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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To no the lock my door?

284 replies

FutureMrsRanj · 08/02/2017 23:34

Imagine this has been done to death but have just seen another thread where the op is being to,d to lock her door, is this normal? In the day? I don't think I know any door lockers but maybe I should start in case of burglars, I did wonder when reading a thread this evening as DC were asleep upstairs and I don't think I would hear from sitting room if someone quietly wandered in through front door, ddog would either greet them enthusiastically or carry on snoring

OP posts:
SecondsLeft · 09/02/2017 21:39

We didn't use to lock them until 10 pm ish, until we were burgled the first time, now it is rarely ever unlocked. A good compromise is one of those contact door alarms that chimes when the door is opened. On the one hand, its nice not to worry, on the other hand, once its happened, you realise this is a bit naive...and you are then stuck with the feeling of insecurity and vulnerability. We lock the back and side gate too, on advice of police.

LolDeLol · 09/02/2017 21:43

PigInBoots
OP are you in the UK?
I only ask as you mention 'larceny' which hasn't been an offence here for decades

I think it was Narkys policy and not the OPs policy that covered 'larceny'.
I might be wrong though as I can't be bothered to check. I was a bit Shock to see the word larceny used but she did say it was an old policy 😂

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 09/02/2017 21:43

I don't think anyone on this has claimed to have policy that says that

They are claiming that there is no way anyones insurance will pay out (even when told of peoples actual experiences to the contrary!) if the doors are not locked, which amounts to the same thing.

Some seem fixated on this idea of "reasonable precautions" which they (not the insurance policy) define as doors locked at all times. Many of us disagree that this is a reasonable precaution, and it seems some insurance policies agree.

I don't know why I got a hard time either, all I've said is that people have different situations and there is no one size fits all approach to these things. Which is the truth. Smile

SecondsLeft · 09/02/2017 21:44

Oh, and the insurance wouldn't pay out, but their reason was not that the door was open, it was that the item stolen was a sat nav (he was chased off before he got anything else, and dropped a bag of other stuff when he ran) and therefore should have been in the car (it was connected to our computer, uploading maps, as we had just bought it...) . We have window alarms too. The second burglary they broke the bathroom window.

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 09/02/2017 21:46

One of the issues with unlocked front doors is also car theft - a burglar takes two steps into the hallway, lifts the bunch of keys from the side table/key rack, and then drives the family car off the drive. No-one in the house is any the wiser until they hear the car firing up

Not if you don't leave the keys in the hallway. OR you have gates that are locked. Or you are able to see the drive/door from wherever you are. Or if you are down a private lane and can spot strangers a mile off. Or.....

Frillyhorseyknickers · 09/02/2017 21:50

Who are these people who have only ever seen one type of door lock before? 😂😂

My front door is 150year old solid oak. It has two large mortise locks and no plastic fantastic shitty Yale lock - it would ruin the look a bit...

Original poster
FutureMrsRanj · 09/02/2017 21:52

Narky I think it may be because people fail to see things from another POV at times. The advice does apply to me for the most part though as where I live is relatively safe but crime is not unheard of and an opportunist might be passing although unlikely either way, I don't have the set up you do and from what you e said I don't think I'd lock your doors either

OP posts:
piginboots · 09/02/2017 21:57

Ah OK thanks LolDeLol

LolDeLol · 09/02/2017 22:06

Hopefully we can all agree that it's a good dea to carefully check the requirements of your own home contents insurance policies.

The reason I know so much about my own policy is that I didn't fully understand the wording so got the insurance company to confirm a few things (in writing). Once you have the facts you can then make informed choices about how cautious or not cautious you are about home security.

SharkBrilliant · 09/02/2017 22:26

One of our neighbours had his car stolen when someone opened his unlocked patio doors and picked up his keys while he was having 40 winks on the sofa. (Ground floor apartment with big, windowed french doors in the living room)

There's a lot of cheeky fuckers out there.

Iamastonished · 09/02/2017 22:37

Stealing car keys is the crime of choice round here.

TwentyCups · 09/02/2017 22:51

I can't urge people enough to lock doors. It really doesn't matter what your set up is.

The heart stopping moment when you open your eyes to find a stranger stood looking at you in bed is terrifying. Why take any unnecessary risk which could lead to this happening to you?

karmassidekick · 09/02/2017 22:51

I always lock my door and leave the key in so we can get out quickly if we need to.
I've been burgled in a previous house and its a horrible experience.
I've also heard of people being burgled from the front whilst they're in their gardens in summer.
Once I was staying at a friends and they always kept doors unlocked, a drunk man came wondering in at midnight, he didn't want to steal anything but he was lost confused and upset, lucky one of the friends was up gaming downstairs and handled him really well and got rid of him..

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 09/02/2017 22:53

People who lock the door and leave the key in, do you not have other people who might need to access the door from the outside with the key? Like a spouse?

karmassidekick · 09/02/2017 22:56

I'm a single parent so no one else needs access. But you can pull the key out a little bit so it's in the lock but other people can get their key in.
I hate the thought of fumbling with keys as the house burns down more than the thought of being burgled tbh

mathanxiety · 09/02/2017 23:10

Flowers Natsku.
I went through a similar experience and I think that is partly why I do not lock mine much now. It's a way of telling myself I have got through all of that.

