Home Security

[Steppenpig]

I'm toying with buying a house in a dodgy (i.e. cheap area). Looking around Burley, seemed like a significant number had been broken into, and  maybe 5% of the houses were boarded up. Presumably the unoccupied rate is even higher.

 

Are there any useful measures one can take in such an area, especially if leaving the house unoccupied for any time. e.g. steel doors and shutters. I assume most of the burglaries are local amateurs, homeless, druggies, etc, as there wouldn't be any valuable possessions in most. EA did say that they can strip the house of everything, including boilers etc. Even saw one that the wall had been broken through to get access (an internal wall in a porch, not an external wall).

[up2late]

It's a tricky one, especially if you are talking about a back to back terrace. Your front door and downstairs window are going to be the only way out if there's a fire. The idea of blocking these with metal bars gives me the shits, but plenty of houses in Burley have them.

 

My approach would be to make the house look cared-for and lived-in. Net curtains, fresh paint on the ledges. Make sure downstairs door and window are sturdy. Maybe an alarm or CCTV you can monitor from your phone?

 

Burley only looks cheap compared to the ridiculous prices in other areas. Student houses are starting to sit empty as students realise that they'd rather have an en-suite loo and ethernet in one of the newly built blocks. I expect Burley to get cheaper still, but you know that because you're here. Good luck whatever you decide.

[Bruce Banner]

Being retired, we go away for months at a time.

My security consists of five IP cameras dotted around the house (£25 each on ebay) that I check once or twice a day when we are away. It won't stop a break in, but it will enable me to see if there is a problem so that I can ask a relative, or the police, to investigate. The cameras also detect motion and can be set up to take a still picture and email it to me. I also have WiFi controlled lights that I can switch on and off remotely and a WiFi hall thermostat to monitor and control the temperature remotely.

[Steppenpig]

On 18/03/2019 at 10:53, Bruce Banner said:

 

My security consists of five IP cameras dotted around the house (£25 each on ebay) 

Thanks Brucie. That would significantly increase the value of my home posessions. Do the pictures get saved online? What happens if they steal the cameras and your computer?

[Steppenpig]

On 17/03/2019 at 20:30, up2late said:

It's a tricky one, especially if you are talking about a back to back terrace. Your front door and downstairs window are going to be the only way out if there's a fire. The idea of blocking these with metal bars gives me the shits, but plenty of houses in Burley have them.

 

My approach would be to make the house look cared-for and lived-in. Net curtains, fresh paint on the ledges. Make sure downstairs door and window are sturdy. Maybe an alarm or CCTV you can monitor from your phone?

 

Burley only looks cheap compared to the ridiculous prices in other areas. Student houses are starting to sit empty as students realise that they'd rather have an en-suite loo and ethernet in one of the newly built blocks. I expect Burley to get cheaper still, but you know that because you're here. Good luck whatever you decide.

It's funny, how looking unlived in and therefore presumably not containing much of value, actually increases the risk. That's why I assume it is just dossers and low life, rather than proper criminals.

It's true about the value. Given the unoccupancy rate, they should really drop to zero. In fact, they are so tiny that they are quite expensive. I think they're about half the size of a normal 3 bedder terrace in most other towns, and if you include garden (absence thereof) probably about a quarter of the footprint or less. So on a per sq foot basis, they are probably just as expensive as houses in nice towns with jobs and fewer criminals.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Steppenpig

[up2late]

It's interesting how modernisation has changed some of the back to backs. Many have gone up into the roof space to add an extra room. At the bottom end of Kelsall Road, they demolished the houses at the back of a row but not at the front so you've got some back to backs with just a blank wall at the back of them. I wonder if you could get permission to add a window or two to the back of one of those houses. That would make it a lot nicer to live in.

[elephant]

On 18/03/2019 at 09:53, Bruce Banner said:

Being retired, we go away for months at a time.

My security consists of five IP cameras dotted around the house (£25 each on ebay) that I check once or twice a day when we are away. It won't stop a break in, but it will enable me to see if there is a problem so that I can ask a relative, or the police, to investigate. The cameras also detect motion and can be set up to take a still picture and email it to me. I also have WiFi controlled lights that I can switch on and off remotely and a WiFi hall thermostat to monitor and control the temperature remotely.

Could I trouble you for a link to the cameras you use?  Wouldn’t mind getting some.

[Bruce Banner]

On 19/03/2019 at 21:45, elephant said:

Could I trouble you for a link to the cameras you use?  Wouldn’t mind getting some.

Sorry, I missed this until just now.

This is where I got the last one. It arrived in good condition and on time. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-720-P-Wireless-WiFi-Tenvis-IP-Camera-Home-Security-Network-CCTV-Night-Vision/322228561675?epid=1981365723&hash=item4b0651a70b:g:ZQ4AAOSwjDZYb0V3

The only question mark is that it uses "Adobe Flash" which is on the way out and will not be supported by some browsers after 2020, so it may be worth investigating as it could become a paper weight then.

Edit: I just accessed a camera using an old version of Opera (V12) which does not automatically update and is still available to download on various websites like Filehippo so that could be a way of accessing them when Chrome starts blocking flash?

Edited May 1, 2019 by Bruce Banner

[elephant]

Thank you.

[JerryD]

Appreciate that this is a bit old thread, but I just wondered if the WiFi camera you got was ok? I am just in the process of getting a CCTV for my house and every installer I spoke to said tried to dissuade me from getting a WIFi camera on the basis that it is not 'reliable'.  Is that true or a conspiracy? 

[Bruce Banner]

On 19/06/2019 at 20:39, JerryD said:

Appreciate that this is a bit old thread, but I just wondered if the WiFi camera you got was ok? I am just in the process of getting a CCTV for my house and every installer I spoke to said tried to dissuade me from getting a WIFi camera on the basis that it is not 'reliable'.  Is that true or a conspiracy? 

The cheap ones do lock up occasionally and need a power reset, but they work fine most of the time. I plug mine into timer sockets which turn them off for a few minutes each day in the early hours, that way if they do lock up it's not for long. Installers probably don't like wifi cameras because they are a simple DIY solution and they can't really charge the earth for just plugging them in.