Villa theft

[AVO]

Fair point about the beach...... The problem is that you can spend thousands turning your villa into Fort Knox but it can just put off holiday makers by making them feel so worried that they cannot relax. There has to be a middle way.
I just wish that the GNR would do more. I know that they have upped patrols but I suspect that in quite a few cases they have a very good idea who the culprits are.

[e-richard]

..quite a lot of doors will not open if there is a key on the inside - would leaving the key in the lock have prevented the breakin?

Yes, I'm sorry to go a bit off-topic, but that is very bad advice

I have twice had guests do that, then go out, inadvertently leaving the key on the inside. The door will close, and lock, and its then impossible to open from the outside.
The locksmiths of Carvoeiro have made a good chunk of money from such guests.

[blue]

We have left the key in the front door at night, I don't know how anyone could inadvertently leave the key in, you have to unlock it to open the door to get out at which point you remove the key from the inside.

[fmm]

..quite a lot of doors will not open if there is a key on the inside - would leaving the key in the lock have prevented the breakin?

Yes, I'm sorry to go a bit off-topic, but that is very bad advice

I have twice had guests do that, then go out, inadvertently leaving the key on the inside. The door will close, and lock, and its then impossible to open from the outside.
The locksmiths of Carvoeiro have made a good chunk of money from such guests.

None of my doors lock unless you actually put the key in to lock them, so not possible to leave the key in the door by accident!

[Michael Crane]

I am not an expert on locks, but isn't it the clyinder-type locks (Yale) that lock automatically, and lever-type locks that need the key to unlock and lock the door? If you change to lever locks then you can't lock yourself out but can leave the key in the lock overnight.

[Farol]

If the lock is a euro style lock then you cannot put a key in both sides at once.

I always lock our front door from the inside when we are in and leave the key in the lock.

As has been stated you cannot go out without unlocking the door so are far less likely to go out without the key than if it was left on a table somewhere.

The door will lock (but not deadlock the multipoint locking) if closed on the way out without a key.

As the door is a solid door there is no risk of somebody breaking glass or using a letter box to get at the key when it is inside.

Surely if tenants go out without the key and a locksmith has to gain entry then the cost is recovered from the tenant.

[EMM]

We made the ( expensive )mistake of leaving a key in the lock when we went out and have made it clear to anyone staying that if they lock themselves out because of this they pay for the locksmith.

Owners can reduce the risks by changing the locks every year, not that expensive, certainly cheaper than a breakin.

[traveler]

..quite a lot of doors will not open if there is a key on the inside - would leaving the key in the lock have prevented the breakin?

Yes, I'm sorry to go a bit off-topic, but that is very bad advice

I have twice had guests do that, then go out, inadvertently leaving the key on the inside. The door will close, and lock, and its then impossible to open from the outside.
The locksmiths of Carvoeiro have made a good chunk of money from such guests.

I did that this morning. Thank goodness I left an upstairs, balcony door open, but it still was a ladder borrowing, hair raising climb.

[pickwick]

Hi All

Leaving the key in a lock is not a good idea as burglars can then turn the key from the outside using a simple lock pick!! With regard to alarm companies, Securitas have a good wireless multi zone system that photographs the burglar and sends the picture via mobile network. You can then log in and print the pictures for the GNR.We had a break-in and the burglar was caught on camera and identified by the GNR. If they wear masks though this will not catch them!

Pickwick

[jonboy]

We use Securitas with image capture - and it works well. It allows you to login remotely and stores images of instances where the the property has been entered without the proper code. GNR like this system and have I am told used it successfully to identify suspects ( yes they do know who some of these people are but need evidence to nail 'em) but not sure whether or not they were convicted. GNR seem to regularly pull people out of Poco Partido estate early in the morning, search their homes but again it is not clear as to what results this initative has produced.

JB

[fmm]

Hi All

Leaving the key in a lock is not a good idea as burglars can then turn the key from the outside using a simple lock pick!! With regard to alarm companies, Securitas have a good wireless multi zone system that photographs the burglar and sends the picture via mobile network. You can then log in and print the pictures for the GNR.We had a break-in and the burglar was caught on camera and identified by the GNR. If they wear masks though this will not catch them!

Pickwick

So, it will deter the thieves who have keys, but not the more professional ones - assume the more professional ones will also wear some sort of facial covering. Sounds like luck plays a large part in whether you are likely to be burgled or not.

[Farol]

If someone armed with lock picks comes along then it is very unlikely that anything you do will keep a determined professional thief out of your property. They will always find a way even if it eventually comes down to smashing their way in. These will also be the ones wearing something to cover their face and also wearing gloves. However, only a small proportion of burglaries are committed by this type of thief - the majority are opportunists or less professional thieves which might include those with duplicate keys but they are not likely to resort to lock picks.

[Michael Crane]

The duplicate key problem is one of concern to ex-Mazza Property Services clients. It is impossible to know who might have keys to the properties they mismanaged. I am told that many of them (at least those that are members of this forum) have already made such changes.

[charliegill11]

We found this to be a problem as Ms Day had handed our keys to her friends so that they could carry out inspections of the property when she was not in the country - although we had not authorised this. When we terminated her contract we asked for the keys to be returned which were not and so it was necessary to have the locks changed and this came to a considerable amount of money as we had four outside doors and one internal door. the only way of stopping extra keys being cut/duplicated is if you purchase specialist keys which are costly and cannot be cut by the locksmith in places like Intermarche as the blanks have to be specially ordered and registered.

[shanagarry]

It might be sensible to suggest to the GNR that the ubiquitous Ms Day might be able to help them with their enquiries