Findings first, the door afterwards
Touch nothing before the police have been: the marks on the leaf, the frame and the lock are part of what they record. Photograph from several angles as soon as you can — the door from the landing, the area around the cylinder, the split frame, and the service gate if that is where entry was made.
Report the burglary, then notify your insurer within the period set out in your policy. Keep every part that comes off, drilled cylinder, torn-out lock, pieces of frame: they show what kind of attack it was, and the insurer may ask to see them. Note the reference of the police report as well, since your insurer will want it before opening the file.
Between the findings and the permanent repair, a temporary securing closes the property without erasing what is useful: a stop-gap lock, a keep put back, a broken glazed panel boarded over, an unhinged door blocked. For an owner who is not in Menton all year, this is often the step that matters most. A neighbour, a caretaker or the managing agent can receive the locksmith in your absence, with your written agreement.
Side gates, courtyards and the ways in that get forgotten
In Garavan and on the slopes, walled properties multiply the openings: main gate, service gate, outbuilding door, garden store, the low wall of an old orange grove. With all of that around the house, the intrusion rarely comes through the front door. The low boundary wall and the citrus hedge that keep you out of sight shelter anyone working beneath them just as well.
In the old town it is the geometry that decides. Buildings back into the slope, a neighbouring terrace sits level with a second-floor window, and a vaulted passage gives quiet cover while somebody works on a door. That is what has to be looked at before anything is reinforced.
On the door itself, the frame deserves as much attention as the lock. In old joinery it is not the mechanism that gives way but the timber around the keep, levered out. Fitting a new lock into split timber solves half the problem. If keys have gone missing, the cylinders on the secondary doors are changed as well.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our securing your home after a break-in page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Menton.