Summer brings something curious to the Costa Blanca: while thousands of people arrive on holiday, many residents go away for a few weeks, and many holiday homes change hands between owners, relatives and guests. It’s a season of empty houses, broken routines and more unfamiliar faces around the urbanisations. Exactly what opportunistic burglars look for.
In this guide, as alarm installers who respond to call-outs every summer in Benidorm, Altea, Calpe, Alfàs del Pi and La Nucia, we explain how to protect your home while you’re on holiday: what to do before you leave, how to get your alarm ready, the mistakes we see every year and how to combine common sense with technology so you come back to a house just as you left it.
This isn’t about turning your home into a fortress or living in fear. Most of the summer burglaries we see could have been prevented with a couple of good habits and a well-configured alarm. This guide is for people who live here all year and go away for a while, and for owners of second homes that are let out, lent to family or left empty over the summer.
Why the risk goes up during the holidays
- Visible signs of absence: shutters always down, an overflowing letterbox, lights off day after day, a car that never moves.
- Social media: airport or beach photos from abroad that anyone can see.
- More people coming and going on urbanisations with holiday lets, where a stranger doesn’t stand out.
- Heat and open windows in occupied homes, and careless locking-up in empty ones.
- Fewer neighbours keeping an eye out, because they’re away too.
The good news is that most of these risks can be reduced with simple measures.
Before you go: your checklist
Locks and entry points
- Check every door and window, including the garage, storeroom, upper terrace and bathrooms. Small windows count too.
- Don’t hide keys outside: plant pots, meter boxes and doormats are the first places anyone looks.
- Put away ladders and garden tools that could help someone reach an upper floor.
- Move valuables out of sight of windows, such as bikes on the terrace or laptops by the glass.
Make the house look lived in
- Ask someone you trust to empty the letterbox and clear leaflets, or redirect your post.
- Put lights or shutters on timers or home automation so there are changes during the day.
- Don’t switch the garden watering off completely on a long trip: a parched garden is a giveaway too.
- If the car stays behind, have someone move it occasionally or leave it in the garage.
Social media
Share your photos when you get back, and check your profiles aren’t public if you tend to post where you are.
Water, electricity and gas
Turning off the mains water if nobody will use the house is one of the cheapest and most useful tips we give. If you leave things on (fridge, irrigation, alarm, router), make sure whatever needs power keeps it, and unplug anything you don’t need.
A simple timeline so you don’t forget anything
One or two weeks before
- Check your alarm’s status in the app and replace any batteries flagged as low.
- If you want to add detectors or cameras, book it now: installers’ diaries fill up in June and July.
- Decide who your trusted contact will be while you’re away and confirm they’ll be reachable.
- Arrange watering, pool maintenance and post collection.
The day before
- Set timers for lights and shutters.
- Create any temporary app users you need and check they work.
- Clear perishables from the fridge and unplug what isn’t needed.
The day you leave
- Walk round closing doors and windows, small ones included.
- Turn off the water if nobody will be using it.
- Fully arm the alarm and check in the app that it’s armed before you drive off.
Getting your alarm ready
If you already have an alarm, summer is the time to make sure everything works. If you don’t yet, our guide on choosing a home alarm system in Spain may help.
- Check in the app that all devices are online with no low-battery warnings.
- Do a test arm and make sure no open doors or windows are stopping it arming.
- Check the communication channels: network and, if fitted, SIM.
- Update your monitoring contacts, if you have them: who answers while you’re away? Does anyone have keys?
- Review users: give temporary access to anyone who’ll be going in (gardener, cleaner, pool) and remove anyone who no longer needs it.
Detectors that make most sense in summer
- Flood detectors in the kitchen, bathrooms and by the water heater. A leak in a closed-up house is one of the most expensive surprises.
- Smoke detectors, especially in houses with gardens near areas at risk of wildfire.
- Outdoor detectors on terraces and in the garden, to detect someone before they reach the door.
- Camera detectors, so you can see from your phone what triggered the alarm.
Cameras: useful, used sensibly
Many clients ask for cameras before the holidays so they can “see the house from the beach”. They’re a great complement, especially to check everything’s fine or review what happened if the alarm goes off. Just remember the basic Spanish data protection rules: don’t record the public street beyond what’s essential, display a sign if cameras cover areas others access, and don’t keep footage for more than a month. We go into detail in our guide to home security cameras in Spain.
