Get a quick home insurance quote

Despite the fact that burglary is one of the biggest worries for homeowners, recent research reveals that more that one quarter of the population admit to security lapses when they leave their home. A common mistake is to leave keys under a flower pot, or doormat. This is the first place a burglar will look.

According to the Metropolitan Police the four recurring common criteria to burglaries are:
1. No one is at home.
2. Easy access to side or rear of property, which is not overlooked
3. No alarm system fitted or set
4. Failure to apply mortice locks (if fitted)

House contents insurance is designed to safeguard your possessions. Whenever you take out a house contents insurance policy check the level of cover you can expect to receive and whether possessions outside your house (such as in your garden, shed and garage are covered. Reading the policy details will also ensure that you conform with any of the insurers minimum security requirements. Failure to adhere to these requirements could invalidate your policy in the event of needing to make a claim.

Top Tips for improving home safety
Alarms: Burglar alarms are the main deterrent to an opportunist thief. If you have installed an alarm, your house is much less likely to suffer from a burglary than a similar property without such protection. Before deciding on an installer, speak to your insurer, as they may insist that you only use certain companies. Fire kills! Ensure you have fitted a smoke alarm on each floor of your home. In the event of a fire a smoke alarm will give you the time to find and use your keys to help you escape.

Money: Keep only a minimal amount of cash in your home and secure it with jewellery, valuable documents and credit cards. These items should be kept in a concealed safe, cash box or fake food tin.

Locks: Use a decent quality lock and more importantly use dead locks on all the main doors. If a burglar tries to break in through a door their task will be considerably harder if you have fitted dead locks. If you lock internal doors a dedicated burglar will make every effort to break through if there is the possibility of further valuable items. If your valuables are safely kept in one place there should be no need to lock internal doors.

Keys: Security and safety are important issues so you need to find a suitable balance. Keys should not be left in doors or lying around but you should be able to find them in an emergency. Never leave your keys displayed on a hook especially near an outside door or under the mat. Most burglars enter a house through a window, but by leaving keys around you provide an easy opportunity for burglars to exit through a door and most probably with much more property.

Lights: Lights play an important security role inside and out. When you go out at night, leave the lights on with curtains drawn and in rooms where the thief might expect you to be.
For additional effect you can leave the television or radio on as well. This will help create the illusion that you are at home. If you do not wish to leave the lights permanently on or are going on holiday you can purchase programmable time switches to come on during times when you are usually at home.

Electrical items: Ensure that televisions, videos and stereo systems are not in view from an accessible window and that standby display units on these electrical items are concealed at night.

Garden Theft: A problem that has grown as more homeowners increase their garden budgets. The theft of garden ornaments, power tools, expensive plants, and fish is on the increase. To maintain some level of security without turning your garden into a fortress:

• Make sure the perimeter is high enough so opportunists can't climb over it. If it isn't over 2 meters high the addition of a trellis with a climbing plant such as clematis will make it virtually impossible to climb over.
• Keep gates shut were possible. In crime prevention jargon a shut gate creates a 'defended space'. Psychologically a shut gate is more likely to deter someone than an open gate.
  
• Garages - Keep power tools, mowers and other valuable items firmly secured in a garage. Wire the garage to your alarm system and make sure you add an alarm box to the garage so a burglar knows the alarm is also fitted to the garage.
• For larger object like mowers you can secure them to a ground anchor - an immovable eye set in the floor and available for around £60.
• Keep power tools in a strong box, an alarmed garage and a combination strong box should deter the most tenacious thief.

• Use ultra violet markers for televisions and other electrical items.
• A hammer and die stamp to mark outdoor items such as bikes and mowers.
• An ultra violet pen to mark documents and ceramic items.

There are new methods of marking available, which you may prefer to use, such as chemical or heated branding, industrial strength security labelling and special acrylic paint with postcode microdots.

Correctly Value your Possessions
As well ensuring your house is properly secure, it is important to correctly asses the value of possessions. Homeowners constantly collect more possessions but fail to increase the value of their home contents insurance policy. Although some insurers offer an unlimited sum insured most insurance companies limit the value of contents insured to £35,000 - £50,000.

As with all insurance, premiums and levels of cover vary dependent on the insurer and your requirement. When you buy house contents insurance always make sure you get plenty of quotes before you buy. Banks and building societies tend to have the biggest share of household insurance but they are usually more expensive.