Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to leave the house unlocked when my husband is out late?

223 replies

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 22:50

AIBU to go to bed and leave the house unlocked?

I always do this when DH is out late, figure the dog will bark if anyone enters but my friend is horrified!

OP posts:
Shinyandnew1 · 22/04/2026 23:23

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 22:55

I mean, there’s one in the keystore thing but no he won’t carry one as we always do this!

Show quote history

If you ‘always’ do this, why the sudden need to post and ask?!

PropertyD · 22/04/2026 23:20

Late teens. The idiots didn’t care. They rampaged through the house and didn’t want any noise

pontefractals · 22/04/2026 23:20

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:03

No obviously if one of us goes out and then the other one goes, the last one out would lock the door.

Show quote history

What happens if the first person to go out is also the first person to get back? Wouldn't they be stuck outside waiting for a grown-up to arrive with keys?

vodkaredbullgirl · 22/04/2026 23:18

Madness

Likeabirdjoyfully · 22/04/2026 23:16

PropertyD · 22/04/2026 23:08

Our neighbours in our last house were burgled. The thieves threw a Mars Bar into a room and then locked the dog in there. Neighbours weren’t in btw

That is awful. Chocolate is toxic to dogs. What sort of people were these burglars?

ToKittyornottoKitty · 22/04/2026 23:16

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:06

lol ok fair enough, I’m mad! Going to sleep now so will update in the morning if I’ve not been battered in my sleep!

Pretty grim joke given how common home intrusion is, and violence against women in these situations. Nobody thinks it will happen to them.

Likeabirdjoyfully · 22/04/2026 23:16

Seems unnecessarily risk-taking. It's not hard to lock the door or to put a key in your pocket when you are out. Give the dog a break!

Tortephant · 22/04/2026 23:15

If you are renting you will get on breach of your tenancy agreement. If you own your home then you will be invalidating your building and contents insurance. And your car insurance.
this totally feels like a fake post to me.

Lemonfrost · 22/04/2026 23:14

MissMoneyFairy · 22/04/2026 23:11

There's nothing to update, you seem happy with the arrangement.

Show quote history

Yes, it all seems a bit pointless and 'look at me' doesn't it? It's a bit like driving without a seatbelt on the basis that nothing bad has happened so far.

Iwiicit · 22/04/2026 23:14

I doubt you'd be so careless if you were to wake up in the darkness and could vaguely make out the outline of a male intruder staring down at you in the bed.

MissMoneyFairy · 22/04/2026 23:11

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:06

lol ok fair enough, I’m mad! Going to sleep now so will update in the morning if I’ve not been battered in my sleep!

There's nothing to update, you seem happy with the arrangement.

PropertyD · 22/04/2026 23:10

Burglary during the day is completely different to one at night where the scum bags know you are in.

PropertyD · 22/04/2026 23:08

Our neighbours in our last house were burgled. The thieves threw a Mars Bar into a room and then locked the dog in there. Neighbours weren’t in btw

Rubbleonthedouble2 · 22/04/2026 23:07

What the fuck is wrong with you? Seriously. You come across like you relish the risk. It's unsettling.

If someone was going to burgle a house they'll be prepared for various eventualities, including dogs, and could well kill the poor animal.

PacificState · 22/04/2026 23:07

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:04

Just normal handle doors. Turn a key to lock them. Use the handle to open them.

Show quote history

Thanks. For what it’s worth, I think you can do what you like but I agree determined burglars might do something awful to a dog.

GuineaPigWig · 22/04/2026 23:06

Where abouts do you live that this might be considered normal?

Original poster
PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:06

lol ok fair enough, I’m mad! Going to sleep now so will update in the morning if I’ve not been battered in my sleep!

OP posts:
FreddysFingers · 22/04/2026 23:06

I would lock the doors personally, you never know in this day and age.

tokennamechange · 22/04/2026 23:06

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:01

No because if anybody entered the house, the dog would bark so loudly I’d be up anyway.

Show quote history

And then what would you do? How would you, a lone woman, being 'up' protect you against several men who have decided to rob your house or worse? You can't expect the dog to fight them all off! What if it's someone the dog knows? Or they chuck a nice sedative enhanced steak to the dog first? Or they have a gun and shoot the dog? Or manage to shut him in one room? All quite unlikely, yes, but so are any burglaries on the scale of things.

It just seems mental to me. Potential negative consequences to not locking the house = absolutely massive, if unlikely. Potential negative consequences to you/DH taking a tiny key with you - literally none?

onevision · 22/04/2026 23:05

PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:01

No because if anybody entered the house, the dog would bark so loudly I’d be up anyway.

Show quote history

And by the time you've got downstairs, they'll have grabbed your car keys and gone. They're very often the target of a burglary. It's not hard to get what you want quickly if you're a practised thief so I'd try the traditional option of locking the door.

Tortephant · 22/04/2026 23:05

OP, are you bored? Have you posted this for something to do?

Ireolu · 22/04/2026 23:05

Why would you want an intruder to get past the front door anyways? You can mitigate that by locking the door so there's no need for the dog to bark.

I have locked myself out of the house in the past and the ease of people letting themselves in was shocking enough to make me mindful of locking at every given opportunity.

Original poster
PurpleLovecats · 22/04/2026 23:04

PacificState · 22/04/2026 23:03

Our front door cannot be opened at all without a key so I’m really confused. Even Yale locks have latches don’t they? Is your door just flapping open?

Just normal handle doors. Turn a key to lock them. Use the handle to open them.

OP posts:
PropertyD · 22/04/2026 23:04

Quite honestly anyone breaking in at night will either have a Mars Bar to throw to the dog or worse aggressively disarm the barking. I won’t say what a burglar did to my Mums neighbour’s dog but the dog was never the same again.

Please don’t do this.

Shinyandnew1 · 22/04/2026 23:04

Our front door locks when you close it so you can’t get in from the outside without a key, so each of us has a key and takes it with when we are out. I wouldn’t want an unlocked house, no.