Theft and intrusion: what a building can actually do

After a theft, the meeting votes a camera. Three years later the hall door still does not close.

A bike disappears, a cellar is forced, a car is searched in the car park. The reaction is always the same: the next meeting votes a visible, expensive investment. Then the thefts continue, because the cause was never addressed.

In the vast majority of cases an intrusion requires neither force nor skill: someone came in through a door that does not close, followed a resident, or held a fob that should never have stayed active.

Start with the real entry points

• The hall door: does it close fully, every time, without a misadjusted closer holding it?
• The service door, the bin store door and the car park door, often the weak links.
• The car park gate: does the closing delay let a pedestrian in behind a car?
• Cellar access: corridor door, lighting, visibility.
• Basement windows and vents, regularly forgotten.

The third is the most underestimated: a slow gate lets anyone walk in. See the automatic gate and access management.

The real problem: credentials in circulation

No lock compensates for a fob given to a tenant who left two years ago, a remote sold with a parking space, or a corridor key copied without control.

An access inventory, a deactivation procedure and an up-to-date register are the most effective measures a building can take — and the cheapest. See letting a parking space, the first source of uncontrolled remotes.

What works, and at what price

Measures rank easily by cost against real effect:

• Adjust door closers and repair strike plates: negligible cost, immediate effect.
• Light the cellars, the car park and the surroundings: low cost, strong effect, including on the sense of safety.
• Redo the access inventory and deactivate what should be: no cost, lasting effect.
• Strengthen the doors of sensitive rooms: moderate cost, targeted effect.
• Install CCTV: high cost, a real but partial deterrent, with legal obligations attached.

The last line nearly always comes first in discussions, when it logically comes last. If it is chosen, the framework is strict: see CCTV in a condo and GDPR for the board.

What is down to each resident

The building policy covers the common areas, not residents’ belongings. A bike stolen from a cellar, an item taken from a car, a missing box: that is the occupant’s own insurance.

Restating it every year avoids the main misunderstanding after a theft: see the building policy’s cover and cellars.

Document, even when nothing can be done

Each theft reported, dated and located builds a map: three break-ins in the same corridor within six months identify the weak point better than any intuition.

That is what allows a targeted measure to be proposed at the meeting rather than a generic investment. See keeping an incident log.

Most intrusions force nothing: they push a door that the closer has failed to shut for a year.

Map incidents with CoproHarmony

CoproHarmony lets residents report a theft or intrusion with date, place and photos, and lets the board spot recurring weak points immediately. Create your free space.