seasideman

My wife wanted to move to Costa Blanca but now she is having second thoughts have reading some articles

The articles she has read are from a site on Spain, and the articles say that Costa Blanca have a serious burglary problem. According to the stories that people have told on the site, it is common practice.

One person says that homes are gassed to send you to sleep while they rob you, another one says they kill the dog to get into your home, and another one there have been cases of people being tied up. Another person said she knows someone who has been burgled three times while someone else has said she does not know anyone who has not been burgled.

This has now put the brakes on our move because my wife is worried. We live in an area in the UK where crime is low and burglary is very low. If we were burgled in Spain it would put my wife in hospital, especially if we were victims of this gassing lots of people are talking about.

The areas we were thinking of moving to were albera, benidorm, alfaz

I would like to hear people's honest opinons on this

Longlegpete

Blimey, I'm sitting here by my pool in the sun on the Costa Blanca and all this is going on around me, must have missed it!, seriously though crime can be a problem and will be worse in some areas than others but i can't say it's worst than in the UK.

Talk can get out of hand, i have a shop in the UK, one of our customers came back from 12 years in Spain, he didn't know I have a place only 10km down from where he was but was saying about some people getting burgled etc, never happened to him but lots of talk in the bar's, he was back in the UK for 6 months before he was broken into, take the necessary precautions and you should be ok

seasideman

Thank you for this. I am looking for honest replies, which you have given me. Some people pretend it does not go on. Can I ask what part of Costa Blanca you are in. We are looking to move to move to the Costa Blanca but we have some set requirements

I know Benidorm very well but not the areas surrounding it. We are looking to be within ten minutes of Benidorm. Would like to be for my wife within 4 minutes walk of the beach and near all services. A list she has put together is Benidorm, Albir, and Alfaz. Our budget is 550 euros a month and we are looking for two bedrooms.

She has been really excited about moving and the main reason we are moving is so she can retire early. But, this with what we have read has put her off, and if she got burgled then it would seriously affect her.

So, trying to find out if all this is true, if people do get burgled and if the stories here Moving Back to England from Spain and I Hate Spain - I Hate Living in Spain & The Spanish...

The stories that have worried her as well are the stories that people will kill dogs. We have a dog we would be taking with us and would not want to put her at risk. And, as mentioned the gassing while you are alseep is worrying her.

Any advice would be great

VFR

From anything that I have read the only people who have been gassed are those trying to make a fraudulent insurance claim.
These were all gassed via the aircon (so reported) where this is an impossibility as the air that the aircon uses is the same air that is in the house already (it is not taken from the outside like a car)

johnnyone

If you are going to be only a few minutes walk from the beach then you are likely to be in a relatively built up area. I do believe most break in burglaries are in more isolated areas although even then I doubt if the risk is any greater than the UK.
As others have said take sensible/normal precautions and you should be ok.

seasideman

To help me out. As this has put a huge spanner in my dream, can people also mention what area they are living in, as this would help a lot. We are moving from the UK due to my wife health problems. She needs to retire early. She has the early stages of C O P D, and has been told spain would be a much better enviroment for her and would stop it from developing. In the UK she is suffering due to the cold weather and through working.

When we move, we will be living on one wage, hence the 550 euro budget and will be living on £1,600 a month, which will be scary. So the more information on the level of burglary in the different areas would help me out a lot

seasideman

Would be great if people can read those links and give me their opinion

mikelincs

OK, we lived in Spain, on the Costa Blanca for 5 years, and never had any problems with burglaries, neither did we have any problems with getting gassed, But we did hear stories, and these stories were the usual,, well I heard that somewhere..... As has already been pointed out it's impossible to be gassed through the aircon as there is no connection with the outside air. The only first hand problem we heard about, and yes we did know the couple, was an incident where the people had got in through an unlocked and open balcony door and went down the stairs looking for something to steal, they got nothing. We never felt worried but just did take normal precautions, lock all doors, never leave the house with windows open when you are not around, just as you would do in the UK. I was burgled 3 times in the UK, never in Spain.

mikelincs

They seem to be the normal exagerrated stories from people who have/had a gripe about where they are livng, and remember that a story about nothing happening is unlikely to be published, but one that gives a skewed opinion willm as it's good for circulation and will ensure that the article, and more importantly, the adverts are read by a lot of people. The Daily Mail in the UK comes to mind in a similar way.

VFR

Seasideman I think that your wife's concerns really mean that she is not keen on the move to Spain (being serious)
IMO if the wife shows the slightest doubt then stay where you are !

tebo53

Jeez, better get back to the UK!! Where it's virtually crime free. Never realised that all the gassing was going on 😈

chrisjolly

There are burglaries everywhere in the world..so it seems to me that your wife just doesnt want to go. Its not unusual to have doubts about a big move so why dont you just rent for a few weeks and see how you get on. Good luck

Fred James

You could get a burglar alarm system connected to a monitoring centre. With internal and perimeter alarms with built in cameras and big signs outside it is unlikely that you would be targeted - they tend to go to the unprotected houses.

At least that would give your wife some sense of security.

A couple of Rottweilers are a cheaper alternative!

amideislas

I heard there was a burglary somewhere on Mallorca (no alleged gassing, just a normal one). Never heard of one in my neighbourhood, but just to be safe, I started looking at alternative places to live.

Checked the UK.. also burglaries, lots of them. Non-starter.
France? Nope. They got 'em too.
Germany? No shortage
Italy? You kidding?
Austria. There too.
Belgium? Google results are in the millions
Netherlands - they got 'em too...
Denmark - oddly one of the burglary capitals
Sweden - right up there with Denmark
Norway - not much different

Anyway, I got tired of that, and started searching for the country with the lowest number of Burglaries. It turns out Burma has none - so I'm upping sticks.

Mitzyboy

In 8 years we had a home in the CB North we werent burgled, mugged or beaten up

Our house had a burglar alarm, we were never touched. Yes, we heard of burglaries in the area. Nothing really different to the UK to be honest. The trick, as with anywhere else, is to have security such as a burglar alarm and the normal bars at the windows as well as the metal security front doors which are normal on newer houses.

I think the gassing thing started years ago down in the CDS, but it's not something I ever heard about in our area

I think your wife might just be suffering from fear of the unknown