Repeated break-ins

[just john]

When we bought our place (16), it had stood empty for a couple of years without break-ins. Its about a kilometre from the nearest hamlet on a D road with very little traffic, and 10 kilometre from the nearest town on a main road. Since we bought, we have spent a considerable amount in making the property more secure and weatherproof, some new locks, windows, and a roof etc. The property looks like it is partially renovated but unoccupied, and despite what we have done so far AXA insurance will not cover us for theft. We have a local (french) gardener to keep it basically trimmed, and a local (french) builder has a spare set of keys, though things have come to a halt while we finalise plans and permissions. We have some friends who live locally and check it occasionally. However they are now dreading checking it again and we are almost dreading their next call, since we have now had three break-ins this year. Once through the barn doors, so we prevented them from opening, once when a window was forced, so we boarded it up, and now the shutters have been forced open and the french doors forced. There appears to be nothing much if anything missing (there isn't much there) and apart from the forced entry little damage. I wonder apart from erecting a large sign saying no valuables or power tools left in the house, just what can we do?!

Any advice or suggestions gratefully accepted!

[Nick Trollope]

If there is nothing inside, I would seriously consider leaving the place unlocked & looking like a building site. Your biggest risk them would be squatters.

Alternatively, secure the place properly (physically); window bars, heavy wooden shutters on the doors, whilst making it obvious that there is nothing inside.

The best means of preventing theft is a deterrent. If you have no neighbours, then no CCTV or Alarm system (even centrally monitored) is going to help you.

If you are going to be resident there, then you Insurance Co will cover you once you are there. If it is a holiday home, then I doubt that you will ever get theft cover.

 

[Lori]

John & Sue - I assume since you say that the insurance company will not cover you for theft that it is because the openings to the house are not yet finished to specs (volets, iron bars, etc.).  Have you considered an alarm system.  AXA or any major insurer can have someone come in and install one for you.  The price is not horrible.  We have one with Groupama as some of our windows do not have volets on them and iron bars would look horrible.  Even if your home is not fully finished, they could probably do it.  Perhaps no one else would hear the alarm going off if you are way out in the sticks, but the burglars don't know that.  Also can depend upon the type of alarm system you have.  Groupama will call the house if there is a phone there to determine if the owner has set off the alarm.  If there is no answer Gendarmes are called out.

If there are no real valuables to steal in the house, perhaps these are teen-agers breaking in for a place to do whatever activity they are hiding to do??  Are you SURE the macon did not share your key with anyone?  Often macons hire people on the side and they often have criminal backgrounds (obviously not all of them).  But, it is a question I ask anyone new coming to work in our home.  They may not give me an honest answer, but I ask anyway.

I'm sorry for your troubles.  I have read about quite a bit of violent break-ins here in the Vaucluse, several involving attacks on the owners. 

You might also try putting up some surveillance signs.  Sometimes these work.

[Lori]

I agree with Nicktrollope too.  I first thought of suggesting you just leave the place open, but I didn't think you'd go for that.

[Jacks]

Where are you in the Charente, have there been other break-ins near you? We are in the Charente and were burgled in April, they caused a great deal of damage trying to get into the property but did not steal a lot, mainly my son's property.

[just john]

Hi all,

All the windows and doors are intact and most are shuttered, as I say it had stood with no break-ins but since signs of building work it has attracted three forced entries; kicking in shutters, windows and doors. I thought that since there three attempts then it might be different people each thinking that power tools had been left behind and on finding none, they simply left the property. There haven't been any other break-ins locally that I'm aware of except one famous one where they demolished the roof with JCB & truck to take the timbers, french doors etc, even casually telling the neighbours that it was on the owners instructions!

I wonder what language I should put the 'No power tools' sign in?

Any other suggestions to dissuade further attempts?:

[Bobdude]

Hi John & Sue,

I can imagine what a worry this is for you. We have English friends who have had their holiday home (Dept 36 indre) broken into. It was during the really cold weather in March and it seems the burglar was looking for somewhere warm to sleep as he/she put on all the heating, slept in the bed, and even tried to tune in their English TV! But the point I wanted to make is that they are insured with an English insurance company, who paid out for articles stolen (only a couple of bits and bobs), as well as for making good all the damage.

Linda

[SaligoBay]

perhaps these are teen-agers breaking in for a place to do whatever activity they are hiding to do?? 

