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The Great Hunt: How do you make your house look occupied while on holiday?

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  • Doc_N
    Doc_N Posts: 8,300 Forumite
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    Tiglath wrote: »
    We don't go away unless someone is cat-sitting so not an issue for us.
    The alternative is the 'big cat' approach.

    Quite simple - just allow a lion free range of the house while you're away. Burglars are rarely a problem if you follow this approach.
  • geri1965_2
    geri1965_2 Posts: 8,736 Forumite
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    I have a friend who visits to feed the cats, and another who lives over the road to keep an eye on the place.

    Although the two times I've been burgled, once I was upstairs in bed and the other we had just gone out for a bike ride and were only gone a couple of hours.
  • Biggles
    Biggles Posts: 8,209 Forumite
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    Mike_Phillips wrote: »
    I leave the curtains closed.
    That's the big give-away. It absolutely shouts, "They're away!".
  • Money_maker
    Money_maker Posts: 5,471 Forumite
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    Leave the teenagers at home. No burglar is that [STRIKE]brave[/STRIKE] daft
    Please do not quote spam as this enables it to 'live on' once the spam post is removed. ;)

    If you quote me, don't forget the capital 'M'

    Declutterers of the world - unite! :rotfl::rotfl:
  • purpleweasel
    purpleweasel Posts: 116 Forumite
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    Doc_N wrote: »
    The alternative is the 'big cat' approach.

    Quite simple - just allow a lion free range of the house while you're away. Burglars are rarely a problem if you follow this approach.

    How do you get back into the house when you come back off holiday? I imagine the lion is pretty hungry by then if it hasn't had any burglars to eat...
  • DigForVictory
    DigForVictory Posts: 11,918 Forumite
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    We've not been burgled (yet) mostly as the view into the front room looks like we moved in last week (a decade plus later) & it's a H&S hazard.

    Also anyone who wants to rob a house with 3 boys in better be wearing thick soled footwear.

    Finally, apart from radios & (low voltage) lamps with timers, we have neighbours with dogs & chickens - anything trying to get to the back of the house will undoubtedly draw attention, in one case with shotgun. (She loves her chickens. has Views on foxes & managed to get a licence. As a burglar deterrent, she's more than worth the occasional quirk as a neighbour!) [I'd back her against the lion!]
  • Tiglath
    Tiglath Posts: 3,816 Forumite
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    Mr_Wang wrote: »
    You're one of those aren't you.

    I was at my GF mothers house at Christmas and at midnight we all headed for bed. She spouted up "Oh, we can't go to bed yet, the cat isn't ready to come in"

    I mean seriously - !!!!!! :cool:

    Yes, I'm afraid so. I went to the front door at 5am this morning because one of the cats was banging the door-knocker. Too much effort for him to go round the back and use the catflap.
    "Save £12k in 2019" #120 - £100,699.57/£100,000
  • Cpu2007
    Cpu2007 Posts: 724 Forumite
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    We had a few burglars in my neighbourhood and this is really frustrating because the council didn't do anything to make our area safer, on top of that the police proved to be incompetent as non of the burglaries that occurred have occurred have been solved
    We put CCTV cameras in and outside our house, they are also connected to the net and can be accessed when abroad either using a computer or phone

    Obviously, you can't check the cameras all the time when you're on holiday but you can apply a few tricks, for example you know there will be no one inside the house when you're away so you can set the cameras to motion detection so that if someone is inside your house, the system will detect it and send you an email or other type of notifications to let you know something is going on

    Someone here said that having closed curtains is a big give away that no one is in the house, will it make it safer leaving them open?
  • PompeyPete
    PompeyPete Posts: 7,126 Forumite
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    Keep you 'trap' shut.
    Avoid careless talk, especially in the pub.
    And don't litter Fakebook or Twatter with stuff telling the world that you're going on holiday!
  • gloriouslyhappy
    gloriouslyhappy Posts: 597 Forumite
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    [QUOTE:
    Originally Posted by Mr Wang View Post
    You're one of those aren't you.

    I was at my GF mothers house at Christmas and at midnight we all headed for bed. She spouted up "Oh, we can't go to bed yet, the cat isn't ready to come in"

    I mean seriously - !!!!!!

    quote=Tiglath;65696552]Yes, I'm afraid so. I went to the front door at 5am this morning because one of the cats was banging the door-knocker. Too much effort for him to go round the back and use the catflap.[/QUOTE]

    Dogs have owners - cats have staff!!!
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