Evidence first, repairs afterwards
Repair nothing before the police have been. Marks on the leaf, on the frame and on the strike plate form part of the record. Photograph from several angles, and bring a light: in the Genoese stairwells of the old town, as in the post-war blocks of Saint-Roch, the landing stays dark in broad daylight. Take the door from the landing, the area around the lock, the frame, the splinters on the floor. Then report the offence, and notify your insurer within the period set out in your policy.
In Nice the alert often comes late. A house in Rimiez, a flat in Cimiez or a second home on Mont-Boron may stay shut for months, and it is a neighbour, a caretaker or a maintenance company that finds the door open. If you are far away, ask whoever is there to photograph everything before touching anything, and to put nothing back in place.
In a block of flats, tell the managing agent. When entry was made through the lobby, a service door or the underground car park — a common pattern in the large hillside residences of Fabron and La Californie — the weakness is shared, and reporting it is often what gets it fixed for everyone.
The frame gives way before the lock
In most break-ins seen in older Nice buildings, it is not the mechanism that fails but the timber around the strike plate, levered out. In the Genoese blocks of the old town the frame is bedded into the masonry: the fixing holds, and the rebate splits instead. Fitting a new lock without dealing with that part solves only half the problem, and a second attempt would go through the same place.
Secondary ways in deserve the same attention. Cellars, storerooms and ground-floor commercial units around Riquier and the port, service doors and gates at the Cimiez villas, basements under the hillside residences: these are discreet entry points, very often fitted with older mechanisms than the main door and seldom revisited since construction.
Finally, if keys disappeared during the break-in, changing the cylinder is no longer optional — and that covers the cellar, the letterbox and the basement garage, which hang on the same ring in the Fabron and Saint-Maurice blocks. Temporary securing lets you close the home while the claim progresses.
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 Nice.