Leaving Your Home While You Are on Holiday

Going away should not mean lying awake wondering whether the house is safe. The core of holiday home security is short: lock everything properly, make the house look lived in, stop the tell-tale signs of an empty home building up, and ask someone you trust to keep an eye on it. Every one of those steps comes from official police or fire and rescue advice in the UK, and none of them takes long.

The reason to bother is plain. Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service warns that leaving your home empty while away carries a higher risk of burglars targeting it¹, and Police Scotland says housebreaking is more likely during holidays because thieves know it is more likely that valuables will be inside². nidirect, the Northern Ireland government advice service, adds a modern twist: with a public profile, talking about your holiday on social media could tell an opportunistic burglar that your home will be empty for a couple of weeks³.

The fix is a routine you run the day you leave. Avon and Somerset Police publish a pre-holiday routine that starts with the alarm: if you have a burglar alarm, ensure it is set before you leave⁴. This page walks through that routine step by step, what to take with you, how to stay safe where you are staying, and what to do about the weather you leave behind.

What to do before you leave

Work through this list on the day you travel, and you will have covered everything the official advice asks for.

1. Check and lock doors, windows, sheds and garages. nidirect's securing your home checklist puts this first: check and lock your doors, windows, sheds and garages before you leave³. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service adds a seasonal note that is worth keeping all year: make sure front and rear doors are shut and locked both when you leave the house and also on your return⁷.
2. Set the burglar alarm. Avon and Somerset Police's pre-holiday routine is explicit: if you have a burglar alarm, ensure it is set before you leave⁴. If you are choosing or checking an alarm, our pages on burglar alarms and monitored alarms explain the types and who responds when one goes off.
3. Put valuables out of sight and mark them. The PSNI advises keeping gifts and expensive items out of view, and marking valuables with your postcode and house number⁵. Police Scotland's advice is the same: remove or store all items of value out of sight before leaving home to go on holiday⁸. Our page on property marking covers how to do it and keep a record.
4. Tell a trusted neighbour, and give them a key. Let a neighbour know you are going away and give them a key for emergencies⁶. nidirect goes further: ask someone trusted to check the house regularly and bring in bins and post³.
5. Set up timer switches on lights. The PSNI says to give your property an occupied look by using timer switches for lights when your home is empty⁵.
6. Keep curtains in their normal position. Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service says opportunistic burglars will look for signs that a house is unoccupied, so having lights on timers and keeping curtains in a normal position stops the house looking empty⁹.
7. Say nothing publicly about being away. Do not advertise being on holiday on social media, and ask people to check on your property if you can⁸. Our page on holiday social media goes into the detail.

If you want a printable version of this routine, our holiday checklist sets out every step in order. If you are away for a long stretch, or leaving a property empty for another reason such as probate, the risks and the insurance position change, and our page on empty homes covers that separately.

Making the house look occupied

An empty house announces itself. The signals burglars read are simple: no lights in the evening, curtains closed all day, a driveway with nothing in it, and nothing moving through the letterbox for a fortnight. Official advice tackles each one.

Timer switches are the single most recommended step. The PSNI says to give your property an occupied look by using timer switches for lights when your home is empty⁵, and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service pairs lights on timers with keeping curtains in a normal position so the house does not look unoccupied⁹. Put the timer in a room visible from the street, not a back room nobody can see. Our page on making your house look occupied goes into placement and patterns.

A neighbour's car helps too. Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service suggests asking a trusted neighbour to keep an eye on your property, and even to park in front of your house occasionally to give the impression someone is home¹. A car coming and going over several days reads as life in the house in a way a static timer cannot.

A local Neighbourhood Watch scheme adds a layer beyond your own arrangements. Avon and Somerset Police say their local Neighbourhood Watch schemes can help when you are on holiday by increasing the surveillance of your property and encouraging neighbours to report suspicious activity⁴. If there is a scheme on your street, tell the coordinator your dates. If there is not, our page on joining or starting a Neighbourhood Watch explains how one gets going.

What you must not do is announce the absence yourself. nidirect's warning is worth reading in its own words:

Police Scotland's advice to people going on holiday is the same: do not advertise this on social media and ask people to check on your property if you can⁸. Photos of the airport, countdown posts and check-ins all do the advertising for you. Post them when you are home.

