According to figures released from Churchill Home Insurance, £30 million worth of items has been stolen from garden sheds, outbuildings, and summer houses over the past three years across England and Wales.
This Is Money reports that since the beginning of 2018, over 70,000 cases of theft from outbuildings have been reported to police, which is equivalent to 64 cases a day, and in 2020, 20 per cent of all burglary claims were for theft of items from sheds, garages and outbuildings, equating to £26,500 worth every day throughout 2020.
The lockdown has also brought in an increase in people converting outbuildings to home offices for remote working, which means expensive office equipment can also be at risk.
The average value of items stored in an outbuilding is £1,414, although 8 per cent store goods worth more than £5,000. However, 67 per cent of people admit these buildings are easily accessible from outside their property and 16 per cent do not do anything to secure them.
The data suggests that homeowners in the South East are most likely to need to make a home insurance claim relating to an outbuilding theft, accounting for 15 per cent of such claims in 2020. This was followed by London (14 per cent), Yorkshire and the Humber (13 per cent) and the South West (11 per cent), with the North West (10 per cent) completing the top five.
We have some tips to help protect your shed, garage, or outbuilding home office:
1: Make sure your outbuilding is locked at all times, even while you are at home
2: Install movement detection lights
3: Remove high-value items from view from any windows, or install blackout blinds.
4: Chain and padlock expensive items such as bikes to the ground or wall
5: Consider storing smaller, high-value items in a safe
6: Deter burglars by planting holly bushes, hawthorn or other prickly plants around the boundaries of your garden- this can be off-putting for thieves who want to get in and out as quickly as possible
7: Putting gravel or stones on your garden paths or by your shed will make it harder for burglars to be quiet
If you’re looking for burglar alarms in Slough, get in touch today.
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