front door has to be locked with a key

[NoahVale]

we had a new lock fitted, since the spring was broken and it had broken in the past.
they didnt have correct fitting but did use the one they had, it is obviously not intended for a front door, it is white for a start

but mainly you need to lock it with a key. DD noticed, luckily. Otherwise we were unaware. You can let yourself in from the outside.
We dont like this.
Obviously it means to go out you have to physically lock the door, not a bad idea since it ensures you never go out without a key. but we arent used to this and when we are home in the day/evening we would also have to physically lock, from the inside.
I complained that it wasnt safe as i think in a fire/emergency you would have to find your key to get out of the house.
AIBU

ok, I will listen to pinksquash firefighter husband. who should know! I will tell DS, who admittedly is a lot better now he is working at letting us know whether he is coming home or not

Our door has a turn handle on the inside, so you twist to lock at night and unlock in the morning - and you need a key to lock from the outside.

Feels safer than leaving keys in, or worry about keys not being there.

I put a command hook high up on the wall next to the front and back doors, and hung a (spare) key on each. That was because I got scared after reading threads on here about being trapped in a fire. I do tend to leave my main set in the door now, because my ex has a key (for "emergencies") and has been a little liberal in his use of it...

I have one but we don't have a letterbox. It is better than having a yale lock you just need a hook out of reach of the letterbox.

I've never had one of these and would never choose to (never locked myself out either). We had a new front door a few years ago and specifically asked for the self-locking sort but the need a key sort do seem to be very normal now, so I don't think you'd get far asking for it to be changed.

our previous one was like yours Sally

Although you didnt need to actually lift the handle as it was locked anyway, but it was a sort of safter precaution

We live in a Georgian house and have one of these, so they're not a new thing. I was told by the fire brigade (as above) to leave a key in at night, but the idea of a hook in the adjacent wall is a good one to avoid locking out your older waifs and strays! Our letterbox is vertical and higher up so the key couldn't be hooked out by a burglar.

safer

We have door jammers on iur front door that locks like this. It means no one can get in but we just drop them in the day rather than leaving the key in the door.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00DIBSD7A/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1449997476&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=door+jammers&dpPl=1&dpID=41TmjiUQaeL&ref=plSrch
They are easy to fit but you need to check the width of your wall next to the door first.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that the Yale style locks aren't 5 lever mortice locks that insurance companies prefer people to have.

"but the idea of a hook in the adjacent wall is a good one to avoid locking out your older waifs and strays"

We still leave the key in the lock, but pulled out slightly so that you can get a key in from the outside.

Problem is with the dd's, who will just go out of the house and not lock it behind them, that is if they remember their keys.
will have to drum that into them if they leave the house unattended.

You should NOT be able to let yourself in from outside without a key. Decent quality UPVC doors do not allow you to do this.
If you have a letterbox don't leve the key in the lock, burglers WILL get in this way.
Do as others have suggested and leave the key in a safe place overnight, well away from the letterbox if you have one.

We had a new door fitted last year and specified the lock to be one that can't be opened without a key from the outside. You can change the lock and handle to be that way too.

We had a spate of burglaries local to us where they had used some kind of device to reach the keys left inside the lock or hanging near.
Our door has a similar lock, so we lock from the inside and we have a key on a hook just inside the coat cupboard adjacent - it is hung low enough for the kids to reach. We practice fire drills regularly where they have to unlock the door themselves - even the little one. They are not allowed to touch the key otherwise. If we have guests staying they are also told about the key.

"If you have a letterbox don't leve the key in the lock, burglers WILL get in this way."

That piece of advice goes against everything the fire service advise.

This is the first house I've lived in with a front door you have to remember to lock when you go out. Since starting Airbnb we have changed the barrel to one with a knob on the inside so that in an emergency we can can get out without the need for a key and we don't have to give the guest one. Before that we just left a key in the lock while we were in. And the door is unlocked during the day anyway.

After going out without my keys a couple of times in the early days and not being able to get back in because the other person in the house also went out and locked up behind themselves I am now paranoid about having my keys with me at all times!

Most houses I've lived in, including our current house, have door locks like this.

We put a hook up on the wall (out of sight of the door so burglars can't see it through the letterbox) and hang a set of door keys from that.

Our back door doesn't have a letterbox, so we leave the keys in that all the time.

Ours is exactly the same. At night a spare key is kept on a small table near the door but on a bottom shelf so hopefully out of reach from letter box

Bun- it's a common thing, Police advise one thing, fire service advise another. You need to work out if the key is visible from the outside or through the letter box, if it is have somewhere safe but out of sight to have them. It's not so much of an issue of the keys are not visible at all.

There is a combination of both for the advice. Leave key in lock, but turn it a quarter. It will be there if there is a fire, but it is very tricky/virtually impossible to remove from the lock by reaching through the letterbox. This was the advice I was given by the police.

My last 2 houses have locks like that. We always lock the door from the inside then hang the keys up on a hook inside a cupboard. My DB is a Fireman. He has never mentioned this to me. I know exactly where the key is in an emergency.

Another one who thinks this is normal.

We usually leave key in the lock, or if DH is out I leave it on the stairs (directly behind the door). Our back door is the same and we just leave a key in it permanently.