CHJR - Michael Moore should have filmed in my neck of the American woods. I love Michael Moore's work, but I think he stretched things a bit to make that point.

peggyundercrackers · 09/02/2017 23:20

We don't lock our doors until the last person goes to bed, sometimes 2 or 3 in the morning. In my last house when I lived alone I didn't lock the door unless I went out, the building had secure entry on it so no need to lock the doors, even at night. We don't get a lot of crime where I live, I've left my car running on the street for over an hour when I was in the house and no one touched it - the house isn't even near the street, it's a good 50 meters away and you can't even see the street from the house, I've left my laptop on the top of the bin next to the street and no one took it even though it was there all day, we regularly leave cars open all night and no one touches them. Horses for courses really...

selfishcrab · 09/02/2017 23:34

When they took my keys they had to walk through my hallway and go into the second part of the kitchen, police said I'd been watched (single parent) and for the man to know where I put my keys he would have had to have been at the back of the house to look through the windows!
Where I live now is odd there are 2 roads/streets in one very small strip, 4 houses in each bit. So there are 2 number 1's etc, when we first moved my SIL was coming for Christmas dinner, knocked our door but had no reply, went through the back gate, walked in through the patio doors and started singing a Christmas carol, she is very loud! Only for the family at the other number on the other bit of street to be sat there eating their Christmas dinner staring at her.

SheSaidNoFuckThat · 10/02/2017 00:05

When I made the comment about the doors Locking themselves after a certain amount of time and invalidated insurance policies I was referring to those that didn't lock their cars, not their houses

LunaLoveg00d · 10/02/2017 08:18

Amazed at all the people who are so familiar with the terms and conditions of their insurance policies. Especially as studies show that something like 75% never read terms and conditions and just tick the box to say they have.

This "reasonable precautions" thing is a legal term and a get out clause for the insurers. What is "reasonable" living like one poster does up a farm track 5 miles from the nearest neighbour would not be "reasonable" to someone living on an inner-city estate with the highest crime stats in the UK. Personally, I think in my circumstances, in my area, and what I know about the local area and my neighbours, locking doors at all times when you're in the house is not reasonable. It's way OTT. I have been living here 10 years and have never heard of anyone having someone just breeze into your house in broad daylight when the house is occupied. At night yes, which is why we lock doors when we go to bed.

Also a bit Hmm at people who can't comprehend anything beyond a Yale lock which do have the advantage of automatic locking your door as you enter the house (if you think that level of security is an advantage) but which makes the door very easy to kick in if it's the only sort of lock you have on the door.

There is lots people can do to make their houses safer rather than treat them like a prison cell - cut back overgrown vegetation, working lights, gravel/stone chips so anyone approaching the house is heard, etc etc etc.

museumum · 10/02/2017 08:27

My policy says entry has to be by force or deception.

But elsewhere it says the door must be locked overnight.
That sentence implies it does not have to be locked all day if we're in.

BarbaraofSeville · 10/02/2017 08:29

What is "reasonable" living like one poster does up a farm track 5 miles from the nearest neighbour would not be "reasonable" to someone living on an inner-city estate with the highest crime stats in the UK

Maybe that's how it's supposed to work? They don't bother looking at what is reasonable until a claim is made. Then the insurance company would review the circumstances before deciding to pay out?

Someone who lives on a remote Scottish Island where there are three crimes a year and two of those are drink drivers knocking over their own sheep and they would pay out, but not for those living on the inner city estate who have been repeatedly told by the police about the risks of sneak in burglaries (I live on the outskirts of a large city so somewhere in the middle of the risk profile and our local police force have posters in supermarkets and community notice boards, articles in local newspapers, leaflet drops to homes, facebook/twitter feeds etc etc warning about spates of such crimes). You would have to pay absolutely no attention to anything at all to not notice them.

AQuietMind · 10/02/2017 08:41

I never lock my doors during the day, I live rural and work from home, I am here alone most of the time. My office is at the back of the house so I can not see if anyone is coming to the door, I do however have a gravel drive so I can 'most of the time' hear people arriving.

I have a lot of deliveries and also collections from couriers through the day, They are all regular drivers who I see often, I leave my collections close to the front door and my courier will just walk in and collect them.
Even RM just open the door and leave any deliveries which won't fit through the letterbox.

It would be an absolute pain to constantly be locking my door throughout the day.

LunaLoveg00d · 10/02/2017 08:46

Maybe that's how it's supposed to work? They don't bother looking at what is reasonable until a claim is made. Then the insurance company would review the circumstances before deciding to pay out

Totally agree - so why are some posters so horrified and aghast that some of us are quite happy to sit in the house during the day with the door unlocked? And my decision to do so isn't because i'm fully conversant with the ins and outs of my insurance policy, it's because I feel safe and don't see any risk in leaving doors unlocked when I'm in.

Thinkingblonde · 10/02/2017 09:01

My doors don't lock on closing, they are mortice locks which need a key to lock and unlock.
The type that lock are Yale locks, I am not too keen on these as it's all too easy to lock yourself out if you forget to put the latch on to stop it locking.

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