Protecting Your Home While You Are Travelling: A Security Guide for Older Adults

The Risk of an Empty Home

For many older adults, travel brings a particular concern: what about the house while I am away? An unoccupied property carries genuine risks. Burglary rates are higher for homes that appear empty, and secondary risks such as water leaks, power faults, and mail accumulation can also cause significant problems during a prolonged absence.

The good news is that with straightforward preparation in the days and weeks before you leave, you can significantly reduce these risks and travel with far greater peace of mind. Many of the most effective security measures are low-cost or free, relying on habits, social networks, and basic equipment rather than expensive surveillance technology.

Making Your Home Look Occupied

The most effective burglar deterrent is the appearance of an occupied home. Professional burglars assess properties before attempting entry, and they look for signs that no one is home: accumulated post, dark windows at night, uncut grass, and an absence of any activity around the property.

Ask a trusted neighbour, friend, or family member to visit the property regularly while you are away. Even a brief visit every day or two, to collect post, open and close curtains, and check that everything looks normal, dramatically reduces the visual cues that suggest an empty property. If no one is available to visit daily, arrange for your post to be held at the postal service or redirected to a trusted address. A full letterbox is one of the clearest signals to a burglar that a home is empty.

Use timers on internal lights to create the appearance of activity within the home during evening hours. Programmable light switches and plug-in timer sockets are inexpensive and can be set to turn lights on and off at varied times to avoid a mechanical pattern. Set them to cover the hours from dusk to around 11pm, when a genuinely occupied home would typically show light in living areas.

If your absence will extend over several weeks, consider whether grass, hedges, or garden areas will look unkempt. An overgrown garden is a well-known signal of absence. Ask a neighbour or gardening service to maintain visible areas during a long trip.

Physical Security Before You Leave

Walk through your property systematically before departing and address any physical security vulnerabilities.

Lock all external doors and windows, including any that you might normally leave on the latch. Pay particular attention to garage doors, side gates, and any other access points that could be used to reach the rear of the property out of sight from the street. Many burglaries occur through rear access points precisely because they are less visible to neighbours and passers-by.

Check that all door and window locks are in good working order. A door lock that is stiff, worn, or unreliable should be repaired or replaced before a long absence. Consider whether a door security bar or chain adds any useful additional protection to main entry points.

Do not leave spare keys hidden outside the property. Key safes, key rocks, and keys under plant pots are well known to burglars. If a spare key is needed for a neighbour or carer to access the property, give it to them directly rather than leaving it concealed outside.

Remove any obvious valuables from sight through ground floor windows. Laptops, tablets, jewellery, and handbags visible from the street or from a window at the front of the house make your property a more attractive target. Secure valuable and irreplaceable items such as jewellery, important documents, and sentimental items in a good quality safe bolted to a structural wall or floor.

Utility and Property Management

Security against burglary is the most prominent concern when leaving home empty, but other risks deserve attention too.

Consider turning off the water supply at the mains stopcock if you will be away for more than a few days, particularly in winter. A burst pipe or failed washing machine hose in an unoccupied property can cause catastrophic water damage before anyone notices. If turning off the water is not practical because another person will be using the property occasionally, at least know where the stopcock is and make sure any visiting person knows too.

Turn off the gas at the mains if the property will be genuinely empty for an extended period, unless the heating system needs to run periodically to prevent frost damage to pipes. In very cold climates, maintaining a minimum heating level in winter is important to prevent burst pipes, and this should be discussed with your heating engineer or the person checking the property.

Unplug unnecessary electrical appliances at the wall. This both reduces fire risk from faulty standby equipment and slightly reduces electricity consumption. Leave refrigerators and freezers running if they contain food, or empty and switch them off with the doors slightly ajar to prevent mould.

Ensure any security alarms are set and that the monitoring company and at least two keyholders have current contact details. Test the alarm before you leave. If your alarm has been unreliable or has experienced false activations, have it serviced before a long absence to avoid your keyholders being called out repeatedly for no reason and becoming desensitised to genuine alerts.

Telling the Right People and Not Telling the Wrong Ones

Selective disclosure about your travel plans is an often overlooked element of home security. Telling the right people about your absence, while being careful about who else knows, is an important balance.

Do tell: a trusted immediate neighbour, any family member who may need to reach you or access the property in an emergency, your home insurer (as many policies have conditions about extended absences), and a professional housewatch or property management service if you use one.

Be cautious about: broadcasting your travel plans widely on social media before or during your trip. Posting your departure date, destination, and return date on public social media profiles gives potential opportunists a clear window of opportunity. Save the holiday photos for when you are back home.

Consider whether tradespeople, delivery drivers, or service providers who have visited the property recently might be aware you are planning a trip. While most are entirely trustworthy, the habit of discretion around travel plans is a good one to develop.

Smart Home Technology for Security

Smart home security technology has become increasingly accessible and affordable, and many products are designed to be straightforward to use without technical expertise.

Video doorbells allow you to see and speak to anyone who approaches your front door via a smartphone app, from anywhere in the world. Many also record footage automatically when motion is detected. This provides both a visible deterrent and a record of any activity at the front of the property.

Smart locks allow you to lock and unlock your front door remotely and to issue temporary access codes to visitors or tradespeople, eliminating the need to leave physical keys anywhere. Indoor and outdoor smart cameras provide remote viewing and motion-activated recording. Smart plugs with timer functions allow you to control lighting remotely as well as automatically.

If you are not confident setting up smart home technology independently, many electrical retailers offer installation services, and family members can often help. The investment in even a basic video doorbell and timer sockets makes a meaningful difference to security perception and reality.

Checking In From Abroad

If you have asked a neighbour to check your property, maintain regular contact with them throughout your trip. A brief message every few days confirming all is well, or immediately if they notice anything concerning, gives you peace of mind and ensures the checking arrangement remains active.

If you have smart security cameras or a video doorbell, check them periodically during your trip. Most apps send notifications for motion detection events, allowing you to review any activity at the property in real time.

Have a clear plan for what happens if a problem is discovered while you are away. Who has access to the property? Who can authorise emergency repairs? Does your travel insurance or home insurance have an emergency helpline for property incidents? Knowing the answers to these questions before you leave means that if something does go wrong, you can respond efficiently rather than spending precious holiday time working it out from scratch.

When You Return Home

Before entering your property after an absence, carry out a quick external check. Look for any signs of forced entry, broken windows, or disturbed areas around doorways or windows. If you notice anything suspicious, do not enter the property. Call the police and wait for them to check the property before going inside.

Once inside, check that everything is as you left it. If anything appears to have been disturbed or is missing, report it to the police immediately. Take photographs of any damage or disturbance before moving anything, as this is important for any insurance claim.

With good preparation and sensible precautions, the vast majority of older adults return from travel to find their homes exactly as they left them. The peace of mind that comes from thorough preparation is itself one of the best reasons to invest time in it before every trip.