JACK FAGAN:THERE HAS been a surge in attempted break-ins at unoccupied homes and commercial buildings, according to a study by Netwatch, a property protection service. The findings come at a time when a record number of apartments, houses and commercial buildings are lying vacant because of the slowdown in sales and a fall off in demand from commercial tenants.

David Walsh, managing director of the Carlow-based company, said they had recorded a 35 per cent increase in attempted break-ins at vacant buildings in recent months. Because of the economic downturn they were now monitoring 60 per cent more unoccupied premises than three years ago.

Criminal activity increased in times of economic hardship so he assumed they would continue to see increased levels of vandalism and theft over the next few years. Illegal activity generally ranged from the theft of materials from completed buildings to damage, loitering and drug abuse.

Walsh said a key problem with vacant buildings was the lack of surveillance which allowed anti-social behaviour to go undetected. Traditional methods of security such as manned guarding was very expensive, particularly in buildings or housing estates already in negative equity and not producing revenue. CCTV cameras alone could be targeted by criminals and did not prevent damage but rather recorded it. Irish criminals, he said, were more active in their search for easy money and as they became more desperate, burglar alarms and static CCTV systems were less of a deterrent. “We carried out a survey recently that showed that while 63 per cent of the respondents had burglar alarms and 60 per cent had CCTV cameras they were still regularly being targeted by criminals.”

Walsh said that if either commercial or residential buildings were left vacant for more than 30 days they would not be covered under the standard property owner’s insurance policy.