If you’re going away for a holiday soon you’ll find that familiar worry about leaving your home unattended. However, there are ways to ensure your home stays safe whilst you’re away. Here are our top tips for keeping those burglars at bay.

Secure your home

Make sure that your home security is up to date and working properly before you leave. Simple things such as secure locks on windows, deadbolts, and locked gates and garages can deter burglars from seeing an opportunity to slip inside your home easily.

Don’t brag

If you’re off on an amazing holiday, it’s a good idea to stop the social media count down and wait until you get back to post up the images. As soon as you post a comment or photo on social media that you are away or planning to go away, you will be letting your entire network know that your home will be empty. And depending on your privacy settings, this could mean letting others know too. Ensure you don’t give away too much information too soon via social media, and increase your privacy settings to limit who can see what you’re up to.

Trick the burglar

An empty home is a very tempting opportunity for a burglar. That’s why making it look like you’re home even if you’re not there is one of the best things you can do to deter them. Install automatic lights that will switch on and off whilst you’re away. You can also enlist the help of your neighbour, or trusted friends and family to check into your home every now and then. Ask them to park in your driveway, collect your mail and packages, remove junk mail, and bring in the bins.

Plain sight

Avoid keeping valuables in plain sight of the windows. You may be tempted to close your curtains and shutters whilst you’re away, however this can also prevent neighbours from seeing burglars inside. Instead you could leave them as they are normally or slightly open to avoid any noticeable changes to your behaviour, and simply hide away any tempting valuable items.

Don’t forget about outside

Before you go, do a clean-up outside of anything that could assist your burglar to enter the home. This includes locking away shovels, loose bricks, ladders, or planks that can be used to break windows or climb into the home. Put away tools also so they don’t get stolen, and ensure to lock gates and fasten fences.

Insurance

Many criminals looking to steal from homes are after an opportunity, by following these simple tips you will be removing much of this opportunity for theft. However, in the case that your burglar is very determined and you do become a victim of theft, make sure you have a home and contents insurance policy in place that will protect you for replacement value of items and for damage caused during the break-in.

Read more information about home and contents insurance

Insurance issued by Insurance Australia Limited ABN 11 000 016 722 trading as CGU Insurance. Any advice is general only. Consider the relevant PDS available from cgu.com.au to see if a product is right for you.