An empty house is the burglar's favourite kind, and a house that looks empty for a fortnight is better still. The good news from the trade: most holiday burglaries exploit a handful of signals and shortcuts that cost little or nothing to remove. Here's the locksmith's version of the pre-holiday checklist — the locks done properly, plus the habits that keep an empty house looking busy.
Burglars read houses the way posties do. Lights on timers — staggered, in different rooms, not one lamp on a rigid schedule. Curtains left as you'd normally have them, not sealed shut for two weeks. A neighbour who'll park on the drive occasionally, take the bins out and round, and clear the post from view. In summer, arrange the lawn cut if you're away long enough for it to show.
The classic modern giveaway: a public countdown to departure, then a stream of beach photos timestamped from another country. Share the album when you're home. The older giveaways still apply too — home addresses on luggage labels facing the world, and answerphone messages announcing the trip.
On uPVC and composite doors, lifting the handle is not locked — turn the key, every door, every time; it's the single most consequential habit in this guide. Key-lock every window, including upstairs windows reachable from a flat roof or extension. Lock side gates and sheds (an unlocked shed is a tool kit left out for the occasion). And retire any hidden spare key for the duration — if someone needs access while you're away, a police-approved key safe or a trusted neighbour's keyring beats every flowerpot ever made.
Most home insurance policies quietly limit cover once a property is unoccupied beyond a set period — commonly thirty or sixty days. A normal holiday is fine, but for extended trips, check the wording and tell your insurer; it costs nothing and prevents an ugly surprise. Some policies also expect specific lock standards as a condition — our British Standard guide decodes that wording.
Fifteen unhurried minutes before the taxi: every door deadlocked, every window key-locked, gates and outbuildings secured, timers running, valuables and car keys out of sight and out of letterbox reach, neighbour briefed. If you want a structured version, our 10-minute security checklist works perfectly as a pre-holiday sweep.
A named, vetted master locksmith covers your area — no call-out fee.
If the walk-round turns up a stiff lock, a window that won't lock, or a cylinder you suspect is the snappable original, fix it before you go rather than after you're back — an empty house is the worst possible time for a known weakness. Your local LocksmithLocal can sort all of it in one visit, key safes included — find them here and go enjoy the holiday.
Cameras record losses; locks and key control prevent them. Key logs, restricted keys, master key systems, and the fire-escape balance every business door has to strike.
More than doors and key cutting: the real week of a working locksmith, the three lanes of the trade, when to call one — and the unregulated-industry fact most people don't know.
Search from the last certain moment, sweep in zones, check the strange-but-true regulars — and the 24-hour rule that turns a lost-keys hunt into a security decision.