This system is very useful, but if a burglary occurs, the insurance may refuse to cover your claim.
Hiding a spare key under the doormat, in a flower pot, under the mailbox… Everyone knows these techniques. Of course, this allows people to easily give access to their home if they are away or if they cannot get up to open their door, but in reality it also does a great service to burglars if they discover the hiding place.
To avoid this, for several years, owners have opted for a fairly innovative system. It is sold in major DIY stores or on the Internet, at different prices. It is intended to be both practical and secure and is very often used for rentals. These are key boxes. These small boxes are often installed out of sight, on an interior or exterior wall, and which contain one or more keys, or even a badge. They are opened using a code, defined beforehand.
In concrete terms, it works like a combination lock. In principle, it is impossible for a burglar to decipher the coded combination of a key box with a single push. But according to the specialist magazine 60 Million Consumers, “these key boxes offer very relative resistance”. With some knowledge, thieves can easily open the system lock.
Result, if the burglary is committed without a break-in, certain insurance companies can cite the motive “disclaimer of warranty” and not compensate their policyholders, report our colleagues. But in general, insurers do not specify this clearly in their contracts. Exception for Macif which specifies that “theft and acts of vandalism committed using keys left outside the insured premises: in a secure box, in the mailbox, under the doormat, in the garden, on the terrace, in the courtyard or on the window” are excluded from support, we can read in the guarantees of the Economic formula for Macif home insurance. So before you start installing a key box, check with your insurer if this type of device is covered, and if so at what height. Because it may also depend on the insurance plan you have taken out.