# Monitored burglar alarms



## Sungria (Feb 7, 2014)

I am taking over a property that has an existing monitored system which is quite expensive on a per month basis. 

There was a rumour this company had set up a low cost alternative when someone wants to leave them but I'll have to wait until I tell them I'm not continuing to find out. 

Does anyone know a fairly priced reliable company on the Costa Blanca/Calida that will monitor an existing system? Grateful for any help.


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## maxd (Mar 22, 2009)

I just bought one from ali express

Aliexpress.com : Buy GSM SMS Home Burglar Security Alarm System Detector Sensor Kit Remote Control free shipping from Reliable controller lighting suppliers on Shenzhen KPYS Security Technology Co.,LTD

Added several mobile numbers, so if something does happen will just call my neighbour who works at home 99% of the time. The siren is really loud, so will probably scare them off immediately anyway.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

We have an alarm, had all our business premises in the UK alarmed and connected to the local police station...but I don't think alsrms are much of a deterrent. It certainly didn't stop us from being burgled more than once.
It usually takes the police or guys from the alarm company ten minutes at least to get to the property, longer if you live in a remote area. That gives the thief timeto get away with any small valuable items you may have lying around.
I know of two property owners who set their alarms but were burgled without the alarm being triggered. The alarm companies said that somethieves have devices which can electronicallycut the alarm.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

One way in which having an alarm system monitored by a company is useful: last year I lost the gate and house keys at our perrera somewhere so were locked out and a quick call to the company resulted in a guy turning up with the keys they keep in case they needed access to your property.
Saved a small fortune in locksmith fees...


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## Sungria (Feb 7, 2014)

Thank you for the speedy reply it looks like I'll have check what they used onhe old Berlin Wall to be safe! I'll let you know when the trip wire machine guns are installed!


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## Sungria (Feb 7, 2014)

Thanx Maxd I'll look into phone transmitted warnings. Appreciate the help to a new boy on the block


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Sungria said:


> Thank you for the speedy reply it looks like I'll have check what they used onhe old Berlin Wall to be safe! I'll let you know when the trip wire machine guns are installed!


 we have a very large Rhodesian Ridgeback, the strong and silent type, and a Cane Corso who is often mistaken for a pitbull. She barks at anyone passing the gate. They are better deterrents than any burglar alarm.

I'm not saying these alarms are worthless as they act as deterrents to casual opportunist thieves. But they mainlytell you what's happened after you've been robbed, especiallyif like max they are not locally monitored.
Neighbours are useful for keeping an eye on your property but I wouldn't expect my neighboursto risk a beating to save my earrings!

Our neighbours were robbed at 8.45 pm on a Saturday in December. They had set the alarm. We heard nothing until they returned from a dinner date and we heard the wife screaming!


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## Sungria (Feb 7, 2014)

Haven't got a dog so I'll leave the wife out!


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## GUAPACHICA (Jun 30, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> we have a very large Rhodesian Ridgeback, the strong and silent type, and a Cane Corso who is often mistaken for a pitbull. She barks at anyone passing the gate. They are better deterrents than any burglar alarm.
> 
> I'm not saying these alarms are worthless as they act as deterrents to casual opportunist thieves. But they mainlytell you what's happened after you've been robbed, especiallyif like max they are not locally monitored.
> Neighbours are useful for keeping an eye on your property but I wouldn't expect my neighboursto risk a beating to save my earrings!
> ...


Hi - I'm without a dog, for the first time in my life, whilst I'm living in a city centre apartment. It still feels very weird, regardless of my having lived here for several years! If I were anywhere other than Cádiz, I'd also be feeling vulnerable, especially when at home, alone, at night! My own favoured breed, the German Shepherd, tends to induce a sense of fear and respect in most thieves, unless they're under the influence of either hard drugs or alcohol..! 

Sadly, stupidly and totally unfairly, successive UK Govts. have legislated against the ability of home-owners and pedestrians to be protected, adequately, from aggressors and thieves by the intervention of their pet dogs. My sister, years ago, was grabbed in a Bromley, England, park by three men who attempted to drag her towards their car, parked nearby - our Dobermann Pinscher dog leapt to her defence and chased them off, having inflicted a bite, each, on two of them! 

At that time, this breed was less known than now, so,perhaps, these assailants had failed to appreciate (at their cost) the very strong_ guarding instinct_ inherent in our Dobe. They sped off in their car and were never apprehended. Nowadays, no doubt, they would be pardoned by the court; my sister required to pay them substantial compensation, imprisoned and forced to have our wonderful, courageous dog destroyed, for her so -called _crime! _ 

The presence of dogs will not, always deter a determined burglar, however, - as was proven several years ago, in Plymouth, England, where the crime rate, generally, is high! There was a spate of burglaries in which the ingenious thief/thieves first drugged pet dogs, in their homes, by feeding them strong sedatives, secreted in meat, pushed through the letterboxes. The burglar/s then waited, nearby, for the requisite time period, before breaking into the properties and stealing goods,whilst the dogs slept on, obliviously! One such pet 'guard' was actually a Rottweller, with a fearsome reputation, locally! Very fortunately, none of the dogs drugged in this manner were harmed, otherwise - although, the administration of such sedatives could well have proven fatal, in certain cases! 

