Rented house was broken into: Are we entitled to have an alarm installed?

moleygunn

We rent a house in Rathgar, and someone jimmied the front door last night with some plastic. They only managed to take my laptop, be there's a lot of other stuff, so it's possible that they'll be back.

Are we entitled to have an alarm installed? I'd like to ask the landlord.

Also, do the police visit the house and look around if I report the burglary or do I need to go to them?

Thanks for any help

MagicMarker

I don't see how you can insist on an alarm being installed. You were happy to move in to a house with no alarm so that's that.

A new door with high quality locks wouldn't go amiss though.

Normally you call the police and they come around, unlikely they will be able to do anything though. I don't know how insurance works, if you're going to claim for the laptop maybe you'll need a police report of some kind?

D3PO

your not entitled to have an alarm installed.

Doop

Of course you call the gaurds when you get broken into!! There isnt generally a whole lot they can do other than take prints from the door way, and run them against what they alreay have on file.

You wont be covered for the laptop unless you have your own contents insurance. The landlords insurance will only cover the house itself not your personal belongings.

While you're not 'entitled' to have an alarm installed theres no harm harm in asking. At the very least the landlord should be open to the idea of fitting another second lock.

I know from being locked out of the house myself and calling a locksmith that the piece of plastic / credit card will only work on the the main lock, when the door is closed but hasnt had the key turned in it. The plastic / credit card will just pop the latch open.

D3PO

Doop wrote: »

You wont be covered for the laptop unless you have your own contents insurance. The landlords insurance will only cover the house itself not your personal belongings.

.

its unlikely to be worth claiming for anyway. if you consider claim excess, the increase to their premium versus the cost of the laptop i wouldnt think its worth claiming unless it was fairly new and top of the range.

cailinoBAC

There is no harm in asking. I rent out my house and it was broken into a few months ago. Along the way I have had some issues with my tenants, but it’s probably a lot easier to hold onto them than find new ones, so I put in an alarm at their request, even though they had known there wasn’t any when they moved in.

cute_cow

I was in the same position Christmas before last. Thankfully the person didn't get into the house. But spoke to the landlord and asked him if it were possible to get an alarm installed and within 2 weeks it was done.
You are not entitled to it, but have a word with the landlord and see if he will do it for you.

mikemac

Yes, call the gardai, should have done that this morning but no harm. They'll be out, look around and take prints but don't hold out much hope. Unlikely you'll ever hear from them again

If you're good tenants then the landlord will be keen to keep you.
So ask anyway, all the landlord can do is say no. But if they refuse the alarm then definitely ask for secure locks. They are heavy duty locks you can buy these days for doors. The way the scum jimmied open the door so easily is worrying and they might try again another time

Del2005

I'd go for extra locks over an alarm. How many alarms are actually responded to these days? All an alarm does is annoy the neighbours, as they just think it's another false alarm.

At least mortice locks will keep them out.