Metal theft has been dubbed the world’s most annoying crime, and for good reason too. This frustrating crime wave is leaving properties, and their owners, with hundreds of pounds of damage to clear up.
This week we’re looking into what metal theft actually is, who’s most at risk, and most importantly, what you can do to protect your property.
What Is Metal Theft?
Metal theft is where criminals target locations based on the value of their materials. It’s a growing problem across the UK.
Rather than stealing trackable valuables from homes & properties that are hard to sell on, some criminals have turned their attention to the lucrative and easily accessible metals sitting in vacant property across the country.
The most commonly targeted metals include copper, aluminium, brass and bronze. However, recently the number of cast iron and steel thefts have risen due to their increased value on the market.
This crime is leaving property owners and landlords with damage that is more expensive to fix than the actual cost of the metal stolen. Hence why this crime wave is so annoying.
Who’s at Risk?
Pretty much any location or property with metals worth stealing is at risk.
Photo by Nils Lindner on Unsplash
In the past, railways have been highly targeted due to their abundance of copper and lead. Although the amount of metal stolen is often small, the negative effect on the train lines is huge. Artwork and public statues have also been targeted, and even Churches have become victim to the crime.
Metal theft isn’t a new problem. Back in 2011, Surrey County Council made the decision to change their metal road signs over to plastic ones to try and crackdown on the thefts. Over time, councils and train lines have caught on to this annoying crime and tightened their security measures in response - meaning that criminals are now looking elsewhere for metals to steal. This leaves vacant and unprotected properties at high risk, particularly industrial buildings in low traffic areas.
What Can You Do to Protect Your Property?
If you own or manage a vacant property that you are worried is at risk of metal theft, or any criminal damage, a property guardianship scheme could help.
The relatively new scheme is far cheaper than traditional security methods - ranging from around 50-0% of the price. It works by temporarily inviting professional live-in guardians to protect the property 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In return for lower than market cost rent, the guardians are able to provide around the clock security against any would-be criminals or metal thefts.
At Blue Door Property Guardians, we offer this service at zero cost to the landlord. We help you prepare your site to be suitable and then match you to our professional & vetted guardians. It’s a simple, easy and effective way of protecting your vacant property from metal theft.
To find out more about property guardianship, you can read our full guide here. Or get in touch today to see how we could help.