When you rent a property it can sometimes be hard to know what you are and aren’t allowed to change in terms of making your home more secure.
A recent article for Ideal Home offered some advice to renters about how they can boost their home security without having to make significant modifications to a property.
The publication noted that now is a particularly good time to examine your home security, because break ins have been on the increase since the lockdown restrictions started easing around the UK.
One of the first pieces of advice is that, when you’re looking for a new home to rent, you should check the windows and doors to see how secure they are. If you notice that any external windows or doors either don’t close properly or that they don’t lock securely, you are within your rights to ask your landlord to repair them before you move in.
If you’re already living in a rented property and didn’t check this before you moved in then it’s not too late.
Make sure that every potential entry point is as secure as it should be and if there are any issues, notify your landlord and ask them to make repairs.
It’s also important to ask your landlord to change the locks on the front doors when you move in after another tenant has left. This is because you can’t be sure that a previous tenant hasn’t made additional copies of a key and kept one.
“Most insurance policies don’t cover unforced entry, so if a previous tenant has cut extra keys it could place your home at risk,” the publication noted.
Either ask your landlord to change the locks, or ask if they are happy for you to get in touch with a locksmith in Sutton, or wherever you live, to make arrangements to do this. If your landlord isn’t willing to change the locks then you can still organise that yourself.
Simply make sure you keep the original locks that you replace, so that you can give these back to your landlord when you leave. As a tenant you are within your rights to do this, so if the locks haven’t been changed between tenancies then you are allowed to make arrangements yourself.
It’s also worth noting that there are many easy to install home security systems that don’t require you to make major structural changes to a property and that you can even take with you when you move out.
For example, smart doorbells are named as a good solution by the news provider, because they are less expensive than a full CCTV system and can easily be installed in place of an existing doorbell without any extra work being required.
Of course, you also need to do your part, as having strong locks and a smart doorbell won’t protect you if you forget to lock your front door or leave windows open when you go out. Be safe and always think about how you can improve your home’s security.
When you’re looking at the security of your home, don’t forget about your garden. As we recently revealed, thieves are much more likely to take items from your garden during the summer months than in the winter, so make sure that your garden is secure and that you don’t leave anything valuable outside when you’re not at home or overnight.