How to ensure your contents are safe when you live with others
Sharing the kitchen, waiting for your turn in the shower, handing over control of the TV remote – living with others can sometimes be trying, but it can also be a lot of fun.
However, it’s important to insure your valuables from potential thieves – both inside and outside your home.
1. Get some cover
Insurance cover is a must but make sure you read the small print – does your policy cover the whole house or just your room, and what does that include: fire, theft, damage? It might be that everyone in the house has to get their own policy, or that you can all go under one and split the cost.
2. Lock up
Get a good lock on all doors and windows. In a shared house, you might want to put a lock on your bedroom door too. Think about extra security locks, chains or deadlocks on your front and back doors. Ask your landlord to install these if necessary.
3. Hide valuables
Keep valuables away from windows. Shiny objects left out in the open will be irresistible to burglars. If you leave jewellery or gadgets lying around in the open, some home insurance policies won’t pay out.
4. Do a full inventory
If you’re moving into a furnished or part-furnished place, you’ll get a list of everything in the house when you move in. Make a note of any dents, chips and damage to the décor and let the landlord know so you don’t have to worry about covering the costs out of your own pocket.
5. Ask for evidence
Ask for copies of all relevant safety certificates, i.e. gas and electric. If you don’t have these items and an appliance causes damage that leads to a home insurance claim, it could be dismissed. Keep documents (such as insurance policy, copy of tenancy agreement, safety certificates, inventory) together in a file and in a safe place.
6. Alarms and CCTV
Don’t expect the alarm fitted to be all many people have probably lived in the same house before you and know the code – think about fitting your own personal alarm in your room – a very cheap but effective intruder Alarm from under £30 will help and are portable so you can take them with you if you move. Another great addition is a affordable cctv system that are available or use SmartSentry and a pc or laptop to record any activity in your room – the system can be set so if it records any movement the captured images are emailed to your account and even if the thief’s make off with you laptop/pc the images will be safe and can be used to catch the thief
7. Bland is best
Don’t leave telltale signs of your personality on the outside of your house. A life-size cut-out of Han Solo might look cool, but anyone casing your house might assume you’re a student – one of the most targeted groups for burglars as they tend to have little money to spend on home security. A well-kept house frontage displays the maturity that comes with being security conscious.
8. Join Neighbourhood Watch
It may sound like an old cliché, but joining a neighbourhood watch scheme can reduce your home insurance premiums and also ward off potential burglars. If they see a sticker in the window suggesting everyone looks out for each other in the area, they might just think twice about breaking in.
LockSmart offers a wide range of security products in its online store SecureSmart plus it offers FREE security advice via its HomeSmart service and dont forget there are special student discouts for its 24hr locksmith service that covers the whole of the UK add 0700 3496 125 to your mobile phone or vist the mobile site http://www.locksmart-uk.com/mobile/ and bookmark the site you never know when you may need it!
