Depending on where about in the US you live, there are different levels of theft crime that severely impact peoples lives. This alone causes a lot of controversy on the need for people to have guns in their home as they are authorised to use it if they see an intruder on their property. Taking measures to try and prevent a theft in the home is something that is very difficult to do, however, there have been some advances in this area in the recent years. As an example, it is now far more common for people to have CCTV or other camera sources placed on the outside (or inside) of their homes. This not only helps deter people from trying their luck on your property but also if they then do manage to get into the home, they are more likely to get prosecuted with the video footage.

 

People who are renting a property are even more likely to have their home robbed – the reason for this is more along the lines that the robber who could be watching the home closely will see this as more of an easy target.

 

Preventative Measures

 

The installation of the CCTV cameras in the property could be quite an expensive outgoing and this is only one solution. There are a hundred and one different things that could be considered which include:

 

● Light Timers– There are timers that you can place on the internal lights to go on and off at a certain time. This would then potentially make any potential intruder be deterred if they are monitoring the property. These are cheap to install but they are highly effective. People renting a property can get this installed hassle-free with no permission needed.

 

● Outdoor lights – Any robber does not want to be seen on your home property. As a result, ensuring there is good lighting outdoors so for when it is dark is key to make sure that any potential intruder can be seen. There are heat sensor lights in place which go on automatically if there is any person that walks through this – this could give the intruder a fright. The only negative around this is that, the lights are prone to go off for animals also therefore could be a false alarm!


 

● Alarm System – Most homes do have a good alarm system and if you are about to rent a property and it does not have a good alarm system it may be something that you want to ask the landlord to ensure it is in place before you move in. A good system nowadays is not particularly expensive. Some of these alarm types will include motion sensors, sensors on doors and windows that will activate the alarm immediately if someone tries to get into the home. In addition to this, there can be panic buttons in the home for people renting the property so that if an intruder does get in then the tenant has a way to immediately contact the authorities and raise the alarm with the neighbouring people.

 

Insurance Cover

 

Unfortunately, no matter what preventative measures you put in place there is always a risk to your property and if someone is really determined to enter the property then they will do so. If this happens and you have a load of things stolen as a result, it is crucial that any tenant has some level of insurance in place that will recompensate them. It is an assumption that tenants sometimes make that the landlord insurance will cover such an event – and this is not normally the case. Tenants are accountable to ensure they have this sort of cover in place. The insurance cover for a break in will normally cover all the items that were stolen from the property that can be proven as owned by the person whose name is on the property. Any property that is stolen but is owned by someone else who lives in the property is not something that can be covered at all (unless they have their own policy). Claiming for this eventuality is also something that can normally be completed easy if there is the correct level of evidence in place (which can even include photographs).
Make sure to consider this when renting and having others rent your property. For more information about theft and renters insurance see this article:

https://www.lemonade.com/blog/does-renters-insurance-cover-theft/.

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