My own dogs were not vulnerable to such drugging, for, as I've described on other threads, they were trained not to eat anything proffered by strangers or found on the floor, whether indoors or out! I'm not pretending that this was easy to achieve, but my love of dogs and dog -training enabled me to ensure that my pets were were protected from poisoning, whether by accident or design. 

Additionally, when we lived in the countryside, our very secure, metal postbox was attached to the garden gate, whilst in Plymouth we had a small enclosed steel box on the inside of the front door, surrounding the letter-box flap and designed to retain any delivered letters or packets, secure from the canine incisors of our youngest, as yet untrained dogs - determined, as they were, to rip to shreds the_ postie -intruder's_ offending property, LOL! 

Saludos,
GC


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## GUAPACHICA (Jun 30, 2012)

Sungria said:


> Haven't got a dog so I'll leave the wife out!


Hi - a pity she hasn't yet learnt to fend off resident MCPs..! :biggrin1:

Saludos,
GC


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

GUAPACHICA said:


> Hi - a pity she hasn't yet learnt to fend off resident MCPs..! :biggrin1:
> 
> Saludos,
> GC




Way to go, gal!!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

GUAPACHICA said:


> Hi - I'm without a dog, for the first time in my life, whilst I'm living in a city centre apartment. It still feels very weird, regardless of my having lived here for several years! If I were anywhere other than Cádiz, I'd also be feeling vulnerable, especially when at home, alone, at night! My own favoured breed, the German Shepherd, tends to induce a sense of fear and respect in most thieves, unless they're under the influence of either hard drugs or alcohol..!
> 
> Sadly, stupidly and totally unfairly, successive UK Govts. have legislated against the ability of home-owners and pedestrians to be protected, adequately, from aggressors and thieves by the intervention of their pet dogs. My sister, years ago, was grabbed in a Bromley, England, park by three men who attempted to drag her towards their car, parked nearby - our Dobermann Pinscher dog leapt to her defence and chased them off, having inflicted a bite, each, on two of them!
> 
> ...



I understand how you must feel, being 'dogless'. We always had GSDs before we had Azor, in fact the reason we got a Ridgeback was out of loyalty to the memory of GSD Ferdinand.

Our Little Azor wouldn't eat anything fom a stranger so is immune to being drugged or poisoned. When we go out without the dogs we leave them both indoors and a thief would have to shoot Azor before they could enter the house....and that's after breaking through multiple locks, rejas and persilianas!

Both our dogs are indoor dogs and sleep in our bedroom, Xena on her bed at the foot of ours and OLA next to me on our fortunately very large bed, handmade for us in Prague with Azor in mind...


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## High5 (Aug 10, 2014)

The dogs are to remain at home in uk whilst we spend chunks of time in Spain.

So how about a wireless alarm self installed with a GSM dialler and security cameras on the entrances doors with motion sensors. The property does have steel shutters.

We don't know any neighbours yet but can you get keys held locally for a reasonable fee? The house sits near to 20 other properties but we're told none of the neighbours are English speaking.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

High5 said:


> The dogs are to remain at home in uk whilst we spend chunks of time in Spain.
> 
> So how about a wireless alarm self installed with a GSM dialler and security cameras on the entrances doors with motion sensors. The property does have steel shutters.
> 
> We don't know any neighbours yet but can you get keys held locally for a reasonable fee? The house sits near to 20 other properties but we're told none of the neighbours are English speaking.


:welcome:

lots of people use 'key-holders'

be careful with your choice though - many are just people who will hold your keys for a fee & have no insurance nor any kind of business registration - & sadly will often do nothing for the fee they charge 

there have also been cases of break-ins where once it was discovered that the key holder was essentially an uninsured unregistered stranger, the insurers have refused to pay out


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Your security company will hold a set of your keys.
Any security system is only worth paying for if 1) it prevents the thieves fruom actuallygaining entry to the property and 2) the response time of the security company is rapid.
As for1) the oportunistic thief may be deterred, the professional will find a way in and as for 2) the security company can be guaranteed to arrive well after thethieves have departed, affording ample time to help themselves to anything they fancy.
We have an alarm system but our dogs are the best security.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Your security company will hold a set of your keys.
> Any security system is only worth paying for if 1) it prevents the thieves fruom actuallygaining entry to the property and 2) the response time of the security company is rapid.
> As for1) the oportunistic thief may be deterred, the professional will find a way in and as for 2) the security company can be guaranteed to arrive well after thethieves have departed, affording ample time to help themselves to anything they fancy.
> We have an alarm system but our dogs are the best security.