Post, parcels, bins and the doorstep

The things that pile up outside an empty house are the things that give it away. nidirect is blunt about the two worst offenders:

So the routine is: ask someone trusted to check the house regularly and bring in bins and post³. A neighbour with a key can do this in a minute a day. If no one nearby can help, Royal Mail's keepsafe-type services exist, but the pack's official advice stops at asking a trusted person, so treat that as the primary route and arrange whatever redirection or hold you can with your own providers.

Parcels matter as much as letters. A parcel left on a doorstep for days says the house is empty just as loudly as a bin left at the kerb, and it invites the parcel itself to be taken. If you are expecting deliveries before you travel, either bring them in before you go or have them sent where someone will be.

The doorstep itself deserves a thought before you leave. An empty house that still gets callers, leaflets and flyers can accumulate evidence of absence on the mat. A neighbour collecting post deals with most of it. If you are worried about who might call while you are away, our pages on bogus callers and doorstep selling explain how doorstep crime works and how it is reported.

Your car, garage and outbuildings

The perimeter of your property counts as much as the house. nidirect's checklist includes sheds and garages alongside doors and windows: check and lock them all before you leave³. Tools taken from an unlocked shed are a burglary kit for the house, and a garage with an internal door to the home is only as secure as its weakest lock, which our page on the door between your garage and house covers.

The PSNI's summer safety advice extends this to anyone taking a day trip or staying in a holiday home or caravan: ensure the safekeeping of houses, sheds and any other outbuildings¹⁰. That applies in both directions. If you are away for the day, the outbuildings you leave behind are the ones a thief has hours to work on. If you are staying in a caravan or holiday home, its sheds and outbuildings need the same lock check you would give your own.

Cars need their own routine. If the car stays home while you fly, do not leave valuables in it, and consider where it sits: a car on the drive that never moves for two weeks is itself a signal, which is why the neighbour parking outside occasionally matters¹. If the car travels with you in winter, pack for the road: North Wales Fire and Rescue Service advises a snow or ice scraper, de-icer, snow shovel, hat, gloves, boots, a torch, bottle of water and a first aid kit, and for longer journeys blankets, a snack and a flask of warm drink¹¹. If your car is keyless, our page on keyless car theft explains relay attacks and how to store keys at home and away.

What you need before you go

Holiday packing is usually clothes and chargers. Official advice adds a few items that turn a mishap into a manageable problem.

Health essentials. NHS guidance on staying safe over the summer says to find your nearest pharmacy, urgent treatment centre or minor injuries unit in advance, take plenty of regular prescribed medication, and if you are abroad learn the local emergency services numbers¹². Somerset NHS adds the practical detail: when away from home take plasters, paracetamol and antiseptic, and order enough regular medication from your own GP ahead of your stay. If you run out, pharmacists can arrange an emergency supply of medications, and visitors should call their own GP, not the closest one to where they are staying¹³.

A small emergency kit for the journey and the stay. Ready Scotland's home emergency kit advice includes copies of important documents such as insurance policies, birth certificates and photo ID, blankets, a whistle, and spare keys to your home and car¹⁴. Birmingham City Council's household emergency supplies list adds long-life food, a manual can opener, a torch with spare batteries or a wind-up torch, medication and a first aid kit, toiletries, rubbish sacks and toilet rolls¹⁵. You do not need all of it for a hotel week, but for a cottage, caravan or camping trip it is the difference between coping and cutting the holiday short. Dumfries and Galloway Council's household emergency pack also lists candles and matches¹⁶, and our lighting page covers safer options such as wind-up torches in detail.

For a caravan or camping holiday specifically. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service says to make sure you have both a working smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm, especially if you are planning to cook whilst on holiday¹⁷. Public Health Wales advises taking a CO alarm with you and using it on holiday¹⁸. Carbon monoxide has no smell and no taste, and a portable alarm is small, cheap insurance against a faulty heater in unfamiliar accommodation.

Documents and keys. Spare keys to your home and car³ belong with you, not hidden outside the house, a habit our page on keys explains.

Staying safe where you are staying

The security routine does not end when you arrive somewhere else. Unfamiliar accommodation has its own risks, and fire is the one the official advice stresses hardest.

Check the escape route when you arrive. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service says that if staying at different accommodation over the festive period, plan and check your escape routes and look for any potential fire risks, reporting them when necessary¹⁹. This is not a festive-only habit. In any hotel, cottage or caravan, the first thing to do is work out how you would get out at night in the dark.

