Leaving Your Delhi Flat Empty: The Security Side

1. Stop the flat announcing itself

An empty flat is usually identified from outside, over several days, by things that accumulate.

• Newspapers and milk. Cancel them, or ask a neighbour to take them in. A pile outside a door is the clearest signal there is, and in most Delhi buildings it is the one people actually notice.
• Post and deliveries. Do not schedule anything to arrive while you are away, and redirect what you can.
• Do not post about the trip while you are on it. Photographs can wait until you are home. This matters more than most of the hardware advice you will read.
• Keep the curtains normal. Every curtain drawn tight for two weeks reads as clearly as every curtain open. Leave them roughly as they usually are.
• Put a lamp on a timer in a room that is normally used in the evening. Cheap, and it changes the pattern the building sees.
• Say as little as possible in advance to people you do not know well — including in a society WhatsApp group, which is larger than it feels.

2. One trusted person who can actually get in

This is the single most useful thing on the page, and it is the one people skip. If a pipe bursts on day three, everything depends on whether anyone can open the door.

• Leave a key with one person you trust — a neighbour, a family member nearby — not under a mat, not in the meter box, not with the guard by default.
• Give them your contact details and a plumber’s number, and tell them where the main water stop valve and the distribution board are. Our shut-offs tip is worth sending them a photo of.
• Ask them to look in once or twice, take the post in, and open a window for a few minutes if the weather allows.
• Tell the society office or the RWA that the flat will be empty and who is holding the key. They will usually keep an eye, and it avoids confusion if someone is seen entering.
• Agree what they should do if something is wrong — call you first, or act. Deciding in advance saves an hour you may not have.

3. The walk round before you lock up

• Every window and balcony door. Latched, not just closed. Ground and first-floor flats especially, and the bathroom ventilator that nobody thinks of.
• The grille gates. Locked, and the key kept where the household can find it in an emergency rather than left in the lock.
• Check the main door actually locks properly rather than sticking. A door you have been shouldering shut for months is worth sorting before you go — our lock guide covers whether it is the lock or the alignment.
• Move valuables out of sight of a window, and keep documents and jewellery somewhere that is not the bedside table.
• Photograph the flat as you leave it. Rooms, and anything valuable. It takes two minutes and it is what you will want if you ever need to describe what was there.
• Note your meter readings. Useful for spotting anything odd on the bill afterwards.

4. Sort the rest before you go, and check on return

• Do the utilities shutdown too. Water off at the main valve, appliances unplugged, drains covered so the traps do not dry out — that is the other half of leaving a flat, and our long-trip tip covers it properly.
• Deal with anything already dripping or tripping. A small fault you are living with becomes a month-long one the day you leave. Our small repairs tip covers which ones not to leave.
• Going away in monsoon? Check the terrace and balcony drains first, because a blocked drain and two weeks of rain is how water gets inside — see our terrace tips.
• On return, walk the flat before unpacking. Ceilings and walls for damp, under the sink and behind the WC for leaks, and the smell of the place — a musty flat is telling you something.
• Run every tap for a minute and flush each WC to refill the traps.
• If anything is genuinely wrong, photograph it before touching it.