Breaking up for Christmas? Don’t forget these important things.

Uni is coming to a halt as your making your way back home for Christmas. A time spent stuffing faces with food, napping, drinking and watching Home Alone and Elf (again)

But before you make the journey home, there’s a few things you should consider when leaving your property over Christmas.

Keep your house and belongings safe!

As with Home Alone where criminals strike at Christmas time, this time of year leads to an increase of theft and burglaries. When finally saying the last farewell to your house be sure to check that all doors and windows are locked and if you have a burglar alarm, switch it on. Also, it would be a good idea to take all your valuables with you, the last thing you want is for your ipad to be taken when there is serious series binging to do.

Tell your landlord you’re leaving.

Inform your landlord that your place will be vacant for however long it will be until you return. Usually this is part of your tenancy agreement if you are leaving longer than 14 consecutive days.

Heat your property!

Cold is coming! Temperatures will dive below freezing from now for at least a couple of months. With that in mind there’s a risk of frozen pipes leading to leaks, floods and your pipes actually freezing over- now that is definitely not what you need heading in to the new year after the Christmas high. You will be responsible to heat the property throughout your tenancy and a part of that responsibility is ensuring the heating is on over the holidays. Simply set it up to go on a few hours, morning and night throughout the day.