I’ve noticed that all of our neighbours close their gates pretty much 24/7 and the one who doesn’t have gates stretches a piece of string between gateposts when he isn’t there.
We rarely close our gates and I’m wondering if we’re missing something here about a necessity to close gates. Is there some imperative to close gates, like insurance, or some need to demonstrate that crossing the boundary for nefarious purposes is done in full awareness of the boundary in order to satisfy the law? Or it just one of those French things?
We close our gates, at my insistence, when we go out, but that’s because everyone else does!
I have speculated: is it because (perhaps historically, and no longer) insurance requires it, or that it’s a deterrent to burglars? It’s always seemed to me that France is stronger on physical security than alarm systems, at least outside cities.
Over the years, we’ve noticed how neighbours close their gates and also their shutters when they go out. We’ve not got a gate to close at the bottom of our drive and we don’t close the shutters when we go out. I do remember one time, many years ago, when I actually left the keys in the front door when we went into town. They were still in place (as was everything else) when we got home but I’ve never done that since !
OH is of the understanding that ou I cr house insurance would be invalid if we don’t close the shutters. I confess I haven’t read the policy Ts and Cs.
We close our gates when going out, so do our neighbours, those with no gates put string across. The reason being that our local farmer will move his cows along the chemin.
You’re quite right Jennifer but we think that with our neighbours always around their farm yard and their 3 dogs around the property, we won’t be bothered by ‘callers’. Famous last words …..
We do the same here in the UK, for the same reason. At this time of year especially, there’s a constant movement of sheep, cows and horses and closing our gates make it quicker for them.
I’m amazed that no-one has mentioned dogs. Especially in this hot weather I don’t condemn the dog to come in the car but he has the choice of house and garden to roam so the gates are closed.
That highlights the other reason, the house is always open, the gates are a suitable discouragement.
Oh and one more, the gates open outwards over a downslope and are thus well above the ground if left open, and prey to any wind that might arise.
Its true. Friends along the coast came back and found they had been broken into and they had not shut the shutters down, so they put them down and then vandalised them themselves so they could claim on the insurance. I checked my policy and it states if shutters are fitted, they should be closed when the property is not occupied. My gates are always shut and locked and the ring alerts me if anyone even drives by, some 5metres from the gates and records everything. My neighbour on the same plot has 8 cameras all round so I feel safer with those too.
My understanding is that it is all about showing the delineation of the private property. If the gates are closed, or the string / chain is in place, then it is taken as read that anyone crossing the line is clearly trespassing, and that they must be aware of that fact.
Not if I turn the mains electricity off like when I go to the US for months at a time to see family. The Ring doorbell itself works on a chargeable battery but the Alexa style screen indoors is plugged into the mains along with the signal booster. You can change the distance from the doorbell to wherever you feel best but mine has been handy especially when keeping an eye out for the JW’s or other hawkers. The other night it woke me (you can turn the sound off indoors by the way) to say something was near the property and when I checked on my tablet as that is also lined up to view as well as the other unit,I could see two bright glaring eyes standing by the postbox pillar. It makes me feel better anyway.
You gave me something to worry about , so I checked my renter’s insurance (Lemonade) and it says this:
‘Nous ne couvrons pas les dommages résultant d’une négligence manifeste de votre part (ex : ne pas
fermer la porte à clé en partant de chez vous,..’
..which makes sense, but closing all the shutters when you go to the bakery (which mine does not say or cite as an example) to buy a baguette…oh come on…
I’m not really in the habit of closing them unless, like now, I’m trying to keep the sun out or keep the heat in (don’t think it helps much). To include closing the shutters in a policy is pretty lame.
Yes, I will lock the house. I’ll close the gate, but not likely to lock it unless I’ll be gone for days. I think that’s reasonable and not negligent.
gates closed and string also used here. the bovine population is many times in excess of the human one and cows are always attracted to gardens. our neighbours had their veggie patch trashed when he left his gates open and cattle got in. String also works.
A quick, statistically unrepresentative survey this morning in our Seine Maritime hamlet…of the 14 houses, 8 (ie 57%) keep their gates mainly shut, the remainder (43%) either keep their gates mostly open, or do not even have gates. We only shut ours because of our dogs running around the garden.
