Don’t let properties be lonely this Christmas

Published: 05/12/2014

Christmas, it’s a time for families so there’s a good chance that your tenants will be heading to their childhood homes during the festive period, leaving your property empty and vulnerable to potential thefts and/or damage. However here’s our festive guide to keeping your property safe and secure during the most wonderful time of the year:

RISK! A lack of light is a clear sign to potential burglars that a property is empty

Solution: Speak to your tenants about investing in some timers. These can be used to automatically turn lamps on and off at certain times of the day and evening, giving the illusion that someone is there.

RISK! The tenants turn the heating off and the pipes freeze and burst, flooding the property

Solution: While it is currently quite mild for the time of year there is every chance that temperatures will dip. This can cause pipes to freeze and burst, leaving you and your tenants with a flooded home. Explain this risk to the tenants and see if they would be willing to leave their heating on low and on a timer to minimise this risk. However given the cost of energy they may be reluctant to ‘waste’ money like this. If this is case agree with them that you will keep an eye on things and if the temperatures really drop you can go into the property to check the pipes and, potentially, put the heating on.

RISK! No one’s going in or out of the property

Solution: Burglars are smart. They often watch a property they think is empty to make sure so it’s a good idea to arrange with your tenants that someone will ‘pop round’ every few days to give the illusion that someone’s there regularly.

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