Vacant premises are a recurring issue in urban areas, often leading to squatting, which can result in significant financial losses and security risks for property owners. The lack of effective monitoring and surveillance systems makes it challenging to detect and prevent such incidents. This is where Check’In, a cutting-edge alarm system with embedded AI, comes into play.
- The Problem: Squatting in Vacant Premises
- Check’In: An innovative and effective anti-intrusion solution
- Unicil case study
The Problem: Squatting in Vacant Premises
Risks of illegal occupation
According to the Guardian French national statistics, 8.2% of homes in France were vacant in 2023,a figure that has risen by 60% in 30 years.
This vacancy makes these properties particularly vulnerable to the risk of illegal occupation.
This risk is not confined to flats, but also extends to cellars, garages, car parks and building services rooms.
All the common and private areas of flat blocks and condominiums are vulnerable to squatting, which is detrimental to owners, landlords and other residents.
The financial and reputational impact for landlords
First and foremost, squatting represents a risk and a financial cost for the owner or landlord. If there is no legal re-letting, there is no income or rent.
This loss of income is not the only financial impact to be taken into account. Whether it’s a temporary intrusion resulting in damage or a prolonged illegal occupation, this situation will inevitably give rise to :
- restoration costs ;
- potential legal costs.
This impact goes beyond the direct financial aspect and also affects :
- the reputation of the property concerned.
- Landlords’ obligations relating to the security and tranquillity of accommodation.
Limits of traditional alarm systems
Although landlords have an obligation to guarantee the safety and tranquillity of their residences, they must also make reasonable use of the financial investment and time of their teams to secure the premises.
However, in the specific case of vacant homes that need to be protected pending re-letting, this “cost” versus “benefit” balance is complex, and the technical solutions available on the market do not necessarily meet the specific requirements of the situation.
Because vacant premises often mean :
- Temporary security that needs to be put in place, but also quickly uninstalled.
- A home in which service providers and technicians must be able to intervene at any time.
- Access to electricity and Wi-Fi is often limited.
These specific features mean that traditional break-in alarms are sometimes too complex and costly to install in relation to the risks and benefits involved.
Check’In: An innovative and effective anti-intrusion solution
Check’In is the only 100% autonomous break-in alarm on the market, operating without Wi-Fi, electricity or manual activation or deactivation. Thanks to its patented on-board AI technology, integrated into an all-in-one alarm box, the system makes it possible to :
- Detect before a break-in: Its unique embedded AI detects, analyses and distinguishes between “normal” events, such as a technician opening the door, and attempted break-ins in the first few seconds. This unique technology autonomously activates the alarm before an intrusion occurs, and reduces false alarms by a factor of 10.
- Alert in the event of an intrusion: In the event of an intrusion, the system notifies any person identified in your alert scheme (manager, remote supervisors operators, police, etc.) at the same time as the alarm is triggered, enabling you to act quickly in the event of illegal occupation.
Its ease of installation means that 20 times more alarms can be deployed in a single day than with a conventional system.
More than just a break-in alarm, the Check’In system is also a unique solution for centralised monitoring of vacant premises.
The system also enables lessors to monitor openings across the entire fleet in real time. This information is hosted in the secure Artifeel cloud, and accessible via our hypervision tools, the Dashboard pro and the User and Pro Check’In apps.
Unicil case study
Unicil, a social housing company with a long history in the South of France and a subsidiary of the Action Logement Group, provides housing solutions for employees and the most vulnerable, and manages over 30,000 homes.
Unicil’s teams are working to create a new supply of housing that meets the needs of the region, both in terms of new construction and the acquisition and improvement of buildings in need of renovation. In order to eliminate substandard housing and carry out major renovation work, we need to put in place effective anti-squatting solutions.
At Unicil, these initiatives are managed by strong>Sébastien Garcia, Head of the Residential Safety and Tranquillity Division, who reports to the Department of Relations with Residents and Territories.
« We are regularly faced with squatting attempts and the systems traditionally deployed were not entirely satisfactory. They are quite onerous to implement, both in human and financial terms.
We were therefore looking for a solution that was both effective and more agile and simple, to meet the challenges of combating squatting, which led us to deploy Check’In alarm systems on some of our vacant premises. »
The stick & play installation of the Check’In system, with no need for wifi or electrical connections, meets Unicil’s need for flexibility and simplicity.
This simplicity is enhanced by the fact that no activation code is required. Designed to reduce the number of operations required to the bare essentials, the system operates continuously once installed, detecting and analysing every event to distinguish between attempted intrusions and normal events, and acting autonomously accordingly.
« We have already seen how effective the solution is, with an initial intrusion attempt thwarted this last 1st of May !
Following notification of this event, our agent visited the site to confirm the information provided via our mobile application and our fleet tracking dashboard.
Screwdriver blows were made to the lock, attesting to the attempted break-in, but the door was not forced, as our monitoring of events indicated.
Check’In was therefore able to detect and act on our warning system, without us having to intervene, to prevent any squatting.»
Sébastien Garcia, Head of the Residential Safety and Tranquillity Unit, attached to the Department of Relations with Residents and Territories
