Going on holiday? Let the Internet help you look after your home

As the holiday season approaches, Intamac offers home owners a new way to protect their property whilst they are away

A house left empty for some time is a potential target for intruders. Crime statistics show that around half of all burglaries take place when a house is unoccupied, especially when home owners are away on holiday - http://www.met.police.uk/crimestatistics/2007/200703.htm . For those taking extended vacations the stakes can be higher. According to the Metropolitan Police - http://www.met.police.uk/crimeprevention/burglary.htm a number of insurance companies will not cover home owners for stolen possessions if they are away for more than 30 days.

With the holiday season fast approaching, Intamac’s inexpensive secure internet-based self-install Home Manager Alarm Monitoring service can help home owners quickly protect their home and belongings, and minimise the possibility of becoming a victim of crime. For as little as 16p per day, Intamac’s service which is accessed through an online account keeps home owners informed of any activity that occurs within their property 24 hours a day - no matter where they are in the world.

Fire, flood and power failure

The automated service raises the alarm and informs the home owner and their nominated contacts of entry into the home and also of other risks such as fire, flood and power failure. The service alerts via SMS text message, voice call and email if such an unexpected event occurs, enabling the home owner to notify friends, neighbours or the police to take action.

Automated manned response capabilities further enhances this state-of-the-art service. By using the Intamac and Group 4 Securicor Guarding Service home owners can also have a security officer attend any attempted burglaries 24 hours a day whilst they are away.

Caring for those left at home

The Intamac Home Manger system can be particularly useful if house sitters, elderly relatives or teenagers are left in charge at home

Those going away on holiday can keep a watchful eye on their property and those left within it by integrating inexpensive Webcams with the service to detect motion and deliver images directly to PCs or mobile phones via MMS. For extra peace of mind, several cameras can be networked together and securely accessed over the internet to deliver live streaming videos from the property.

This would have been particularly useful to one North East couple when they spent a day away at Easter and returned to the home find their daughter had invited round 200 `friends` using MySpace and who had wrecked their house, causing £20,000-worth of damage in the process - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/6549267.stm

The Intamac system could have alerted the parents that there were too many people in the house, that they moving in an unusual way and even have let them actually see what was going on.

Intamac’s Top Five Tips to reduce the risk from burglary whilst away on holiday

Invest in a security alarm system with an external alarm box. It may well deter the opportunist thief.
Fit good quality locks and chains to all external doors and windows to deter unwelcome visitors.
Install timers and sensor activated lights which switch lights or radios on and off automatically.
Secure valuables. Try to keep valuables, keys and financial documents out of sight from windows.
Tidy up outside and trim back any overgrown plants. This will make it difficult for burglars to tell the property is unoccupied.

For further information on the Home Manager Monitoring Service contact Intamac directly on +44 (0) 870 111 7234.