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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:
BlahBlahBlahEtc · 09/02/2017 09:35

I lock the door during the day but I live in a dodgy area and people have been known, especially recently, to be violently breaking into peoples houses whilst they're in , sometimes as early as 11am. If I lived somewhere else however, I wouldnt lock the door, no.

Foxysoxy01 · 09/02/2017 09:41

We have an automatic lock front door, but really stupidly the lock on our back door is broken and has been for a very long time!

So our back door is not locked at all day or night, if we are in or out Blush

It's really bad but not quite as stupid as it sounds as we are a terrace house with very tall fence and neighbors that are on shift work so around odd times.

Really need to get a new door though Blush

MyHairNeedsASnip · 09/02/2017 09:43

I lock. I wouldn't like to look up and see someone in a balaclava in my doorway. Low risk, high stakes.

UghUgh · 09/02/2017 09:45

Narky
It would be unusual to find a policy that specifically says you must lock your doors when you are in, actually. I think you are taking the term "reasonable precautions" to mean what you think it must without any proof that it does. It's a vague term. It means different things depending on set up

I agree with this and I've not suggested a policy would specifically state you have to lock your doors when you are in. However, I'm confident in saying that most (a lot?) insurance companies would not cover you if you left the door unlocked and you were burgled. Mine definitely won't.

I just think it's one of those things that people should double check with their insurance company if they are in the habit of leaving their doors unlocked.

user892 · 09/02/2017 09:49

For all those saying that they don't need to lock their doors when they're in, because they have big barky dogs... Couldn't a determined burglar just throw them some food? Or is that just a movie thing?

steppemum · 09/02/2017 09:49

the insurance thing-
if your were burgled, one of the first questions is about how they obtained access.
If it is not forced entry, because they just walked in, the claim may not be processed in the way you would like!

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 09/02/2017 09:52

Just lock it. It's free

I don't want it locked though, is the point!

Don't any of you have children that play outside, in the front garden, on the green, in the fields, whatever? Do you lock them outside? Or do you get up every single time they come in and out?

sopsmum · 09/02/2017 09:59

My door locks itself when I shut it. I don't deadlock until we go to bed. Don't most people have doors that lock when shut?

OnHold · 09/02/2017 10:01

When my kids played out, they were in and put all day. The door stayed unlocked.

Friends and family just walk in my house. I know that's not approved of on MN though

KondosSecretJunkRoom · 09/02/2017 10:01

I hardly ever lock the door when we are in. I'd rather be able to get out quickly in a fire. It takes me a good five minutes to find my keys from a variety of dropping spots around the house. If a random can sneak into my house, negotiate all the home alone style Lego traps left out by my kids, get past the buggy left at the door and find my keys then they must surely be the quality of burglar that doesn't worry about trivialities like door locks.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 09/02/2017 10:05

My last door was a yale lock so was locked as soon as it was shut, bloody nuisance for getting locked out. Had a new front door fitted which has to be physically locked - it can be a pain but I'm in the habit now of locking it as soon as I come home, no way could I sleep with it unlocked.

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 09/02/2017 10:06

Don't most people have doors that lock when shut?

No.

FearTheLiving · 09/02/2017 10:09

I only know 1 person that has a door that locks when shut. Those doors are quite old fashioned.
I only lock my door because I have a toddler. Usually I wouldn't bother. I very rarely lock my car.

user892 · 09/02/2017 10:11

I think of self-locking doors for flats and new builds? Every other place I've lived in has been manual multipoint.

steppemum · 09/02/2017 10:12

If, like me you have a front door that needs locking, can I urge you please to have a permanent key in a set place near the door, but not visible from it, so that in the event of a fire (at night if your door is open during the day) you can unlock it and get out?

Our original hook was too high for our kids, so we have a new one, so the kids can get themselves out too.

Dh thinks I am over reacting, but all our doors and windows are double glazed PVC and impossible to break out of!

I also insisted when our upstairs window were changed that one at the front and one at the back opened far enough for a person to climb out.

When kids are out and about the door is unlocked, but once they all come in the last one turns the key behind them, before they all go upstairs etc.

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 09/02/2017 10:14

I don't lock my car very often either.

empirerecordsrocked · 09/02/2017 10:18

It I'm in in the day I keep the chain on and the snub but that more to make sure the kids can't accidentally get out tbh.

CHJR · 09/02/2017 10:34

Have any of you ever seen Michael Moore's documentary "Bowling for Columbine"? As part of his discussion of crime and fear levels in the USA versus Canada, he claims that Americans always lock their doors while at home, while Canadians don't. He then goes around some US city, I forget which, and Toronto, equivalent size cities, and demonstrates it's so. I was still skeptical, so I went around asking all my American and Canadian friends and to my bemusement he was right! The Americans all locked their doors while at home; the Canadians didn't.

-- That includes my foreign-born but Canadian-resident father, by the way. And me, part raised in Canada, until very recently. Now we live in a house where the door latches automatically anyway, and it's in London, so yes, we lock.

By coincidence, today, though, I had the lock changed because DS2 is disabled and couldn't manage the handle. It'll still latch but is much easier to open now. It's not safe to be trapped in a house unable to get out without a key IMHO. What if a fire breaks out?

UghUgh · 09/02/2017 10:44

Have any of you ever seen Michael Moore's documentary "Bowling for Columbine"? As part of his discussion of crime and fear levels in the USA versus Canada, he claims that Americans always lock their doors while at home, while Canadians don't

I saw that years ago but it's stayed with me, I thought it was really thought provoking. I liked the way the Canadians shown not only didn't lock their doors but were also completely non-plussed when a stranger walked through it. 😂

I'm not sure how typical the people he showed were though. I used to live in Vancouver and during my 5 years there I didn't know anyone who left their doors unlocked. I was in the city though. 🤔

SheSaidNoFuckThat · 09/02/2017 10:54

Always have my doors locked, have previously had people wander straight in mistaking my house for someone else's. I also have 2 big dogs who are more than capable of opening doors should they choose to

SheSaidNoFuckThat · 09/02/2017 10:55

And why would people not lock their cars? Would invalidate insurance for a start, plus mine automatically locks after a certain amount of time

Trainspotting1984 · 09/02/2017 10:58

Because people don't live their lives dictated to by their insurance company? Is it that hard to understand or should everyone be like you? Confused

NarkyMcDinkyChops · 09/02/2017 11:01

Would invalidate insurance for a start

Would it? Are you sure? Can you think of any situations where it would not?

plus mine automatically locks after a certain amount of time

how nice for you. Mine doesn't. People have different things, you see.

SheSaidNoFuckThat · 09/02/2017 11:02

No need for the attitude, if they want to pay £100s for an insurance policy that won't help them that's their look out, but why would you?

SheSaidNoFuckThat · 09/02/2017 11:03

If your car is stolen and you have left it unlocked - you are at fault