But I thought French teenagers were all very polite?

The point about UK insurance companies, does anyone have any references?  It's interesting, because from what I hear, French house insurers are never keen to pay out for very much at all.

[Bobdude]

Our friends are back in the UK now - but I will Email them and ask which insurers they are with.

[Turnip]

HMMM...saw a programme on ITV (Trevor MacDonald) showing a rising tide of burglaries/assaults on second home owners/residents in Spain. Hope France doesn't follow suit.

[just john]

We will with the renovation increase security with bars and whatever, it will only be used as a holiday place and though we intend to use it a lot there will be times when it will be obvious that no-one is permanently living there. It is not overlooked by neighbours which is part of the charm.
To find an insurance company which will cover this use would give us some peace of mind, but really we want to build in whatever is necessary to dissuade future problems, do hedges and gates help?

How do others protect their Holiday home? Has any one installed their own CCTV, or even better, a sensor operated image capture that can trigger an e-mail?

 

[La Doretie]

Very sorry to hear about your troubles.  It's not nice is it.

We moved to a former holiday home, here in France a year ago.  At the time no-one told us, but it had been broken into 3 or 4 times.  We were then broken into at Christmas, whilst we were in the UK.  They stole all our jewellery, kids Christmas presents which were waiting round the tree, and lots of electrical stuff.  We were (at the time) insured by a French Insurance Company (English lady).  The policy did not cover any items without a receipt, and had an "an old for old" policy.  We did query these points when we set up the policy, but were told this was the norm in France.   We asked if we could have someone out to value items without receipts - we were told no this does not happen.  We were also told all insurance companies only offer "old for old"!!!  At the time we were fairly busy with moving, and stupidly thought this would never happen to us!!!!!  At the time of the break-in we also found out she had not put in an amount for jewellery, so we had no cover for that either! Any, to cut a long story short, after losing around 8000 Euros worth of stuff, we got 1800 Euros back!!!

We have since found a different french (english speaking) insurance company who offers "new for old" and was very very knowledgable and helpful.  She came to the our house to look round.

We have since fitted an alarm - the frustrating thing is that my electrician husband fitted security systems for the last 10 years in the UK!!!  Didn't think we would need it in France!!

That's our story!!

Liz

 

[Nick Trollope]

How do others protect their Holiday home? Has any one installed their own CCTV, or even better, a sensor operated image capture that can trigger an e-mail?

As a designer of these things, I am ashamed to admit that as a remote security device, they are worse than useless. I have a whole portfolio of pictures of people whom you cannot identify (as they are wearing hoodies, hats, balaclava's ....) or whom you can see, but the (UK) Police have no interest in, because they have not got the resources to identify them. I doubt if the French Police are any different.

Consider how long a burglar has got to "do over" your house, even if you have a centrally monitored alarm (which are rare in France in private properties). In truth, hours.

Years of experience in this field suggests that physical security is the only real solution. Make them go somewhere else - they will unless you have something they specifically want, which is down to you to solve. Make it your neighbours problem!

 

[Jacks]

There are alarms that when activated ring 4 telephone numbers, if the first does not answer it then rings the second number and so on, you can use mobile numbers and land lines. If you have a local friend or neighbour he could then check the property and call the Gendarmes if necessary.

[just john]

Thanks your responses, certainly looks like we will have to do the physical stuff like barred windows and doors, does anyone know which manufacturers make ready made bars padlocked into position to fit doors and windows, which could be removed when we are in residence?

I'd be glad of any recommendations for insurance companies or agents who cover all risks on holiday homes. e-mail us direct if you prefer. Thanks in anticipation.

I think I'd be more comfortable if we could install some discreet image system for the drive to capture the vehicles that visit, (apparently they have been), it's going to be some time before we can get gates and fences up.

 

 

[Teamedup]

Many brico places have a comprehensive range of sercurity items. Our Castorama certainly has the best around here. And Lapeyre has some folding grill front door covers that I have never seen before.

[Fumanzoku]

"I think I'd be more comfortable if we could install some discreet image system for the drive to capture the vehicles that visit, (apparently they have been), it's going to be some time before we can get gates and fences up."

I don't know your situation exactly but I'm sure you could have the place fenced and gated in a week even doing it by yourself. Seems to me that's the first thing to do, at least stop them driving up to the door and loading up.

