How to keep your home secure while you're away on holiday 

Check out these easy ways to protect your property from thieves while you are enjoying your summer break 

Deter and delay is at the centre of your home security measures, whether you have a detailed security system or not. Discreet entry points should be secure and where possible carry security sensors. Picture: iStock

Nobody wants to arrive home from holidays to a burglary. Death or ill health aside, what could be more distressing? According to the CSO, theft of all kinds has risen to pre-pandemic levels (up 18% in one year to Q3, 2022).

No robber wants to be personally confronted or to be caught in high definition on the cloud, via a well-detailed set of security cameras. As they calculate the risk, and even check CCTV blindspots using Google Earth, we can fight back.

Well-flagged deterrents, physical delays which will make the job tougher, and new technology (to spook an intruder, signal a break-in, and record events) are our best defences. An Garda Síochána reminds us: “When the home is occupied, fire safety is your priority. When the home is unoccupied, security is your main concern”.

LOCKING UP

In Ireland, almost one-in-four summertime break-ins involve entry through an unsecured access point. A third of uninvited Irish guests will use a window without sufficient locks or limiters. Downstairs windows on the side or back of the home without external lighting are favourites.

Apart from breaking in through an opening element, external beading can be peeled off and window glass lifted out, incredible as that may seem.

To lock doors and windows on the house and outbuildings we need the best and most secure cylinder and frame locks possible. Gardaí maintain that side-doors and back-doors, again, are more vulnerable to attack.

Discreet entry points should be secure and where possible carry security sensors. Picture: iStock

They are more discreetly located and provide quick means to leg it. Your insurance company will expect a five-lever mortise deadlock as standard for exterior domestic doors, including 10cm hinges.

A common practice with thieves is to breach a flimsy euro-lock. They have two primary skills, drilling out a door lock with a small hand-held battery drill, or using a specialised tool to clamp and twist the mechanism at its weakest point. This is the classic “bump and snap”.

If you do have the opportunity to replace a lock, contact a registered installer with a PSA licence (you can check this out at psa-gov.ie).

In new locks, look for a classification of EN1303-05 with anti-drill and anti-snap (there will be a hardened steel pin to complicate the bump and snap). For windows, Gardaí suggest IS EN 1627:2011 or the British security standard PAS 24-2016.

Proper security keys on new doors can only be replicated on the representation of a dedicated barcode on a card, but you should never leave your keys hidden outside. They could be used instantly or copied and used in the future to rob your home. Your insurer will expect you to have taken reasonable precautions, and if you’re gone for more than 30 days, ensure you are still covered.

Retro-fitting locks and devices to PVC or composite doors or windows can invalidate warranties — check with your locksmith or supplier (newer doors and windows come with reinforced frames and multi-point locks as standard).

Smart lock replacement must be perfectly installed and “speak” to your home network and mobile effectively.

Gardaí suggest deadbolts to doors for longer periods of vacancy — and they encourage the public to inform their local station if they are going away for long breaks (something I’ve always done without getting an eyebrow raise in my local station).

ALARMS

Burglar alarms that include sensors, motion detectors, voice activation, sirens, CCTV, and subscription-based monitoring are a serious turn-off to a criminal.

Seeking privacy, shy crooks respect branding. Combining external and internal elements, quality alarms increase the chances of intruders being visually or audibly detected, recorded on-site, and ultimately apprehended. Flagging the presence of a robust alarm system can be enough to send them elsewhere.

Wireless systems including Phonewatch, include two-way signalling, anti-tamper on all devices, radio jamming detection, and the latest in data encryption technology. Home-packs range in price from €99, phonewatch.ie. Wired systems come at a premium, but wireless varieties are increasingly affordable (€99-€300 excluding install) and can be put in place in a couple of hours.

Going for a monitor, you’ll need a local key-holder to communicate with an alarm-receiving centre (ARC) generally on a monthly subscription. Verisure starts at €14.95 for example. In shaggy, rural settings physical distance from the cavalry means an alarm-only system can bleat away unheard, but signage indicating security recording devices can make an opportunist think again. Keep in mind that the position of any key holder is a big responsibility. Choose someone who will make balanced, intelligent decisions.

