Sometimes, homeowners vacate their homes due to loss of income or the need to transfer to a different city for career purposes. Regardless of the reason, this incident can attract burglars that may cause vandalism or glass breakage. Alternatively, other local citizens might vandalize the property or damage water and electricity fixtures, which may cause a fire. 

Because of these incidents, homeowners will be liable for the expensive repairs and maintenance. Aside from that, they might face legal charges due to damage to their neighbourhood, which may result in jail time. To avoid this, they must take necessary measures to outweigh these costs. 

This article provides you with the five best practices for reducing vacant property liability. 

1. 1. Install Advanced Surveillance Systems 

Before burglars enter a vacant space, they often look for surveillance systems to evade detection. Once they check the property and verify that there isn’t a single monitoring system, they will break the entrance and steal expensive fixtures. As a result, local authorities won’t be notified, and you won’t have evidence of the item loss. 

Some security for empty properties examples include wireless intruder alarms, CCTV towers, concrete barriers, and steel doors or screens. An advanced surveillance system can also give you the peace of mind you need and protect you from burglars since it will automatically alert local authorities. When installing this device, you must look for features like two-way audio, emergency connectivity, fast-motion activation, and an intuitive smartphone app.

1. 2. Adopt Home Staging 

Empty homes are easy targets for squatters who couldn’t afford to pay rent expenses or find another cozy place to stay. Once they notice your vacant residential space, they will move in and won’t care about the security measures you’ve put in place. Since your home may not have utilities, they will create fires to cook their food and leave smelly garbage everywhere. 

To prevent your property from being infested by these settlers, you must adopt home staging. By leaving some furniture behind, you’ll make your vacant home appear occupied rather than empty. When staging your house, you can consider changing your outdated wallpaper and arranging family photos around the living room. 

1. 3. Invest In Modern Locks 

In addition to installing advanced surveillance systems at home, you must change your locks to avoid break-ins. When you do so, your previous tenants will no longer have access to your property, which prevents them from illegally staying inside your place. Also, you can stop ex-roommates or partners from entering your house if they attempt to extort you. 

Before changing locks, you must create an inventory of all the doors inside your residential property and buy new door locksets. If you have enough money, you must consider investing in digital door locks to provide an extra layer of security for your vacant house. Most of these technologies will automatically alert you once a door is locked or unlocked. Moreover, you can use them with other intelligent home devices like security systems and video doorbells. 

1. 4. Hire A Live-In Property Caretaker 

Another way to ensure your residential space is safe from burglars and illegal settlers is by hiring a live-in property caretaker. This individual will be liable for maintaining your home, which prevents it from looking vacant to the onlookers. Additionally, they will regularly inspect your water pipes to prevent them from freezing, especially during winter. 

When looking for a caretaker to manage your home, you must consider calling your trusted relatives and friends. For instance, you may contact those who need to live within your neighbourhood so they won’t have to pay for transportation costs when going back and forth to their workplace or school. Then, give them a free stay at your residence in exchange for helping you maintain it.

1. 5. Maintain The Curb Appeal 

Maintaining the property's curb appeal is a surefire way to reduce vacant property liability. This strategy will allow you to regularly trim shrubs and trees that might fall on the road, which may cause serious accidents. In addition, these plants may block the view of your house, making them a great hiding area for burglars while they wait for the right moment to break in.

Before maintaining the curb appeal of your vacant residential space, you must inform utility companies of your new address. Doing so ensures that your mailbox will be free of cluttered mail, which is a clear indicator that your house is unoccupied. Moreover, you must invest in good outdoor lighting like motion detector lights that automatically light up once an outsider passes by them. 

Key Takeaway 

As a homeowner who has recently vacated your house, you must continuously protect it, especially if you plan to sell it soon. Therefore, you must consider following the strategies mentioned in this article to minimize the liabilities associated with your vacant property. Once you do so, you will keep burglars and thieves from breaking into your place, saving you from legal penalties.