Do you have a burglar alarm? Are they recommended these days?

[newtonupontheheath]

We moved into the ex-show home of a new build estate so we have all the right doors, window locks and it'd be difficult (but not impossible) for somebody to get in. Burglar alarm wasn't fitted and DH has decided that we now need one (lived here 3 years)

Are they really any use? Don't people just ignore then when they go off??

I was advised to get one if my neighbours had them, so our home was not the 'easy' target on the street. They are more of a visible deterrent than actually likely to invite attention when they go off. We live in an area with quite a few burglaries so it made sense.

it can affect your home insurance if you have/don't have one.

and you could have one that is monitored, so people ignoring it doesn't matter, as you will get a response form the company and/or the police.

Interestingly my insurance company offer no discount for us having an alarm. We've had a couple of different companies and they were both the same.

I spoke to my insurer and a good locksmith about this.

The locksmith said don't tell your insurer you have one. It doesn't reduce your premiums very much and if you forget to put it on then certain insurance policies are voided and will not pay out.

I do have one but I spoke to the insurer and asked them to take the note about my alarm off the policy. They admitted that because I have a certain type of high premium policy that they take no notice of the alarm anyway.

it may depend on your area/postcode, as so much in insurance does.

Our house was brokin into a few months ago and the police told us the biggest deterrents to burglars are alarms and dogs.

broken

I can spell, honestly.

I like having one. I spend a lot of time alone and it's a real comfort when I'm in the house. It's also very reassuring as we spend a lot of time travelling.

Like others have said they work well as a deterrent.

I wouldn't be without mine.

Also, a tip from a burglar... ADT. If a burglar sees an ADT box, they wont touch your house. Fact!

Ours recently packed up, and we haven't replaced it. The day the alarm malfunctioned, nobody paid the slightest attention to it going off. We have noisy, barking dogs. We have good, solid windows and doors, whereas many of our neighbours have original, rotting, single glazed windows and shonky old patio doors. We have security lights. We lock our downstairs windows. Our shed is like Fort Knox.

I have my alarm monitored by ADT, but my original contract was taken out with another big monitoring company, so I have boxes that are not ADT and they wont replace them. I feel so much more at ease having the alarm on when I go out or when I go to bed. It also saves me 5% on my house insurance and most insurance services give a discount when you have a monitored alarm.
All my downstairs windows and doors have multiple locks despite my windows being from the time of Moses.

Also live in a new build and we have a monitored ADT alarm. Our alarm goes off inside the house and in unbearable, which means unless the thieves come with ear defenders it is so impossible to be inside.
We also do not declare the alarm on our insurance, as we know from previous experience they will use this a wriggle room to not pay out should something happen.
In a previous property the alarm developed a fault, it wasn't monitored and we weren't under contract, so were waiting for DH's friend who is an alarm engineer to pop by and have a look.
Unfortunately we were burgled and it took months to sort out, had to get DH's friend to write a letter, provide his qualification certificates and also a copy of his ID badge before they would pay out. Ironic thing is they only took a DVD player £100, but caused hundreds of pounds of damage to both front and back doors and frames, which they would have done anyway before the alarm would have been activated.

We have an alarm, and it is a deterrent apparently, like HaveToWearHeels says the noise inside the house is awful, it isn't an alarm sound but some weird noise that actually makes me feel sick.

I am a SAHM and if an alarm goes off for more than a minute I do make a point of looking out of the windows for it because I would want someone to do the same if it was mine.

Ours is always religiously set when we leave the property and we have a night set too that we put on every night. The children know to stay in their rooms if it goes off, for safety reasons.

We have ABS locks on the doors and we have CCTV cameras too, mainly because our house is set back from the road so it is quite private and therefore provides plenty of cover for burglars to work without being seen. We got the CCTV installed after my car was broken into on the drive.

And no the car doesn't have an alarm just an immobiliser but it didn't matter because they used a device to open my car like they had a key. I know because they did it to another car on my road and were seen doing it, luckily neighbour realised that wasn't the car owner and called the police.