What a shared building changes about making a home secure again
In an apartment block, a break-in immediately raises a question of boundaries. The lobby, the staircase, the bike store, the cellars and the basement boxes belong to the co-owned building; your flat door does not. Tell the syndic as soon as you can, especially if entry was made through a communal door left ajar or through a car park access: other homes may be affected, and the co-ownership has every interest in correcting the weak point. Keep the parts that are removed, they show the nature of the attack.
Repair nothing before the findings have been recorded: the marks on the door leaf, the frame and the faceplate are part of them. Photograph from several angles, report the crime to the police, then declare the claim to your insurer as your policy provides. In the meantime, temporary security measures make it possible to close the home up without erasing what has to be recorded: a stopgap lock, a strike plate reset, an opening sealed shut. The invoice, itemised line by line, is handed to you; you will be asked for it.
Houses in the old centre are protected from the back
On the plots of the old centre, Petit Bruges and Treuils, the front door faces the street, but the back opens onto a garden, a side path or the neighbouring plot. That is almost always where people get in: service door, sliding patio door, ground-floor window, adjoining garage door. Closing up the main door without dealing with that access leaves the problem whole. Walking round the plot is therefore part of the job, just as much as the repair.
In an old house it is not always the lock that gives way: it is the timber around the strike plate, torn out by leverage. Fitting a new mechanism to a split door frame repairs only half the problem; making good the frame counts as much as the part itself. If keys disappeared during the intrusion, replacement extends to everything that was on the key ring — garage, gate, garden shed, letterbox.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our securing your home after a break-in page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Bruges.