25-point self-check

Walk your property like a stranger.

This free check is designed for rural homes, farms, smallholdings, estates and community premises in England. It does not ask whether you own expensive equipment; it asks whether the basics work together.

1. Approach, boundaries and access

1. Can you tell where people and vehicles are supposed to enter the property?

2. Are weak, hidden or seldom-used gates and boundary gaps checked and maintained?

3. Would you normally know that an unfamiliar vehicle had entered a long or concealed driveway before it reached key buildings?

4. Are gates, barriers or access controls used consistently rather than left open out of habit?

5. Can emergency services still reach the property quickly when normal security measures are in place?

2. Buildings, keys and people

6. Are external doors, accessible windows and outbuilding doors structurally sound and properly secured?

7. Are working, spare and master keys kept away from obvious locations and away from the assets they control?

8. Can you account for important building, gate, vehicle and machinery keys?

9. Are contractor, seasonal-worker, volunteer or former-user keys, codes and app permissions removed when access ends?

10. Do household members, staff or volunteers know what to do if a key, fob or access code is lost?

3. Machinery, tools, fuel and other valuable assets

11. Are the assets that would cause the greatest disruption if stolen clearly identified?

12. Do high-value or easily moved items have more than one independent layer of protection?

13. Are quads, machinery, trailers, tools, tack or similar assets stored so they cannot be quickly started, rolled, towed or loaded?

14. Are heating oil, diesel or other fuel stores protected against easy vehicle access, tampering and unauthorised draw-off?

15. Could you provide police and an insurer with serial numbers, photographs and distinguishing details of priority assets within a few minutes?

4. Detection, lighting, alarms and CCTV

16. Does lighting help you see entrances and activity without creating severe glare or deep shadow?

17. Are alarms, driveway alerts and sensors tested rather than simply assumed to work?

18. Is there a clear and safe response when an alarm or approach alert activates?

19. If you use CCTV, can it produce useful day and night images of the people or vehicles you actually need to identify?

20. Can authorised users quickly find, play back and export relevant CCTV or alert records after an incident?

5. Preparedness, response and community resilience

21. Do you have realistic plans for a prolonged power cut affecting lighting, heating, pumps, gates, alarms or communications?

22. Is a basic first-aid kit available and do people know how to summon help and guide emergency services to the property?

23. If mobile or broadband service failed, is there a realistic alternative way to communicate or seek help?

24. Do trusted neighbours, family, staff or community contacts know how to report genuinely suspicious activity without confronting people?

25. Is security reviewed after incidents, building work, new equipment, staffing changes or other major changes to the property?

Your self-check

Your results

What to do next

This score is a prompt, not a review result. Use the gaps to decide where to look first, then record site-specific risks and actions in the full assessment.

Download full risk assessment Open practical guides

Important: This is a practical self-check for rural properties in England, not a formal security risk assessment. It cannot assess local crime patterns, safeguarding, fire safety, structural condition, insurance terms or every site-specific hazard. Do not confront suspicious people. Call 999 where a crime or emergency is in progress or somebody is in immediate danger; use 101 or your local police online reporting service for non-emergencies.