Villas and urbanisations
Pulled shut is not locked: what 84 break-ins in Xàbia teach about the latch
In April 2025 the Guardia Civil arrested two men accused of 84 burglaries in homes in Xàbia. The investigation had begun in July 2024, after officers noticed a rise in break-ins at both main and second homes. According to the reports, the men picked houses whose owners were away for a while, and they got in by what Spanish police call the resbalón, the slip: easing back the latch of a door that had been pulled shut but not locked with the key.
No broken glass, no splintered frame. That is what makes the method worth understanding.
Two ways a door can be “shut”
Most front doors have two separate things holding them closed.
- The latch is the angled tongue that clicks into the frame when you pull the door to. It is held out by a spring, and its sloping face is what lets the door close without a key. It also means it can be pushed back.
- The bolt (or bolts, on a multipoint or armoured door) only comes out when you turn the key. It is square, it does not slope, and pushing on it does nothing.
A door that is only pulled shut is held by the latch alone. Slide something thin and stiff between the door and the frame at the right height, press on the sloping face, and the latch goes back as if the handle had been turned. A strip of plastic is enough on many doors.
Why it works so well on holiday homes
In the 2021 census, 14,997 of Xàbia’s 26,817 homes were not anyone’s main residence. A house used for a few weeks at a time is often left by people in a hurry: a car to pack, a flight to catch, a door pulled to on the way out. The neighbours are often away too. A slipped latch leaves the door looking exactly as it did, so nobody notices anything until the owners come back.
The habit that costs nothing
Turn the key every time, even for half an hour at the beach. Once the bolt is out, the latch no longer matters. If guests or family use the house, put it in the house notes in plain words: pulling the door shut does not lock it.
The parts that close the gap
When the habit is not enough (a let with changing guests, a door that is fiddly to lock), the door itself can be changed:
- An anti-slip latch, with a small second plunger that locks the main latch when the door is closed, so it cannot be pushed back from outside.
- A latch guard, a metal plate over the gap at the latch, so nothing can be slid in.
- A lock that throws its bolt automatically when the door closes, on some models of armoured and multipoint door.
None of these replaces a decent cylinder, which is the other quiet way in. If the cylinder stands proud of the door, or the key has been in many hands, look at changing the locks on the front door at the same time.
If you think it has already happened
Do not tidy up. Ring the Guardia Civil (062) or 112, and photograph the door and the room before anything is moved. Then have the door made to lock that night. A slipped door often shows no damage at all, so tell the police if you are sure you left it only pulled shut: it is useful to them.
Owners who have just lost track of who holds a key face a related problem, covered in what to do when your key holder moves back to the UK. And houses in the port, whose doors open straight onto the street, are the subject of a ground-floor door in Duanes de la Mar.