Live on your own in a ground floor flat?

[SwedishK]

I am due to move to London in July and thankfully accomodation for me and my daughter is already organised since we bought a flat in Islington a few years ago and it has been rented out since. Now we are moving baack and me and my daughter will be staying there alone for most of the time since my husband/her dad works abroad. The flat is on the ground and lower ground floor and I am really nervous about that. We have already had an break in at our current flat (also ground and lower ground) when me and my daughter was home alone. We are now living in a calmer area of Europe and to me, Islington feels more insecure than where we currently are.

Would you hesitate if someone offered you to live in a ground floor flat in Islington? It currently has 5 windows facing the street + an enclosed but easy to get in to front garden. In my mind that does just mean that it will be easier to break in when you are shielded by garden walls. The only thing the flat has today that is in ggod shape is an alarm system. Besides from that the windows are quite old and the door is just a normal front door.

Is there anything you would recommend me to do in order to feel safer? I have been thinking of installing electrical shutters for the windows for example and perhaps changing the front door for a more sturdy one. Are there any doors/locks that are pretty much impossible to break?

Thank you in advance for any input. I think the rioting last summer scared me more than I then realised and I feel quite anxious about the thought of living there on my own.

/K

Bars on the windows? Have lived on my own in a ground floor flat in Islington myself, though not with a child at the time.

Some of the windows had bars that were kind of welded on; for the others I bought them. They weren't too expensive, and they were retractible, when I wanted to open the windows and "draw back" the bars. They were just screwed in.

No way anyone could have broken in, even if I left the windows open, with the bars there - unless they had a saw, and took hours about it, which would have attracted notice.

It may not be allowed or not be something you'd want to do, but if it was I'd get a dog. My friend had someone try to get in the window of her ground floor flat - her (totally soft) spaniel barked and the would-be intruder scarpered.

retractable

Thanks to both of you!

Are bars safer than shutters? I guess they must be. As long as they are retractable I think that would be an OK solution. I would hate to feel like I'm living in a prison daytime but at night I don't mind the fort knox feel.

A dog is unfortunately not going to work. Too busy with work, school runs etc. I have been thining that there must be an alarm out there that sounds like rottweiler instead of just the regular beeping. I'd buy that.

A completely different subject, what does DS, DH, DC etc stand for? I have sussed out that it refers to son, husband, child etc (at least I think that's what it is) but what is D? Sorry, I'm a newbie.

Banham locks are quite good. Don't know how common they are, but our front door lock activates a bar when locked from the inside that goes into the floor and the door-frame above the door.

Darling husband/son/daughter etc

I live in a ground-floor flat. I don't sleep with any but the tiniest window open, which can be a bugger when it's hot, but otherwise it doesn't bother me. The area I live is comparable to Islington in terms of crime etc.

If you're really worried get bars on the windows

I have been thining that there must be an alarm out there that sounds like rottweiler instead of just the regular beeping. I'd buy that.

Google 'dog bark alarm' - I've no idea if they're any good (I have a dachshund, the most bark per kilo of dog on the market ) but I expect there are reviews.