Lay My Hat

I feel it's unreasonable to expect guests, each time they leave the house, to close and lock the windows and doors, as well as go round a large house securing all the shutters (which they have to do from the inside before the windows and doors are closed and locked.)

If we had a break-in however, would we be covered, if the doors and windows were locked but the shutters had been left open?

At present, I only ask guests to be sure to lock the doors and windows when they go out, but if they are absent overnight, they must, in addition, secure the outside shutters.

I admit to having been a bit vague in this regard - since our policy is only in French, I've never been through the contract thoroughly - so what is your practice in such situations?

I thought that if you have shutters, you have to close them to be covered by insurance, but if you don't, it doesn't matter, obviously. With back to back guests you don't need to ask them to do this do you? Your caretakers will be going in soon after and the next guests arriving that afternoon. If they are the last guests of the season, or there are no more guests for a few weeks, then can't you get the caretakers to close the shutters for you?

I'm thinking more of when guests are in residence LV: does an insurance company expect the shutters (if they exist) to be locked in order for the policy to be valid in the event of a break-in during an absence, any absence, day, half a day, trip to the shops even?

As I'vesaid, wejust ask guests to lock the windows and doors if they are going out, but I am uncertain as to whether insurers would look on this as a loophole if we had a break-in.

But more important, the subject has come up as we have some Aussies in res at the moment on a 5-week let; we'd asked them specifically to secure the shutters as well as lock the windows and doors if they were planning to be away overnight - and they went off to Provence last weekend, leaving the shutters open.

Of course when the house is not being let, the shutters are always closed by the cleaners after the final turnaround.

Unless there was proof of forced entry Jane, I don't think your insurance would be valid. So if the shutters were not shut and therefore there was no forced entry via them, I don't think your insurance would pay out. I know when I had some bikes stolen, unless I could prove a forced break in, my insurance wouldn't pay out.

Yes, that's what I thought too - so in effect, to be absolutely sure we're protected, even if guests are out for a brief absence, we should insist on the shutters being secured. That would be a total pain in the neck and I can imagine there'd be 0% compliance! However I was very cross, since we had requested the shutters to be closed if the present group were away overnight, that this was ignored.

I have had personal experience of how quickly thieves can enter a premises, grab jewellery, cash, credit cards and be off again - opportunists, perhaps even watching the movements of the inhabitants.

People will of course reassure me as we're in a very low crime area, but we do hear of occasional break-ins nevertheless, and insurance company rules is rules!

Shutters are a bit of a weird continental practice, and baffling to many of us. When we converted our place, and had them ripped off the chalet on the lower two floors, we had Swiss builders weeping with frustration seeing them dumped.

Seems crazy to us - shutters all battened up means home unoccupied and ripe for an uninterrupted entry.

GG - a quick word with your insurance company? There's nothing in our insurance policy about them.

MG

We have electric shutters which I ask the guests to close at night and when they go out, to conserve heat. I don't know if they do or not, but we use them. Friends who live out there close their shutters at night to keep out the cold.

Heat conservation is a moot point; glazed panels these days, with high-tech Pilkington XYZ-something-glass, are better insulation than anything used to construct walls. Or so our architect convinced us.

MG

That may be the case in our brand new chalet apartment MG, but not in a 17th century house in Briancon

Hi folks
Our french insurance policy states that all shutters should be closed when leaving the house unoccupied.
So we've put an entry in our "Guest information" folder in the house as follows:-
"When leaving the property unattended, please close all shutters and lock from the inside. (Our insurance is invalid in the event of any claim, if this has not been done). During the summer months, when the weather can become very hot, it will also keep the inside of the house surprisingly cool for you".

I'm sure not everyone will adhere to this, but our house is not that big and there are only 9 sets of shutters. Sounds a lot, but we don't have all of them open most of the time (particularly in the summer, when we tend to keep the shutters closed on one side of the house to try and keep some of the suns heat out). There is enough light coming into the other side of the house, to be able to see inside very well. Even closing all of the shutters takes no more than a few minutes when two or three people are doing it. I suppose it just depends on how many shutters you have.

The bottom line GG is "ask your insurance Co".

Personally it wouldn't spoil my Holiday if the owner asked me to perform this task when leaving the house unoccupied.
If it were to jeapordise their insurance I would be only too willing.
(And don't forget other countries such as the UK are used to higher crime rates and so they would probably have lots of bolts etc to secure in their own homes anyway !

Ray

our new build Blog

Holiday Ray wrote:I suppose it just depends on how many shutters you have.

That's just it Ray - loads. And when is a house unoccupied? When the family pops out to get a baguette or goes for a morning jog?

I can see your predicament GG. Too many shutters to reasonably expect guests to go round closing.

Our insurance also states shutters must be secure along with the gates being locked (they're electronic so unless guests leave them wide open they will be locked). I do ask guests to ensure everywhere is secure if they leave the house unoccupied (i.e. no-one in) as if there is a break-in there will be no coverage, I also ask them to check their insurance to see if that would (which I know won't).

Having said that it is appalling how many times I have noticed the gate wide open (not too much of a problem) and more worryingly, the paio doors and front door. Thank god we're in a low crime area & we're in residency (so to speak)
But in the main people do shut the shutters, in fact many remain shut to keep out the heat. However we don't have as many as you GG and perhaps in your area people want sunshine to pour in?

Mouse
x

Mouse wrote:However we don't have as many as you GG and perhaps in your area people want sunshine to pour in?

It gets very hot in a good summer here but most of the house is north facing (a distinct advantage in the summer) so they can actually leave the shutters open all day round without the house getting too hot.

I recently went to my house to deliver wood during a rental. I found a downstairs window open, and a laptop open on a table next to it. On holiday in a bucolic place, people just assume nothing bad can happen. Getting them to close the shutters every time they go out would be impossible, and I think it is too much to ask, unless they are going away overnight.

I will try and check out my Generali policy later to see if it says anything about shutters.