.... unfortunately, the OP self-installed the system so that's not an option.

I read somewhere that police will ONLY attend if the burglars are still in the property and that this can be proved by the security firm! I think this is to restrict so many call-outs when no one is actually there.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

snikpoh said:


> .... unfortunately, the OP self-installed the system so that's not an option.
> 
> I read somewhere that police will ONLY attend if the burglars are still in the property and that this can be proved by the security firm! I think this is to restrict so many call-outs when no one is actually there.


How do they know whether the burglars were there?

When we were robbed -I forgot to arm the alarm and we were out with the dogs-I had a surreal conversation when I rang the police.
I was asked if the robbers were still in the house. I felt like replyiing that indeed they were and that I had given them acup of tea to drink whilst I was on the phone...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

High5 said:


> The dogs are to remain at home in uk whilst we spend chunks of time in Spain.
> 
> So how about a wireless alarm self installed with a GSM dialler and security cameras on the entrances doors with motion sensors. The property does have steel shutters.
> 
> We don't know any neighbours yet but can you get keys held locally for a reasonable fee? The house sits near to 20 other properties but we're told none of the neighbours are English speaking.


For reasons already stated, your alarm will make you feel secure but will do little to protect your house.
Who will rush to the scene if the alarm is triggered? Not youifyou are many miles away. Not your neighbours...they may phone the police but the damage is done.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> For reasons already stated, your alarm will make you feel secure but will do little to protect your house.
> Who will rush to the scene if the alarm is triggered? Not youifyou are many miles away. Not your neighbours...they may phone the police but the damage is done.


This is why we don't bother paying for an alarm. If the Policia Nacional are called for anything here, it takes 20 minutes for them to arrive (and I am in the middle of a large town, but the Comisaria is down at the coast 5km away). By which time the thieves will have been and gone. Nobody would take any notice of a barking dog here. If you are in the campo, it's even more pointless.

When our house was burgled they forced the front door in broad daylight (we were out shopping between around midday and 2pm). The neighbours (what few there are, most of the properties closest to us are unoccupied) swore they'd neither heard nor seen a thing. At the time (about 5 years ago) there was a whole spate of very similar burglaries in the area, all when the householders were out for short time (lots of Spanish too so they weren't targeting foreigners), so it was obviously the same people who were responsible and they were watching to see when people went out. 

Whatever security precautions you take, if the thieves are determined enough (and a lot of them have all the tools of the trade like lock pullers and devices to jam alarm signals) they will get in somehow. We've seen cases here where they've cut through rejas on windows and then wrapped black tape around them so it's not noticeable, then they can come and go as they please when no-one's around. Just get good home insurance, comply with all the small print and hope for the best.


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

mrypg9 said:


> For reasons already stated, your alarm will make you feel secure but will do little to protect your house.
> Who will rush to the scene if the alarm is triggered? Not youifyou are many miles away. Not your neighbours...they may phone the police but the damage is done.


My neighbour will. He's in the Policia Local


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## High5 (Aug 10, 2014)

Thanks for all your replies. I know if we are broken into the police if they are made aware will probably take a while to arrive.
My idea is if we get a txt saying the alarm has triggered and the cameras take pictures we may have a chance of identifying the thieves.

I will just need a key holder then to secure the house and arrange for repairs. The external alarm box and cameras should deter casual thieves and may keep the insurance company happy.

Are break ins a big problem for properties in La Marinas area?

The systems will be self installed and I don't want to pay a monthly contract for monitoring as I suspect I would get very little value for money.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Horlics said:


> My neighbour will. He's in the Policia Local


If he isn't on duty elsewhere, having a siesta or shopping with his wife

Our neighbour's son is based at the policia local in Marbella but I doubt he's much of a deterrent...


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

High5 said:


> I will just need a key holder then to secure the house and arrange for repairs. The external alarm box and cameras should deter casual thieves and may keep the insurance company happy.


With my insurance company, I can choose whether to get quotes and arrange the repairs myself or have them do everything, using their approved tradespeople. I've always chosen the latter and have been very happy with the service (of course, if you're not there you would need to have someone on hand to let them in.

Making a police report (denuncia) might be problematic though. You can make the initial report by telephone but must then attend the nearest national police station in person to check and sign it, within a time limit (can't remember whether that's 24 or 48 hours from the time of making the initial report, but no longer). Your insurance company would do nothing without having a copy of the denuncia.

If you have an alarm box and cameras, professional thieves are going to be well aware of the need to obscure their faces, btw. These people are not amateurs.

I often think the more expensive security features people instal, the more they make themselves a target for thieves as they believe there are rich pickings to be had.