If you have a smart lock on the front door, you can allow access by your chosen key-holder while still ensuring you have at least a digital record of any break-in.

Step it up and there’s a team on hand 24/7 hard-wired to An Garda Síochána if an incident sets off the alarm or cameras and is verified by your key-holder. Get to know and finesse the intricacies of your system well before you leave. With intelligent features like facial recognition do a walk-through, don’t just trust it to work on curtain-up.

Does your alarm qualify with your home insurer for cheaper cover? Not all will accept DIY set-ups. Do they require an annual professional check?

An Garda Síochána will (quite rightly) not attend repeated false alarms, and this could really shake up that Gallic break. If you have an indoor security camera sitting on the sideboard, linked to your phone and have no other processes in place, you can watch and record a burglary in progress, call the cops and possibly bellow at the divils on a microphone. That’s it.

PRESENCE SIMULATION

Every thief is different, but most have a rational modus operandi scoping a target. They can watch the house, while parked or passing, and determine with reasonable accuracy if you are away. A quiet, dark house with no cars or visitors 24/7 will ring a villain’s opportunistic bell. As will letters wagging in the box or heaped up behind a glass porch door. What would you think?

Wellies on the back doorstep, lights on upstairs after 10pm, and Ian Dempsey burbling away on the DAB? Is someone home? Indeterminate activity at your home on a scattershot schedule presents an unwelcome risk. In the absence of a house-sitter, we need to create a schedule of apparent occupancy and signals of life inside the building. 

Suspend deliveries and the post while you’re gone unless someone is coming in every couple of days to say, water the plants. MailMinder from An Post, temporarily halts delivery for up to 12 weeks, with a four-week period covered for €14. Settle the fee at least five working days before your departure, anpost.ie. If the letterbox is not 40cm or more from the door lock on the inside, ensure no one can jimmy the lock. 

In its simplest form smart security can begin with an app-enabled doorbell with motion-sensing like this Nest Hello variety, from €132, suppliers nationwide.

Don’t pop the bins out on the curb on departure day, unless your friends or neighbours are going to dock them back around the house after collection.

Deploy a varying pattern of lights and sound. On a budget, you can utilise 24-hour mechanical plug-in timers to turn on a TV or radio, and to flick bedroom lamps on upstairs. For a little more money, investigate programmable Nordlux Smart or Philips Hue bulbs using Bluetooth mesh technology, and an app on your iPhone or Android device.

Motion-sensitive reactive sensors outdoors can turn all the lights on indoors and out (code and schedule your bulbs with the Hue Bridge from €59). 

Don’t simply leave all the lights to blaze all night like the Starship Enterprise, which would be obvious to the dimmest sleuth. Talk to your most communicative, reliable neighbours about leaving their car parked at your place after work and at the weekends.

This really is a small ask in an estate setting and easily reciprocated. Lock up your ladders, cut the grass, and trim the hedge before you go. We don’t want shaggy neglect on show. If your house is that touch more intelligent with a home network or individual apps managed through single or multiple interfaces capable of controlling lights, or time-managing plugs, you can set up some impressive domestic theatre. 

Ensure it can be seen from the public street, throughout the day, facing those venetian blinds to the ceiling, sheers pulled, while still blocking a clear sight into empty downstairs rooms.

Few of us will suffer a burglary while away, but the uncomfortable truth is that any door or window can be forced, and if they are determined to get in, they will get in. 

Don’t leave large amounts of cash, small valuables, and especially animals alone at home when you are away for extended periods. Have a safe? If it’s not too heavy to lift or bolted firmly in place — it’s just luggage.

Think about property marking with a dedicated pen and photograph valuable possessions in a full digital record uploaded to the cloud for added peace of mind. Your insurance company should be able to offer some advice. Sadly, bad things do happen to good people, so be positive and proactive, and ramp up those defences.