Keep your outbuilding safe from crooks: £30m-worth of gear was nicked from garages, garden rooms and ‘shoffices’ in three years – here’s eight security tips
- Over 70,000 outbuilding thefts reported in England and Wales since 2018
- Spike in sheds and the ‘shoffice’ during lockdown has exacerbated problem
- Take some simple steps and protect your outbuildings from criminals now
More than £30million worth of possessions have been stolen from garden sheds and outbuildings across England and Wales in the past three years.
Since the start of 2018, there have been more than 70,000 reported cases of such thefts, equating to about 64 a day.
During the pandemic, people have been busy building, and working in, sheds and garden offices all over the country, ploughing more cash than ever into these multi-purpose spaces.
The trend has even seen some new terminology coined – with ‘shoffice’ now used to refer to any functional structure at the end of the garden.
Watch out: The rise in outdoor living and working spaces can be just what a crook is after
The value of items stored in an outbuilding or shed is, on average, £1,414, yet nearly 70 per cent of Britons admit they leave them if not unlocked then certainly accessible to any proficient burglar, according to Churchill Home Insurance.
Eight per cent of people even store goods worth more than £5,000 in their outbuildings.
Last year, a fifth of all burglary claims were for items pinched from outbuildings. In insurance terms, this equated to around £26,500 worth of claims for thefts from sheds, garages and outbuildings being made every day.
Over the past three years, garages are the most broken into outbuildings, followed by garden sheds and bike sheds.
Bicycles were the most common item stolen over the three year period, accounting for over half of all items reported stolen to police.
Targets: items most likely to be stolen from outbuildings in the last three years
Variations: Rate of outbuilding theft by region over the last three years
Tools and hardware accounted for 22 per cent of thefts, followed by gardening equipment and plants, electronics and appliances and raw materials.
Homeowners in the south east of England were the most likely to need to make a home insurance claim relating to an outbuilding theft, accounting for one in seven claims last year, Churchill said.
This was followed by London, Yorkshire and the Humber and the south west of England and the north west.
Homes with easy access to gardens like semi-detached, detached and end-of-terraces accounted for the majority of outbuilding thefts since 2018.
Only 65 per cent of people in the south east own an outbuilding and the proportion is even less in London. Yet, while 90 per cent of the Welsh population have an outbuilding, it experienced only three per cent of all outbuilding thefts last year.
Be careful: People in the south east of England are most likely to have things nicked from sheds
Take precautions: Take a few simple precautions and get insurance to help protect your property
Pritpal Powar, head of Churchill Home Insurance, said: ‘This research shows just how easy it can be for burglars to steal goods from outbuildings.
‘Many of us don’t give the same attention to the security of outbuildings as we do our main home, yet often store valuable goods there, Churchill said.
‘These are great storage facilities, but we need to make sure they are not an easy target for burglars.
‘Taking some simple steps will help deter burglars and these don’t need to be expensive security systems. Installing locks, removing valuables from sight and making sure the outbuilding is easily viewed or well-lit from your main residence will all contribute to making your home less of a target.’
