Statistics confirm that protecting a house or flat pays off in Prague
Do you know which properties are the most vulnerable to burglary? Relative to their total number, the most likely victim of thieves is your cottage or country house, the place you only visit occasionally. Police statistics show that for every 10,000 such properties there are roughly 150 burglaries a year. For family houses it is about a third of that (around 50 burgled houses per 10,000) and for flats a third of that third (about 15 flats per 10,000).
Although burglaries are no longer the phenomenon they were in the 1990s and the overall number of these crimes is steadily falling, there are locations where you should definitely be on your guard. These are remote or socially excluded areas on the one hand, and Prague and the Central Bohemian Region on the other. In essence, thieves pick two complete opposites as their victims: either very poor, or very wealthy people.
A survey by the Bezpečné Česko project once found that 35% of Prague residents surveyed use no security for their property beyond a locked front door. Yet with houses and flats it is often true that being prepared means not being burgled. Thieves are experienced and have a good eye, and they can spot a property with no electronic security system. The ones that do have it they usually give a wide berth. So the single most important rule, one that is rarely written about, is this in practice: Make it very obvious that the house is properly secured.
Alongside real cameras you can also buy dummies and combine the two cleverly
Insurance company statistics show that the average loss from a break-in at a house or flat runs into tens of thousands of crowns. Bear in mind that for the insurance to pay out, the thief must always overcome some kind of physical barrier – a closed window or a locked door. Some insurers offer a discount to clients who can prove their property is properly secured.
6 tips on how to secure a house or flat against burglary
And what should proper security look like in practice? Here are six absolutely basic rules that will significantly reduce your chances of becoming the victim of a crime.
A camera system
A working camera system inside and outside the property now costs just a few thousand crowns. Simple IP cameras can be placed in the right spots and connected wirelessly, so you can watch the feed from anywhere in the world. Before you leave, don’t forget to switch on motion detection and recording triggered by anything unusual happening in the house or flat.
An alarm
Statistics show that electronic security with an alarm system connected to a security agency is already used by roughly one in five owners of family houses in Prague. Even a simple alarm with an audible siren is usually enough to deter a thief, because it exponentially increases the risk of being caught.
Watchful neighbours
If you are on good terms with your neighbours, it certainly helps if they keep an eye on your property from time to time and notice anything out of the ordinary. It is better for them to call once unnecessarily to ask why there are strangers in your garden than not to call at the moment your valuables are being loaded into someone’s van. And of course, have someone collect your post (a neighbour, relative or friend) if you are away for longer in the Czech Republic or abroad.
Scouts for burglars still exist and in the summer they look for properties that are clearly unoccupied – letterboxes, the state of the garden and the (lack of) cars outside the house tell them everything. Avoid conspicuously loading your car in front of people you don’t know. From the outside at least, the flat should look as if someone is home: arrange for the post to be collected and the plants watered, and if you have smart home features, switch on a light in one of the rooms remotely in the evenings.
A letterbox stuffed with four weeks’ worth of supermarket leaflets is likely to attract unwanted attention
Physical security
Knowing how many smart systems people have installed at home, they often forget the most important thing of all: properly closing all the windows, locking up carefully and checking that every route into the garden and into the property is secured. Better to try every handle three times before you leave than to spend the whole holiday worrying whether thieves can simply walk in.
Watch out for windows left on the tilt setting – skilled thieves can open them from outside, so only do this on upper floors at most. Open windows are also a risk during torrential rain and strong winds.
Appliances and water
With summer storms getting more frequent and more severe, unplug at least the larger appliances before you leave – apart from the fridge, freezer and cameras. The higher risk applies to devices that don’t switch off completely at the button and only go into standby mode: typically televisions, but also games consoles, where a sudden power cut can irreversibly damage the storage. Be careful too with appliances that could theoretically catch fire – cheap charging adapters, kettles, coffee machines, microwave ovens. And turn off the main water valve: a burst supply hose behind the toilet can destroy the flooring in an entire flat in two weeks.
Social media
And finally, we have our traditional piece of advice, one that most millennials (and younger) won’t like to hear. Save sharing your holiday photos on social media for later! Especially if it is easy to find out (through the trade register, for example) where and with whom you live. And also if all your social media profiles are fully public and you have hundreds or thousands of followers you don’t know personally. You never know which of them is a notorious scout – these days they don’t walk the streets so much as the internet.
In general, it is advisable not to state exactly how long you will be away – so no “off to the airport, can’t wait for 14 days in Zanzibar”. One solution is to lock your profile or use the “close friends” circle on Instagram; Facebook posts can be set so that only genuine friends can see them. And if you use sports apps like Strava and set off for your run straight from home, turn on automatic hiding of the start and end of your route. Keep an eye on what your children post, too.
A holiday in paradise can turn into a nightmare the moment you turn the key in the lock
We hope that this summer too you will be spared any unpleasantness on your travels and after you get home – have a wonderful holiday!
We are FLAT SERVICE, an agency specialising in professional management of rental flats in Prague and the immediate surroundings. We have more than 20 years of experience and we will be glad to help you rent out your vacant flat with complete peace of mind. Call +420 277 000 330 or write to sales@flatservice.cz – we will introduce you to our Partner service and to the option of fully guaranteed rent.
