Houses with NO lights on in winter

[BruceAndNosh]

I guess it's more noticeable now the clocks have changed, but both our neighbours' houses are in total darkness at 7pm. It's obvious that no one is at home, the house is empty.
Is this not a security risk?
I think they both have burglar alarms but don't think either of them ever use it.

Yes, I know thousands of people can't afford to leave random lights on, but this isn't the case here.

I hate a dark house and have a couple of lights set to come on automatically at dusk.

What do you do?

@TuftyMarmoset

Yes burglars are usually after electronics and jewellery. I have heard of SE Asian families being targeted because they often have a lot of gold jewellery.

I don’t have a burglar alarm or put lights on timers and I’ve never been burgled either.

You've never been burgled so far

@NiceGerbil

I'm also guessing that OP interest in goings on would mean cops called at hint of trouble!!

7pm would be a shit time to break in surely. Risk people come home from work.

If I were a pro I'd look for out all day/ hols personally.

I was done between 5.30 and 6 pm on an early December night. All they need is the cover of darkness, the rats don't give a shite whether your on holiday or not, they don't think like normal law abiding people.

@Faevern

I have insomnia too so lights can go on and off at any time in this house. A burglar will have to rely on more than a dark house to guess if anyone is home.

Same, and DH also suffers so we tend to sleep in shifts. We don’t leave a light on if we are out but then we don’t live somewhere where it would be obvious either way.

Well obviously @torquewench but the point was burglars aren’t queuing outside my house due to the lack of lights (we don’t have an outside light either), burglar alarm, dog, thorn bushes etc. It would be fairly easy to kick the door in but no one’s bothered so far. We even have bikes just under a cover in our front garden which I thought would be stolen pretty quickly but it’s been 2 years and that hasn’t happened yet.

@Sparklingbrook

I haven't been burgled in 26 years of leaving lights on timers. Although we do have a very visible burglar alarm box on the front so that might help.

I think the light is less influential here

I can't believe that if you look at 2 random houses, 1 with a box, 1 without you'd risk it being a monitored alarm!

I’ve never thought to light our house when it’s not occupied. I’m not a worrier generally, mind you.

My MIL frets about this sort of thing and gets worried if she’s later than planned and there’s no light on. I don’t want to be like that, it doesn’t look like a happy state to me.

We have a lamp in the living room on a timer plus a lamp in the hallway also on timer.

My alarm has a light that turns on and off at random times.

Would never just leave the house in total darkness. We rarely draw the curtains so that would not be a giveaway.

I always think how obvious it is that no one is home when a house is in complete darkness in the evening. Also if we go out we hate coming home to a totally dark house

Also if we go out we hate coming home to a totally dark house

I genuinely don’t get this. You get home to a dark house, switch a light on and, in a split second, it’s no longer dark!

Electricity is so expensive- no way am I leaving any lights on which don't need to be!

Anybody pulling up to the front of our house last night would have thought it was empty as it was all in darkness.
What they wouldn’t have realised was DS18 was up in his bedroom and DS17 was in the living room.
Both are round the back of the house and unless doors are open or other lights in the house are on you wouldn’t be able to tell people are in.

I don't think the lights off at night is anything to worry about - the majority of burglars are up and about at half past eight (or earlier), waiting for people to leave for work/do the school run. Peak time according to our local plod is 9.25 - 11.30am, which is why they patrol the more residential/commuter areas at that time; nobody notices the 'workman fixing a door or window' at that time of day.

If it's obviously a security light then that can be just as much an advert. The only time we had an attempted break-in was when dd2 was a baby and feeding frequently and I'd left the downstairs light on after a feed. The police reckoned that they thought the light on was a security light and the house was empty.

In the Winter, once DC are in bed (by 7pm) DH and I live in the kitchen and snug- both at the back of the house. The house looks in darkness. Even at the back we often have the cooker hood light on in the kitchen/family room and just a lamp and the woodburner in the snug.

I prefer the streets dark and wish the council would turn all streetlights off at midnight.

My driveway lights come on automatically but it's often dark by the time I get home anyway. There's no point leaving a light on all day in my house, it would be a waste of energy and I have large gates, so even when they're on you can't see it.

I have been burgled twice in the daytime! I think leaving a light on a timer is a good idea though.

@FatCatThinCat

My house looks like nobody is home as the living room is at the back and we only have lights on in the room we're using.

Same here; from the street it would look as though no one was home. Security risk? Is OP saying no one should go out at night?

Our streetlights go off 12am-6am. That's why I have to keep the outside light on for when anyone comes home from a night out.

Is OP saying no one should go out at night?

No, I think they're saying if there's nobody at home put a light on so the house doesn't appear that nobody is home and be inviting to possible burglars?
If you are at home you can fend the burglars off before they pinch anything presumably.

I leave a light on if I go out at night, but don't use timers or anything - which does mean that, for instance, if both DH and I are involved in work stuff or similar in the evenings the house is in darkness. Now you've made me think about sorting out a timer!

7pm would be a shit time to break in surely. Risk people come home from work

The last two burglaries in my stretch of road have been exactly this time of day, 6-7pm, on a winter night.
Yes I do leave lights on, always.

My mum's living room is at the back, as is the kitchen, so if she's shut internal doors it would look dark (actually the downstairs loo is at the front so that probably flicks on occasionally)

My living room is at the front, although I don't tend to have the big light on

People can be out at 7pm you know... and most people don't leave a light on that I know of. It's a waste of electricity and people have alarms.

We have our living room lamps on a timer that comes on 20 minutes before sunset. It knows when sunset is and puts them on.

As for noticing stuff, I go for a walk around the estate where I live most evenings. So far I’ve told one person they’ve left their car lights on, two people that they’ve left their keys in the door, found one persons credit card and returned one person’s wallet from the pavement outside his house.
If this means I’m an interfering busy body then I’ll stop helping my neighbours like this and let them leave their keys and wallets lying about the place

I live alone and leave for work in the dark, so I always have the back bedroom light on, as the area around back of the house is in total darkness. Also I leave the radio on for the dog…If I am away for a weekend I leave a lamp on in the living room and the blinds are down. I would never leave my home in total darkness, wether I am here or not.

We have lighting on timer as soon as its dark..country setting. Our neighbours were burgled tonight at 5 30 no lights on. Alarm activated but gone by the time they got there. Would always have outside lighting on once its dark.