• Keeping your
  home safe
• Replacing doors and windows
• Top tips from home security
• Selecting the right equipment
• Understand the jargon
• Customer checklist
• Insuring your home

How Can You Make Your Home More Safe and Secure - Top Tips

1. Look at your home through the eyes of a burglar

• Where are the weak spots?
• If you have forgotten your keys but can still get in, so can a burglar.
• Could someone break in to a part of the house without being seen?

2. A fifth of all burglaries are through an open window
or unlocked door

• Lock your doors and windows - even when you are at home.
• Don't leave the keys in the locks.
• Keep keys out of sight in a safe place (but so you can find them in an emergency).
• Never leave your keys under the doormat, a rock or even on a piece of string inside the letter box - burglars know all the hiding places!

3. Homes without any security devices are most at risk

• Internally glazed windows are better from a security point of view.
• Fit double or deadlocks to your doors.
• Add windows locks if they do not already have integrated hardware.
• Fit a burglar alarm.
• Fit security lights with a timer or sensor switch.
• Fit window grilles - in areas of high crime.
• Don't forget that getting out in an emergency is just as important as preventing criminals getting in.

4. The attempts of forcing locks is on the rise, particularly through the 'mole grips' method or 'bumping' method of breaking cylinder locks

• Secure doors and windows as much as you can by choosing the most modern construction which has in-built security features, for example cylinder guards or anti-bump cylinders.
• Fit double or deadlocks to your doors.
• New replacement windows from Swish have integrated high-performance hardware.

See 'Selecting the right equipment' for more details.

5. Make sure you are insured!

• You can save money on your home insurance by fitting good quality windows and locks.
• Be savvier to what Insurers will ask to get the best possible quote or even a discount.
• Insurers may reject a claim if you have not taken the necessary security precautions - often this is because consumers do not have the right information.

6. Don't let anyone in you don't know

• Fit a door chain, bar or spy hole so you don't have to open the door fully to check who is calling first.
• Ask for ID and look up a number in the phone book to ring and verify their identity.
• Don't take the phone number on the card at face value - it might be bogus!
• If in doubt - don't let them in and report it to the police.

7. Become a Neighbourhood Watch member

• There are some 170,000 neighbourhood watch groups in the UK. Log onto www.neighbourhoodwatch.uk.com
• Even if you don't join it is worth knowing if your home is in a Neighbourhood Watch area as it ticks a box on your home insurance, and could save you money on your premium.

8. Moving home

• If you move to a new home, change all the external doors locks immediately. Use a reputable locksmith who is a member of the Master Locksmiths Association www.locksmiths.co.uk

9. Going away

• Ask a friend or neighbour to collect the post and check the house.
• Use an automatic timer to turn on lights and appliances when you are out.
• Cancel milk and newspaper deliveries.
• Hide your valuables or lock them away.
• Lock all external doors and windows - from the inside and out.
• Set your burglar alarm.