holiday checklist. Remember that you can check your SimpliSafe app to confirm whether your system is armed or disarmed, and you can also view and change settings if needed.
3. Make your house look occupied
While a home security system can ensure you and the authorities are alerted if someone attempts to break in, the best case scenario is that no one tries to break in at all. Unfortunately, there’s no way to completely deter burglars, but you can reduce the risk of your home being targeted by making it less appealing to opportunistic intruders.
Opportunistic thieves may look for homes that appear to be unoccupied, as this means there’s less chance they’ll get caught and a higher chance they might successfully steal your valuables. This is why your home could be more vulnerable whilst you’re away on holiday, especially if your home looks like it has been unoccupied for several days or more. The following signs can alert opportunistic thieves to the fact that your home is unoccupied:
No lights on for several days or more
Curtains or blinds drawn at all times
Letters or parcels piling up in front of the door and not being moved
Bins that haven’t been moved or emptied for a long time
No cars parked on the driveway
Overgrown garden
If you have a trusted neighbour or friend who lives nearby, one solution is to ask them to visit your home while you’re away and take in deliveries, turn lights on, water the plants and park their car in your driveway. However, make sure you don’t leave a spare key in an obvious place like under a doormat or plant pot – give one directly to the person looking after your home.
If you’ve got a SimpliSafe home security system, you can add extra PINs to your keypad so that your friend or neighbour can disarm the system before entering and arm it before leaving. Plus, your SimpliSafe app will show you which PIN was used, so you can keep track of who’s been to your house.
Another solution is to buy lights with timers, which will allow you to set them to turn off and on automatically according to a schedule. Nowadays, you can also find lights that connect to an app on your phone, so you can turn them on and off via the app from any location.
4. Get to know your neighbours
As mentioned above, you may want one of your neighbours to look after your home for you whilst you’re away, especially if you don’t have friends or family nearby. However, if you don’t know your neighbours at all, you might feel uncomfortable asking for this favour.
This is why it’s a good idea to get to know your neighbours before you go away. Not only will this strengthen your ties with the community, but you’ll also have someone to keep an eye on your property, take in deliveries, water the plants, and watch out for any suspicious behaviour. As a thank you, you can bring them something from your travels and/or offer to do the same for them when they book a holiday.
5. Lock all doors and windows
One of the most crucial things on your holiday checklist is to double and triple check that all doors and windows are securely locked. Before you arm your home security system and head off, make sure you’ve ticked this item off your list and not left any keys in locks or under doormats. Burglars are looking for simple mistakes like this, so don’t make things any easier for them!
It’s important to note that many home insurance policies only cover forced entry, so if you accidentally leave a door or window unlocked and a burglar gets in, the policy won’t pay out to cover damage or the value of items stolen.
6. Hide valuables
Leaving valuables in plain sight (e.g. visible through a window or letterbox) is almost like an advertisement to opportunistic thieves, particularly if your home looks unoccupied. Make sure you hide your valuables before going away to avoid tempting any criminals. Either move them out of view or invest in a safe to hide small, valuable items like jewellery and gadgets.
7. Don’t post about your holiday on social media (yet)
If you love to post holiday photos on Instagram, remember that it’s best to wait until after the holiday before uploading your highlights. Social media posts like this can help out burglars by showing the world that you’re currently away from home – this is particularly true if you don’t have strong privacy settings. It’s best to not take any chances and wait before posting.
8. Turn off and unplug unnecessary appliances
Turning off all your gadgets and appliances is about more than just saving money, as this precaution can also help prevent catastrophic house fires. To protect your home, always check that all appliances and devices are turned off and not on stand-by, except for your fridge and freezer if they still have food in them (plus, turning off fridges and freezers can lead to a water leak).
We would also recommend unplugging all devices at the wall to be safe. Right before you leave, go around the house and check plug sockets to ensure nothing has been overlooked.
9. Turn off the water
If you’re leaving home for an extended period (e.g. more than just a few days), it’s a good idea to turn off the water supply to reduce the risk of leaks and flooding. You can do this by turning off the inside stop tap in your home, which can usually be found under the kitchen sink, in a utility cupboard, in the downstairs toilet, near the gas meter or near the front door.
Whilst you’re turning off the water, you may want to turn off the boiler too to save some money. This is a great idea during the summer, but if you’re going on holiday during the colder months, you may want to set your heating on a timer (at a low temperature) to stop the pipes from freezing.
10. Lock outdoor tools away
Don’t forget about your outdoor security too! Any tools left lying around (especially ladders or heavy tools) after an outdoor maintenance project could be used by burglars to force entry whilst you’re away. Always lock your tools away inside or in a secure garden shed after doing any outdoor work.
11. Check your insurance
In addition to checking your travel insurance before you leave, remember to check the terms of your home insurance and contents insurance too. Some insurance policies don’t cover homes that have been unoccupied for more than 30 days, so if you’re planning a longer trip, get in touch with your insurance provider to ask about a cover extension.
12. Join your local Neighbourhood Watch
Worried about security risks in your community? Join your local Neighbourhood Watch scheme to join up with like-minded members of your community and work together to keep the area safe. You’ll get access to resources to aid your crime prevention efforts, educate the community about safety precautions, and help you communicate with the police.
As well as helping your neighbours to spot and prevent criminal behaviour in the area, joining the Neighbourhood Watch will help you connect with people who live nearby. This will make it easier for you to find trustworthy neighbours to keep an eye on your property for you whilst you’re away on holiday.
For more helpful tips on home security and safety, check out the SimpliSafe blog. You can also get in touch at any time to discuss our comprehensive home security systems.