Security red flags?

Getting_greyer

I viewed a house that had a cctv camera set up in the landing watching the stairway and front door.  This was connected to a monitor in the bedroom.  I found this odd, I guess there could be many reasons for it but still odd.

MysteryMe

You can get locking bolts for the bottom of patio/sliding doors installed pretty easily. You might get a lower quote for contents insurance. I don't think the presence of an alarm system or CCTV automatically means the area is a hotbed for burglary. 

rexmedorum

we installed a (diy) alarm when we moved in, just because I thought it was a bad idea for our house to be literally the only in the street without an obvious alarm, not because I was necessarily worried.

locking bolts at patio doors mentioned by @MysteryMe are a good idea. If the patio doors lead into a conservatory that's good, it means going that rout anybody would need to breat through 2 doors.
See if you can upgrade the front door locks, a large proportion come through the front door apparently. Also have a look at  the windows: do they lock properly etc.(and remember to close them when going out).

RS2OOO

Don't care how nice the area where I live is, every house I move into gets an alarm and full CCTV fitted. 

It may also have been a factor in my first time buyers pulling out of purchasing my house (don't know for sure but I saw the look they gave each other when I said I'd be happy to leave the CCTV behind if they wanted it).

If I wanted a house and found it had those items fitted it would make zero difference to my decision because I'd have already researched the area before viewing the house.

billy2shots

Firstly I would never buy a house with a car park, public footpath, park or communal area directly behind. 

However the crime rate figure you suggest are very low. Do a search on your local area, you will be very surprised. With that in mind, the CCTV sounds like a bit of a red herring.  

Angela_D_3

billy2shots said:

Firstly I would never buy a house with a car park, public footpath, park or communal area directly behind. 

However the crime rate figure you suggest are very low. Do a search on your local area, you will be very surprised. With that in mind, the CCTV sounds like a bit of a red herring.  

See i would love all that and lived happily in a house that backed on to a good burglary escape route for 12 years.
literally never occurred to me until this moment and we were not burgled either.   

RS2OOO

billy2shots said:

 With that in mind, the CCTV sounds like a bit of a red herring.  

Do you mean red herring as if not to worry about the CCTV?

Or as in to consider it a red flag?

If the latter I'm interested in your (or anybody else's) view point, particularly as I wonder if my comprehensive CCTV system may have put buyers off. 

There are numerous reasons why I fit CCTV in every house, one reason however is that I have a classic car and have been followed home from car shows etc in the past.

I was followed home to a previous property and later that night an attempt to break into my garage (eb-bloc) led me to consider CCTV in the first place. On that occasion I called the Police at circa 3am whilst the attempted break-in was in progress and they were too busy to send anyone over. I asked advice on what would happen if I went out there with an iron bar to deal with it myself was told I'd be arrested!

So there you go, in my case having CCTV is not at all reflective of the area I live.

billy2shots

RS2OOO said:

billy2shots said:

 With that in mind, the CCTV sounds like a bit of a red herring.  

Do you mean red herring as if not to worry about the CCTV?

Or as in to consider it a red flag?

If the latter I'm interested in your (or anybody else's) view point, particularly as I wonder if my comprehensive CCTV system may have put buyers off. 

There are numerous reasons why I fit CCTV in every house, one reason however is that I have a classic car and have been followed home from car shows etc in the past.

I was followed home to a previous property and later that night an attempt to break into my garage (eb-bloc) led me to consider CCTV in the first place. On that occasion I called the Police at circa 3am whilst the attempted break-in was in progress and they were too busy to send anyone over. I asked advice on what would happen if I went out there with an iron bar to deal with it myself was told I'd be arrested!

So there you go, in my case having CCTV is not at all reflective of the area I live.

A CCTV system being present is a bit like the chicken and egg example. Is the system there due to high crime rate or is it actually preventing crime from taking place. 

The OP did a search which resulted in the low crime numbers being obtained from the local area.  Therefore I personally don't think the CCTC is illustrative of a problem.

Rebeccas90

We have cctv but not an alarm. 

We live in an ok area now but used to live in a bit of a rough area, that's when we got the cctv. We just ended up bringing it with us when we moved.

If I see a house with cctv or an alarm I wouldn't worry. Likely just their preference. Personally i think crime stats are more important. My sister moved recently and she contacted their neighbourhood watch, she said that was helpful