Heat, wildfires and storms: the other summer risks
Burglary isn’t the only concern. On the Costa Blanca you also have to allow for heatwaves, wildfire risk in hillside areas and, at the end of summer, heavy storms that can cause power cuts or leaks. With the house empty, any of these can go unnoticed for days. That’s why we recommend the alarm also watches for technical problems: a connected smoke detector warns of a fire even when nobody’s home, a flood detector picks up a leak after a storm, and the hub tells you if the power has gone.
Urbanisations: better together
On many local urbanisations, security improves a lot when neighbours work together: a messaging group to report anything odd, year-round residents keeping an eye out, or community agreements on lighting and access control. It doesn’t replace an alarm in each house, but it helps. And if the community wants cameras in shared areas, that needs approval at the owners’ meeting and compliance with data protection rules.
If you let your home in summer
- Create a temporary user or code for guests that can be deactivated at the end of their stay.
- Explain in the house manual how to arm and disarm, to avoid false alarms in the middle of the night.
- Never record indoors while guests are staying: their privacy comes first.
- Keep technical detectors (flood, smoke) active at all times.
- Check the house between stays, ideally with someone who makes sure no windows are left open.
If you live there and are only away a few days
- Always arm the full alarm, not just the night-time “part set”.
- Tell a trusted neighbour and add them as a contact.
- Make sure the app is installed on your phone and someone else’s.
- If pets stay at home with a sitter, adjust the settings so they don’t trigger the alarm.
Mistakes we see every summer
- Leaving without arming the alarm because “it’s only a week” or someone was coming to water the plants.
- Bathroom or storeroom windows left open for ventilation.
- Emergency contacts who are also on holiday and don’t answer.
- Flat detector batteries nobody checked all year.
- Switching the router off to “save power”, leaving the alarm without one of its channels.
- Giving the code to too many people and never changing it.
When you get back
On your return, disarm the alarm as you go in, check the event history in the app in case anything happened while you were away and delete any temporary users you created. It’s also a good moment to note what worked and what didn’t, so your next trip is even easier to plan. If the alarm flagged low batteries or a device dropping offline during your absence, get it sorted before you next leave.
If you find signs of a break-in when you return
- Don’t go in if you see a forced door or broken window: someone could still be inside.
- Call 112 or the police from somewhere safe.
- Don’t touch anything until the police arrive.
- Check the alarm history and any images from camera detectors or cameras, which may help with the police report.
- Photograph the damage and list what’s missing for the report and your insurer.
- Review your protection afterwards: change locks if keys were taken, change alarm codes and look at how they got in.
How SystemDe can help
Before summer we carry out many checks and upgrades: adding flood detectors, cameras at the entrance, checking communications or setting up users for guests and staff. We work with wireless AJAX equipment, installed with no building work and managed from one app. See what’s included on our alarm systems page.
Frequently asked questions about protecting your home on holiday
Should I close all the shutters when I leave?
Closing them all for weeks is a clear sign nobody’s home. If possible, combine half-closed shutters with timers or home automation.
Should I turn off the mains water?
If nobody will use the house, yes: it’s one of the simplest ways to avoid leak damage. Bear in mind whether you need water for irrigation or the pool.
Can I arm my alarm from abroad?
Yes. With the app you can arm, disarm and check the system from anywhere with an internet connection.
What should I do if the alarm goes off while I’m away?
Check in the app which detector was triggered and, with camera detectors, the images. If you have monitoring, the centre will follow your protocol. If not, call your trusted contact.
Can I give the person who waters the plants temporary access?
Yes. Create a user with limited permissions and delete it when you get back.
Do I need cameras to go away with peace of mind?
Not necessarily. A well-configured alarm with camera detectors already lets you verify what’s happening. Outdoor cameras are an extra if you want to see the house at any time.
Go on holiday with your home ready
If you’d like to check, upgrade or install an alarm in your Costa Blanca home before summer, get in touch in good time. Request your no-obligation quote and we’ll get it ready so all you need to think about is relaxing.
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