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## High5 (Aug 10, 2014)

Thanks Lynn R. Food for thought. We really need to befriend a neighbour if we can find one who speaks English . Getting the police report for the insurance company would be a problem otherwise.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

High5 said:


> Thanks Lynn R. Food for thought. We really need to befriend a neighbour if we can find one who speaks English . Getting the police report for the insurance company would be a problem otherwise.


your best bet really would be to see if local locksmiths have a key-holding service - a couple in our town do


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

High5 said:


> Thanks Lynn R. Food for thought. We really need to befriend a neighbour if we can find one who speaks English . Getting the police report for the insurance company would be a problem otherwise.


I am really not sure whether the police, or the insurance company, would accept a denuncia from someone who is not the property owner/policy holder. In any event, they require a list of damaged and stolen items, with values (our insurance company did not ask for receipts, just a list). Would someone else necessarily be aware of what has been taken - unless you have inventory which could be checked, but that's asking a lot of a neighbour.

At one time, we ended up with 4 properties we were checking on and holding the keys for, as a favour to people who mostly weren't even really friends, just acquaintances. We have got rid of all but one because, to be honest, it got to be just too much especially when anything did happen, like one of the properties was broken into and I had to deal with the police, subsequently the fingerprint team and my OH to secure the place until the owners could get here. He also ended up doing things like unblocking drains to stop a place getting flooded. It's all very well doing that sort of thing if you're doing it as a job and charging for it accordingly, but as I say, I think it is asking rather a lot just of someone you've "befriended".


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> I am really not sure whether the police, or the insurance company, would accept a denuncia from someone who is not the property owner/policy holder. In any event, they require a list of damaged and stolen items, with values (our insurance company did not ask for receipts, just a list). Would someone else necessarily be aware of what has been taken - unless you have inventory which could be checked, but that's asking a lot of a neighbour.
> 
> At one time, we ended up with 4 properties we were checking on and holding the keys for, as a favour to people who mostly weren't even really friends, just acquaintances. We have got rid of all but one because, to be honest, it got to be just too much especially when anything did happen, like one of the properties was broken into and I had to deal with the police, subsequently the fingerprint team and my OH to secure the place until the owners could get here. He also ended up doing things like unblocking drains to stop a place getting flooded. It's all very well doing that sort of thing if you're doing it as a job and charging for it accordingly, but as I say, I think it is asking rather a lot just of someone you've "befriended".


that's why I'd always recommend using a professional, registered, insured, keyholder or property management company


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xabiachica said:


> that's why I'd always recommend using a professional, registered, insured, keyholder or property management company


Me too - we've declined any more requests we've had from people to take this kind of thing on, once bitten twice shy!

We have enough problems sorting out things to do with our own house, and don't want to be worrying about what might be happening to other people's houses as well as ours when we go away anywhere.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> Me too - we've declined any more requests we've had from people to take this kind of thing on, once bitten twice shy!
> 
> We have enough problems sorting out things to do with our own house, and don't want to be worrying about what might be happening to other people's houses as well as ours when we go away anywhere.


looking after a relative stranger's property isn't fair on anyone


a man I know who is in his 70s looks after a friend's villa - they actually _are _friends - knew each other in the UK

problem is, the villa is on the other side of town, is rather old & leaky, is let out to holidaymakers etc etc - & what's more is for sale

this poor guy spends so much time dealing with this that & the other for his friend, that some weeks he's there more than at home

there's a pool cleaner & a gardener - & a cleaner who goes in - but guess who has to deal with things if there's a problem 

last year there was a leaky roof, a wall collapsed, a problem with the sceptic tank - you name it....


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

xabiachica said:


> looking after a relative stranger's property isn't fair on anyone
> 
> 
> a man I know who is in his 70s looks after a friend's villa - they actually _are _friends - knew each other in the UK
> ...


I can well imagine. The only one we've kept on belonged to my OH's closest and oldest friend, who sadly died before he could retire to the house he'd bought here. His sister inherited it and we've kept on looking after the place and helping her through all the bureaucratic stuff. He's been trying to sort out a plumbing problem before she gets here for a holiday with her family soon, before which we have to clean the place. Well, we don't HAVE to, but we do. Then I have a trip to the water company office with her to look forward to (oh joy!) to change the contract into her name after her bank was taken over and they messed up all the direct debits almost leading to her electricity and water being cut off. I've already been to the electricity company twice and the water company once on her behalf this year - more than I have for myself! 

I guess this is why retired people always say they don't know how they found time to go to work. And to think people often say to me "but what do you do with yourself all day, don't you get bored?".


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## High5 (Aug 10, 2014)

I suppose I could have no alarm or cameras and be totally ignorant of a break in until we turn up. We could then report to police and insurance and claim for our losses.

Could have house totally stripped but hey we're insured 

Or we move over permanently with the dogs...... Although Labradors aren't the best guard dogs


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