I'd want a camera to see who they are anyway as they're probably local and I very much doubt they'd look for a camera by the gate. If you can identify the car - report it to the police and your neighbors, and also keep your eye open for it yourself.

[Jacks]

We are fenced and gated but it didn't help, they must have had bolt cutters because they cut the heavy chain on the gate, they broke the security lights and used a crowbar on the shutters, door and window.

[just john]

Jacks, I'm sorry to hear about your break-in, not least because it sounds more determined than our opportunist break-ins.
We can't instantly surround our property with fencing, not just because we will not be there for at least a month, but because we are still mid acquiring some land adjoining. We are just south of Angouleme where we have known people for some time, they all consider the area low crime with adequate precautions. 
I think ours must be opportunist local rogues who have been awoken by the building works. Whatever, we want to make sure we do what we can to make them go elsewhere.

[Turnip]

[quote]Jacks, I'm sorry to hear about your break-in, not least because it sounds more determined than our opportunist break-ins. We can't instantly surround our property with fencing, not just because we wi...[/quote]

 Ask your neighbours to watch out for suspicious white vans (any large vehicle I would have thought) calling at holiday/second homes, a tip I read in one of the Sunday papers discussing the rising trend of second home burglaries. Seems some of these thieves will even take building materals/plumbing goods or even roofing.

[annie1]

We too suffered from break-ins, the first was not to serious but, the second was devastating as they really cleared up.  They must have had a large van, but nobody seen anything.

We now live here permanently but in the few years before we moved we installed alarms, video cameras, put up stout new gates, and spent a small fortune on strong bars for the shutters.  Our nearest neighbours were very good and promised to do a lookout every time they passed which was every couple of days.

Our insurance company Groupama were not at all helpful, they paid out eventually but needless to say not the full amounts.  We now keep the receipt and sometimes a photograph of any new items that we buy.  We have changed insurance companies and are now with Axa.

It is really sad but apart from being there it is very difficult to stop the determined thief.  However if you follow some of the earlier advice it is sure to make your property more secure and give the thieves a harder target, which means they may move on to somewhere easier.

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Hi John & Sue, I can imagine what a worry this is for you. We have English friends who have had their holiday home (Dept 36 indre) broken into. It was during the really cold weather in March and ...[/quote]

" they are insured with an English insurance company, who paid out for articles stolen (only a couple of bits and bobs), as well as for making good all the damage".

I'd like to know who this English Insurer is.  Most UK insurers will not touch a foreign property as they do not know the risks or the post code

How come this UK insurer paid out on a break in at a house left empty for more than 30 days? Very few insurance companies will pay out if that is the case in the UK let alone abroad.  Does this insurance carry a very hefty premium?

[Punch]

There is a another simple deterrent which I am surprised no-one has mentioned here yet, and won't cost you a penny.

Most Gendarmeries, if you let them know you are going away, or that your house will be empty for a long period will include you on their "rounds" of vacated properties during the summer holidays. Ok, so they may or may not call every day, but anyone seeing the "blue van" outside your house, will surely be deterred knowing that it could return anytime. They will then continie to watch out during the quieter months.

I did this and mistakedly left a window open last year, and the whole neighbourhood were on the lookout for the "intruders", once the gendarmerie had checked our place over.

Also let the facteur know you are away so that any letters are not left hanging or stuffed in your boite a lettres.

Camera systems are an excellent way to see who has been snooping around whilst you are away. I set up a simple camera system last year and you would be surprised what you find! Even a dummy camera is a worthwhile investment. Put up one of those red " Proprieté Privé" signs too.

Paul 

[just john]

Hi Paul

thanks for your reply, that's interesting about your camera system, I'd love to know what specification you have, is it it good enough to show registration plates?.

Since I have to rehearse my french before asking questions etc, who do you inform about holding mail while you are not there, the Poste or the Mairie? do you then collect on your arrival?

John & Sue

[just john]

Hi all

Good news is that since the last time our place was made secure there appear to have no more break-ins, our builder suggests putting up a fence and giving the property a fresh coat of paint which can't do any harm I suppose.

However we haven't received any info from anyone on insuring holiday properties or info on a surveillance camera to record vehicles entering the drive, I hope someone is able to offer some helpful info on this, forgive us for asking one last time.

John & Sue

Keep wearing the sunscreen