What Do I Need To Do After Moving House?
Getting a new house, or purchasing your first house is an exciting time: you’re moving up the property ladder, moving to somewhere you’ve always wanted to live and getting more space to live in and store the things you need to live and enjoy your life. But since you’re moving into a new home, you need to consider just how secure your home is from intruders. There are lots of external factors involved, such as the general rate of burglaries in the area, but the prime factor is in the locks of your new home.
Get a New Locking System
Your common off-the-shelf door lock will be good enough to deter the petty criminal, but a dedicated burglar can find their way in by copying the key. Perhaps the previous home owner lost their key and it fell in the hands of a burglar, or the burglar accessed a locksmith database and copied it from there, but either way, there’s nothing stopping them from getting in.
Ideally, you can replace locks with a patented or a restricted locking system. Patented keys carry legal protection, preventing copies being made without providing proof of ownership, while restricted keys are unlikely to be copied due to their unusual design and unique mechanical features.
This means that extra keys can’t be made without your knowledge and previous owners or tenants do not still have access to your home. In addition, when patented keys are stolen or go missing, the existing key can be deleted from a locksmith’s key code database, the lock re-configured and new keys issued, ensuring that lost or stolen keys no longer work.
Burglar Alarms
Your home likely has a burglar alarm system already set up by the previous homeowner. Change the code of any alarms as soon as you move in and only give alarm details to people you trust. There’s no telling how long it’s been since the alarm code was changed by the previous homeowner or how reliable it is, so test it once you get a chance after unpacking.
MJS Locksmiths offer services for residential and commercial buildings in Darlington, Middlesbrough and Country Durham: homeowners with a broken front door lock, businesses with malfunctioning uPVC locks, emergency boarding for shattered windows, all within 24 hours of calling.