Singapore Expats

Am posting this only as a heads up to those that live in landed properties. We were burgaled as we slept last week - bit of a wake up call in low crime Singapore. What surprised me is the fact that this is not as uncommon as i thought in subsequent discussions with police and other landed residents.

It's a decent wake up call to tighten security deterrents.

Shouldn't it be "Burgled"?
Anyways thanks for the heads up!

What's a "landed property"? Sorry for your loss... thieves are the lowest of low lifes.

Strong Eagle wrote:What's a "landed property"? Sorry for your loss... thieves are the lowest of low lifes.

Property where the title included both the land as well as the building, unlike a strata title which only gives you title to the building/unit. But I'm not sure where you're coming from on this one as you live in landed property as well.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:

Strong Eagle wrote:What's a "landed property"? Sorry for your loss... thieves are the lowest of low lifes.

Property where the title included both the land as well as the building, unlike a strata title which only gives you title to the building/unit. But I'm not sure where you're coming from on this one as you live in landed property as well.

Exactly. My landed property is a semi-detached. Could also be a 50 story condo, a black and white, a bungalow, or a bunch of patio homes. I want to understand what sort of property was burgled.

That is frightening. What was their method of entry? Was there an open window or did they break the door down, etc?

Strange today one of the Mums at the school pick up said two houses in her neighborhood was also burgled, they climbed in through an open window ( bit daft leaving a un-protected window open) in the night while the owners were sleeping.

Landed property is more commonly used for houses not apartments or condo's in local language. Singapore is a burglar's paradise, as people tend to believe it's safe, the grills on the outside of some groundfloor apartments can hardly stop a determined thief, I would think the same in some houses.

I inspected my own grills so i know they are insecure, the screws used are hopelessly too short, and some heavy pressure will force the screws out very easy. The older the property the more likely the grills will drop out, due to weather conditions here.

Better to set up a cheap mobile sensor to trigger an alarm, when going to bed, though in Asia most burglars will be armed with a knife or parang, as they know the consequences of getting caught, so will put up resistance.

There are a quite a few druggies and alcoholics here believe it or not, mostly prescription drugs and will need to feed their habit by burglary and stealing. Common sense and caution is the word to lock up properly in the day time and at night.

get a dog... a big dog. a big fierce dog... a big fierce dog on steriods!

Exactly one of the many reasons why we chose to live in high rise. Less point of entries and even though the security guards are not 100% guarding, they still play a minor part in deterring break ins. Although I have lost a few pairs of shoes and plants left outside my apartment! those theiving b*stards!

dazzlebabe wrote:get a dog... a big dog. a big fierce dog... a big fierce dog on steriods!

Our pedigree dog (large) was stolen in Hong kong from our Graden along with five or six neighbour dogs, they sell for a real premium in China.

I think if you are going to live in a house, Singapore is probably one of the safest countires to do it, but like all places low crime doesnt mean no crime. Even here I would never leave doors windows etc open at night without some from of protection/deterrent.

Point of entry was back door which is a flimsy structure but padlocked, which was picked. Gloves left no prints. As i said earlier it happens a lot more than we think. Naturally landlord refused to contribute towards activating the non-functioning alarm....shheesh !!

And a few houses got hit the same nite...sorry burgled

srman wrote:Naturally landlord refused to contribute towards activating the non-functioning alarm....shheesh !!

I don't blame the LL in this situation. You had a working alarm installed for you, don't you think you should have had it activated without waiting for the LL to do it?

Me thinks it was the work of a syndicate. Probably been monitoring your movements for the past week.

Sorry it happened to you. But seriously, you should have taken the initiative to have the alarm activated!

Dazzlebabe - valid point. Alarm was not activated when we moved in, asked the LL who claimed that it does not work/has not worked in the past...so yes we ignored it which is the reason for my post ie exercise more dilligence (me included).

What items did the burglar take, just curious.

In the low-crime country where I used to live, there were select neighborhoods targeted by gangs, systematically working their way though homes after casing them for when people would be away.

This really takes a watchful neighborhood community to be vigilant, as well as the usual common-sense precautions.

It also happened in the condo where I currently live, turned out to be a PRC gang, similar to the other place.

I think without surveillance this is difficult to fully prevent, though.

An old friend had a saying, 'locks are for honest people' - most won't stop much.