Securing your unoccupied commercial property 11 January 2022

The effect of properties becoming unoccupied presents several challenges for landlords. If your tenant has vacated their premises, it’s essential, you undertake the necessary measures to safeguard your property from theft/damage.

In our opinion there is no greater deterrent for would-be criminals than the physical presence of an SIA-licenced security officer. In most cases having the appropriate amount of SIA-licenced, extra vigilant officers on-site will prevent crime.  

What are the threats?

This should give you an idea of the potential threats to your premises.

Thieves and vandals

Factories and warehouses are prime targets. Thieves will take anything they can get their hands on radiators, pipes, boilers, cables even air conditioning units. Malicious damage may also be caused to the property such as graffiti, and unsightly damage including broken windows. The costs following the theft may be higher than their actual value, due to the potential damage caused by the thieves ripping them out.  

Intruders

Empty buildings with large car parks are attractive to groups of intruders, and prior to setting up an encampment they will make frequent visits to the site to scope it out. Intruders move quickly and having officers on-site means these visits can be reported to the landlord, so that further proactive measures can be put in place.

We have deployed 24-hour dog handlers in the past to empty factory/warehouse car parks that have been visited by intruders. From previous experience we know certain groups will force entry to set up their camp, which includes damaging gates and cutting padlocks.

Once intruders are on-site, they are difficult to get rid off as they deliberately set up camp over bank holiday weekends.

Arson

The starting of a fire is probably the most damaging act of destruction your property could suffer. This type of threat is rare, but ESG Security recently experienced it a retail park near Manchester, our security officer fortunately put it out before it could cause any damage.  

Security measures

Before investing in security measures for your property, you need to understand how well your security will fit with the environment. If you’re thinking about investing in security for an empty building contact us about reviewing your risk.