The average UK garden is no longer just home to a few flowerpots and a hose pipe. These days, gardens have thousands of pounds worth of contents, from garden furniture and BBQs through to trampolines and even hot tubs.
The average garden has around £800 worth of items, so it is perhaps no surprise they are a top target for thieves. In fact, figures from the ONS reveal there are more than 533,000 thefts ‘outside a dwelling’ every year, which is one every minute.
The figures also reveal the average value of these stolen garden items is £167, which means every year, almost £89m worth of items are taken from outside our homes.
So, with the Coronation weekend coming up – and the risk of gardens being left unattended yet full of items - James Robathan from InsureMy offers his top five tips on what you can do to ensure your garden is not victim to theft:
Tidy away
While it may be tempting - especially over a long weekend when you are gardening, doing odd jobs, getting out the paddling pool or maybe having a BBQ in the evenings - to leave tools, furniture, bikes and other valuables out overnight, or while you pop out, it is important these items are put away or locked up, otherwise they make very easy pickings and may not be covered by insurance. Plus, thieves use tools they find in gardens to break into houses, so don’t make it easy for them.
Lock it down
Ideally, you should store all valuable items somewhere secure to prevent theft, but sometimes this is just not practical, especially with large garden furniture items. However, garden furniture thefts account for more than a third (36%) of all garden thefts so if you can’t put it away, think about anchoring them to the ground, or securing with wires or brackets. Covers for furniture can act as a deterrent - especially if they are anchored to the ground too - and also protects furniture so can be really useful.
Make sure you padlock your gate. While it may not stop a determined intruder from climbing over, it makes your garden a much less appealing target and prevents larger items (which are often more valuable) from being taken.
If you keep any leisure vehicles such as caravans, motorhomes or boats in your garden or driveway then adequate locks, hitchposts or supermules are an absolute must as these are highly attractive prizes for thieves. Many insurers featured on insuremy.co.uk/caravan-insurance insist on or offer discounts for use of certain security devices.
It is also a good idea to put your rubbish bins and recycling boxes out of sight, not only are they likely to be stolen (eight per cent of garden thefts are wheelie bins)*** but also, if they are near your garden fence or wall, thieves can use them as a ‘step up’ to gain access to your garden.
Lights, camera, action!
Motion sensor security lights can act as a real deterrent for thieves because they draw attention to your home, and obviously make you aware if anyone is trying to enter your garden. You may also want to think about making entering your garden noisier for example, a gravel path – this can discourage would-be trespassers - especially any opportune thieves who will move on if they think they’ll be spotted. High walls, fences, hedges and secure gates - anything that makes getting into your garden more difficult – are also a good idea.
Adding CCTV cameras offers the double benefit of deterring would-be thieves and giving the police more chance of bringing perpetrators to justice if you are the victim of burglary. Be sure to familiarise yourself with laws governing what can and can’t be captured by cameras that surround your property to avoid making the footage unusable or causing friction with neighbours!
Be subtle
If you go away for a longer period, try and get someone to pop in every now and again to make it less obvious that the property is empty. Ask them to water the plants, pick up your post and put out your recycling so it looks like you are still around. If they can mow your lawn, even better!
Think about outing lights in a timer too, as this will help, as will having a car on your drive –maybe see if a neighbour would be happy to park on your drive while you are away. Also, try and avoid posting pictures of your holiday on social media while you’re still away, as this is a huge clue that the house is empty, and may even invalidate your home insurance.
Get covered
James concludes: “While all these measures will go a long way to protecting your home and garden, none of them will ever make it 100% safe, so it is vital that you have a good, comprehensive home insurance policy in place.
“Most home insurance policies offer the option of garden cover while others offer it as standard, but make sure you have garden cover as it will protect you against loss or damage to the contents of your garden.”
