Finding yourself locked out the house is always frustrating but hiding a key in the usual places such as under the doormat is risky. This is where a key hider comes in.
Today, I’ll be breaking down some of the smartest ways of making sure you can discreetly and cleverly conceal your keys outside of your property, knowing it would be near impossible for anyone to find. I’ll cover the places you should definitely not hide your keys, as well as some smart alternatives that are much harder to spot.
According to the Office of National Statistics, there were 66,288 robberies recorded between March 2021-2022. This is an 11% increase from the previous year. Robberies are still commonplace in the UK, and it’s vital to make sure you are not an easy target. Burglars are smart, and they realise that a majority of people hide the keys to their home in obvious places. This is how a huge portion of home burglaries happen. Calder Security state that 67% of burglars break in through the door, which is why it’s vital to keep them locked, and make sure the key is in a safe place.
What Is A Key Hider?
A key hider is a broad term used for any kind of product with the intention of concealing keys. These come in all shapes and sizes, and the good ones are almost impossible to spot and very creative. Some of the more common key hiders in the UK include fake garden ornaments with a hidden compartment, fake stones and combination padlocks with a hidden key compartment (my personal favourite).
The idea behind using a key hider is that these objects easily blend in with the outside of a typical British house. having a combination padlock on your back gate is very common, as are stones and garden ornaments in the garden. A well hidden key hider can leave a determined burglar needing to spend hours looking for the key, forcing them to either move on or use another way of getting in. In order of risk (from low to high), the methods of home burglary that criminals use are as follows:
- Opening an unlocked door or window
- Finding / stealing a key and opening the door
- Picking a door lock successfully
- Smashing a window or breaking down a door
By locking all doors and windows and using a good key hider to make sure your house keys are near impossible to find, makes a home burglary far more risky and difficult.
What Are The Best Key Hiders I Can Buy?
There are a load of different offerings when it comes to products designed specifically to hide your keys. It depends on your housing situation as to which item is the most appropriate for you. For example, a garden gnome with a hidden key compartment is going to be far less conspicuous if you live in a second storey flat!
1) Stone Key Hider – Blends Well Into Most Gardens
Firstly, key hiders like this one are designed to imitate a stone. These are great, especially if your garden has a reasonable amount of stones or shrubbery, because you can make them blend into your garden very easily. Unfortunately they do have a more plastic look to them if they are in plain sight in the sun, so my top tip for using a stone key hider is to make sure it’s under other rocks, concealed in soil, or under a bush. Ideally, a mix of all three can look like this:
Admittedly in this photo there is no key hider, but how would you know if there was or not? That’s the clever part with these things!
2) Garden Ornament Key Hider – Best For Busy Gardens
If you don’t fancy your luck with an imitation stone key hider, then a garden ornament with a secret key stash is another potential alternative. These are far less common, which means may burglars are likely to overlook it. If you have a garden with a lot going on, one of these is unlikely to draw any attention to it, let alone draw suspicion that it is being used to hide keys. These are also quite small and therefore easy to hide in a garden. Their dull colouring means concealing it in soil or placing it somewhere dark and out of the way will be very difficult to spot.
Like the stone key holders before, these are also relatively inexpensive, coming in typically at around the £10-15 mark.
3) Padlock With Hidden Key Compartment – Best Key Hider For Small Gardens / Apartments
A padlock with a key holder such as this is arguably more obvious, but also devilishly difficult to open without a code. Unlike the other key hiders on the market, You will need a combination to access the keys inside of the padlock. If you’re more of a worst-case-scenario planner and you are assuming that the keys will in fact get found, then the best option for you is to at least lock them up.
I would recommend locking something with it, rather than hanging it next to your door. This is because it is far more likely to be mistaken for just a normal combination lock than a key safe. These are also inexpensive but will probably set you back a little more than the stone key hiders, since they have a working lock mechanism unlike the garden ornament key stores.
These are probably the most appropriate key hiders for those with smaller gardens, or perhaps no garden. If you can’t easily conceal a stone or ornament, then a padlock with a key compartment will make your keys much harder to get to than just leaving them under the doormat.
Where to Avoid Hiding Your House Keys
Now that we’ve covered some of the best ways to hide your keys using creative key hiders, lets look at some definite no-no’s for where to hide your keys. These spots I’m about to mention are the first places that burglars will look to see if they can find a set of house keys outside of your property.
1) Don’t Put Your Keys Under The Doormat
Please, don’t put your keys under the door mat. I know it’s simple, quick and easy but trust me – burglars are people too and they know that it’s one of the most common places that people hide a set of keys. It simply isn’t worth the risk. If you leave your keys under the doormat, you may as well leave your front door unlocked because it will only take about 5 seconds longer for a burglar to get in.
2) The Plant Pot Next To The Door – NO!
Under or in the plant pot next to your front door is the second place a burglar is probably going to look. Hiding your keys here will add perhaps another 5 seconds to the time it takes them to find your keys, and only the laziest, least intelligent burglars would ever possibly overlook that.
3) Don’t Keep Your Keys In A Mailbox
These are less common in the UK, but we do have them, especially in more rural areas. If you have a post-box outside of your house for letters, there’s a very good chance burglars will take a quick check to see if keys are in there. again, this is a definite no-no when looking to hide your keys outside of your house.
4) A Poorly Placed Fake Stone – Don’t Make It Too Obvious
The fake stone key hider is a fantastic tool, if you hide the stone well. If your garden has no stones and it isn’t in the dark, covered by soil, it will be super obvious to burglars. The best way to make sure no one you don’t know ever finds your key is to use a key hider, and hide it well. It sort of defeats the point of hiding your key if you put the key hider somewhere super obvious.
Conclusion – Key Hiders Are Brilliant, As Long As You Hide Them Well
A key hider is one of the best investments you can make if you need to leave a spare key outside the house. The important step to take is not to be lazy with where you hide it though, as burglars are getting smarter and smarter. If you want to stay a couple of steps ahead, you want to hide it so well that even you find it tricky to spot! If you want to test your hiding spot, ask a friend or family member to try and hunt it out.
Thank you for reading, I hope you have found this helpful if you are looking for an ingenious way to hide your house key. If you’re looking to improve your security, take a look at our article on how to protect yourself from keyless car theft.