Make sure everyone with you knows the plan. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service says to double check that your tree and other decorations do not block escape routes, and that you and your guests know where exits and escape routes are²⁰. In holiday accommodation, that means checking that the window keys are where they say they are and that nothing is stacked in front of a door.

Alarms in holiday accommodation. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service's advice for camping and caravan holidays is to make sure you have both a working smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm, especially if you are planning to cook whilst on holiday¹⁷. Public Health Wales says the same for any holiday stay: take a CO alarm with you and use it¹⁸. Test the alarms that are already fitted when you arrive, and carry a portable CO alarm for anything with a heater, stove or flue.

Children staying safe independently. Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service asks parents to talk to their children about how they can keep themselves safe over the holidays, especially older children and teenagers who may be out independently with friends rather than family²¹. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service's Halloween advice makes the parental duty plain: parents should ensure they know where their child is and what they are doing²². On holiday, with new places and looser routines, that check matters more, not less.

Medical equipment. If someone in the household uses a ventilator, the NHS manual for it states that the security of your ventilator is your responsibility, that you should take all reasonable steps to ensure it is not damaged or stolen, and that abroad you should make sure your holiday insurance will cover any loss or damage²³.

Storms, heat and the weather you leave behind

The weather on both ends of a holiday affects what you do before you go and what you come home to.

Before you leave in winter. A house left empty through a freeze can suffer burst pipes and storm damage while nobody is there to notice. The general principle from the official advice is to have someone check the house regularly³, and in winter that check is what catches a problem early. NHS winter advice also suggests checking on vulnerable neighbours and relatives: keep in touch, ask if they need practical help, make sure they are stocked up with enough food supplies for a few days in case they cannot go out, and make sure they get prescription medicines before the holiday period starts and if bad weather is forecast²⁴. If you are the neighbour doing the checking for someone else's holiday, that is the standard.

Before you leave in summer. Hot weather changes what a shut-up house needs while you are away, and the security side of leaving windows open is a trade-off worth settling before you travel rather than on the day. Our page on leaving windows open in hot weather covers the security side of that trade-off.

Ice underfoot on the way. Ice on pavements, station steps and car parks is a real falls risk on a travel day, and an icy pavement with a suitcase is the moment that care earns its keep: allow extra time, keep a hand free for railings, and take particular care if you are travelling with someone older or less steady on their feet.

What you come home to. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service's Christmas advice is worth remembering on return as well as departure: lock doors when you leave and when you return²⁵. If the worst has happened and you come back to a break-in, our pages on coming home to a break-in and after a burglary set out the first steps, the crime number and the insurer. If weather has damaged the home while you were away, making a damaged home safe covers securing it against intruders.

Where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ

The advice in this page comes from police forces and fire and rescue services across all four nations, and the substance is the same everywhere: lock up, use timers, stop the signs of absence, ask a neighbour. What differs is who gives the advice and a few local emphases.

Scotland. Reporting crime and getting support in Scotland has its own routes, which our page on Scotland and Northern Ireland explains.

Wales. Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service publishes its going-on-holiday advice in Welsh and English, and it is the source for the higher-risk warning¹, the neighbour parking tip¹ and the lights-on-timers and normal-curtains advice⁹. Public Health Wales supplies the carbon monoxide advice for holiday stays¹⁸. North Wales Fire and Rescue Service's winter packing list for the car journey applies to Welsh households heading away in cold weather¹¹.

Northern Ireland. nidirect's securing your home page is the Northern Ireland government's advice and is the fullest pre-holiday checklist of any nation: check and lock doors, windows, sheds and garages, put the burglar alarm on, ask someone trusted to check the house regularly and bring in bins and post, and use timers on lights³. It also carries the social media warning³. The PSNI adds the advice on marking valuables with postcode and house number⁵, keeping gifts and expensive items out of view⁵, and ensuring the safekeeping of houses, sheds and outbuildings when away on day trips or staying in holiday homes or caravans¹⁰. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service supplies the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm advice for camping and caravan holidays¹⁷.

England. The steps on this page apply across England, and our page on extra help in an emergency sets out the help households there can request alongside the equivalent schemes elsewhere.

Wherever you live, the routine is the same one this page has walked through. Lock everything, set the alarm, put lights on timers, keep the curtains normal, stop the post and bins piling up, keep the holiday off public social media, and hand a key to someone who will notice if something is wrong.