There have been a spate of burglaries in my area of Vaud in recent months. One friend has been burgled twice and had intruders on at least one other occasion.

I find this very concerning, particularly as my apartment block is ridiculously insecure. We have a front door which is left open all day (generally propped open), and although it is supposed to be locked between 7 pm and 7 am, generally someone leaves the doorstop in. This is partly because we have no buzzer system of any kind, so visitors and the postman can't get in or indicate that they have arrived. Our individual apartment doors only have the one lock.

I have heard somewhere (I think it was friends who were told this at a meeting about increasing security in their building), that a new law is coming in which will force landlords to provide secure locks in apartment buildings (e.g. a key-code entry).

Can anyone confirm this? I'd like to do some research... and then decide if it's worth approaching the letting agency with my concerns about our insecure front door, or if I should just sit and wait for this supposed law to come into force.

Also, can anyone recommend a not-too-expensive alarm system? I have a cat, so can't get anything along the motion sensor line, and I don't want a security camera... just something that makes a noise if someone forces entry into my apartment! The only ones I've been able to find in the shops along that line are designed for windows - I really want something for the front door that I can set when I leave.

If you want something that makes a noise after they break in then its already too late you will need to change locks after that etc.

I would recommend that you are best to instal something that gives the impression of a monitoring system being inside so you could put in a surveillance camera style webcam which wouldnt even need to do much as its presence would most likely give the result of scaring most intruders away.

Ask Securitas for a sticker and put it on your door frame. Talk to the city police? Give your cat self defence lessons?

Do you want to pay extra charges every month for this new system? whilst the landlord may have to install you will have to pay.

Fully agree this is the most practical, while my webcam approach can work the challenge would be if you get challenged on installing one in a public area as there would be rules on the subject. A securitas sticker will make them have to think if there is or is not a system inside which is what you want then they try someone elses place

Thanks for the replies everyone...

I'm very aware that any new system would have a knock-on cost... which is partly why I'm trying to find out if this is going to become a legal requirement.

I'm wondering if the best first step is to talk to the concierge / agency about enforcing the front doors being locked.

How would I go about getting a Securitas sticker? Do they just hand them out for free? (Sorry, that sounds like a really, really stupid question ).

My friends (the ones who were burgled) have been told by the police to ring them if anything strikes them as suspicious and they will come out... and that there have been a spate of robberies and they are advising people to take precautions. Hence my questions!

The main challenge in enforcing this is the effectiveness in that any criminal will simply hang around near the entrance until someone exits and then walk at the door and enter when the exiting person holds the door open for them. Really simple exercise to execute so good idea don't rely on it

Our door has two signs from the landlord.

Another sign of Swiss efficiency. All emergencies are scheduled between 7am and 9pm.

I have a similar situation in my building and have been reading posts about how much burglary there has been in CH in recent years... It is making me nervous. To top it all off the manager told us several months ago when our door lock broke and we didn't want to leave the apartment open, "not to worry as there is a front door downstairs that locks" (not!)...Again it is one of those doors you can simply push open.