To not want the front door to be double locked?

[Keke94LND]

So I live in London on the ground floor of a terraced house, there are two other flats in the building and there is a sturdy front door to the building, and then obviously we all have our own front doors for our individual flats.

My boyfriend and I never bother double locking the front door, but the neighbours always do, even if they just pop our for five minutes. I find it annoying, that the door is always double locked when I get in from work, especially as it is getting darker now, mainly because having to unlock the door twice adds an extra 10-15 seconds onto opening the door and, especially as you have to bend down to unlock the second lock, I'm paranoid about getting mugged or attacked from behind. I'd like to be able to get into the building as quickly as possible without faffing about. My boyfriend also has an expensive bike that could easily be stolen whilst he's faffing about unlocking the door.

On one hand I understand that the neighbours do it for extra protection to stop burglaries, but on the the other hand I think the risk of being mugged/attacked is actually higher, especially as the front door is very sturdy anyway and would be pretty hard to break into, plus we all have extra front doors as well.. so AIBU?

I live in a similar set up and we were broken into when one of our lazy neighbours couldn't be bothered to double lock our communal front door.

Exactly as previous posters say - they just popped the Yale and then were able to kick the internal doors in at their leisure.

I'd be really pissed off if you didn't double lock it to be honest.

@Keke94LND

It takes an extra 10 to 15 seconds.

YABU. Far better that the door is double-locked, than having the risk of someone getting in!

@CheekyAFAIK

Does the landlord's contents insurance cover your possessions, or just things like washing machine, carpets etc that he/she would have to replace?

If there was a fire and you had to replace everything you own - clothes, toiletries, bedding, towels, lamps, posters, tech, kitchen stuff - even if you live modestly, it would cost a lot. Get insurance.

On the door front - we have a composite door with a single lock that has three bolts that fit into the door frame. You double lock the one lock with a key. We double lock from inside at night using a key but you can get the same lock with a knob you turn from inside to double lock.

Overall YABU, a single Yale lock is no protection at all. You can't leave the house unprotected (including your neighbour's stuff). Could you fit a security light outside, clear hedges etc to improve security? TBH if someone wanted to mug you as you open the door, they'll do it whether it's one lock or two.

Maybe we should have insurance then, we don't really have much stuff so never really considered it other than for the bike and phones. Thanks for your input! It's a Banham lock not a Yale one, dunno if that makes a difference

I don't feel the need to insure my H&M tops?

It's the cost of replacing everything at once - including your H&M tops - that is the killer not the cost of replacing items individually.

@takehomepay

I don't feel the need to insure my H&M tops?

Don't feel browbeaten to get contents insurance. We never had it until we bought our own home.

We did have a fire recently which burned through carpets, bed, mattress. Would the LL's insurance cover you in that scenario?

Yeah we're buying somewhere soon so will obviously get our own insurance, anything like that would be covered under the landlords insurance I believe

Holskey

Yabu. You cba with the extra few seconds to unlock the double lock. I get that, it's the kind of thing I'd be lazy about. But the risk of you being mugged, having a bike stolen etc is just you trying (and failing) to find an argument to justify your preference (because you recognise "I can't be bothered" isn't a good reason).

It's not that much faff for the extra security.

Lol wtf, I don't know how you've come to the conclusion that fearing safety is 'just as excuse for laziness' .. if you're facing with your back to the street, bent down to unlock one lock, then you get up to unlock the other lock, still with your back to the street, it's not unreasonable to worry that someone might come up behind you, it's not an excuse, but maybe you've never been attacked or followed home 🤷🏼‍♀️

I've been burgled. I've been attacked. Both more likely than being attacked specifically whilst unlocking your door.

You're making it sound more like a mental health issue now: like an irrational anxiety because of past experiences. That's different, but still, you can't expect your neighbours to make their home less safe because of your anxiety.

@onemouseplace

I live in a similar set up and we were broken into when one of our lazy neighbours couldn't be bothered to double lock our communal front door.

Exactly as previous posters say - they just popped the Yale and then were able to kick the internal doors in at their leisure.

I'd be really pissed off if you didn't double lock it to be honest.

Yep, the same happened to me.

@TheLovelinessOfDemons

I agree, this would drive me nuts. We have our own front door, but when DM comes round, if we've been somewhere and she's in last she'll double lock the door. I've explained to her how Yale locks work, I think she might have forgotten.

There are more break-ins with homes with just Yale locks on the door, than any other type of lock.

HTH.

@RedMarauder

I don't feel the need to insure my H&M tops?

It's the cost of replacing everything at once - including your H&M tops - that is the killer not the cost of replacing items individually.

Yeah I understand that, having said that I doubt any burglars would care to steel any of my clothes.. but I do appreciate if there was a fire or flooding etc they would be destroyed

I wonder how long it will be before a thread pops up on here saying 'my daft eejit of a neighbour who lives in the ground floor flat in our building, keeps leaving the bloody front door just on the Yale lock, and can't be arsed to double-lock it! She is putting our security in jeopardy. AIBU to have a go at her about it?'

@MyPatronusIsACat

I wonder how long it will be before a thread pops up on here saying 'my daft eejit of a neighbour who lives in the ground floor flat in our building, keeps leaving the bloody front door just on the Yale lock, and can't be arsed to double-lock it! She is putting our security in jeopardy. AIBU to have a go at her about it?'

🤣 possible

I always thought flats were safer but the posts about sledgehammers to internal doors is making me wince. No where is safe from these bastarding thieves. My own burglar climbed over a 6 ft wall.

@takehomepay

I always thought flats were safer but the posts about sledgehammers to internal doors is making me wince. No where is safe from these bastarding thieves. My own burglar climbed over a 6 ft wall.

I'm in a garden flat and we have pvc patio doors in our bedroom, I've always thought it would be a lot easier for burglars to break in that way then to use the front door, they'd then be able to unlock our front door from the inside and go upstairs to the neighbours flats.. hopefully that doesn't happen obviously!

Yabu

I've had this OP - other residents paranoid about burglaries, I was more worried about getting out in a fire. The other residents would not budge but maybe you could talk to the landlord about a different sort of lock.

Yabu

Don't feel browbeaten to get contents insurance. We never had it until we bought our own home.

I agree with this. Mumsnetters sometimes cannot face the reality that we don't all think £100k a year is a minimum salary, we don't all have several guest rooms kitted out in Laura Ashley fabrics and we don't think £800 is cheap for a handbag.

I spent hundreds on house contents insurance every year when I lived in a big city. I have no idea why someone above thought it was a tenner a month - it was more like 30 a month, 20 years ago. I never actually made a claim on it, although other flats in my block were broken into, so I felt I needed it. Then I moved to a small city with a much lower crime rate. Great, I thought, that will half the insurance. No, it didn't. The insurance company who'd taken thousands off me over the previous years refused point blank to insure me because I was at risk of flooding. I contacted the environment agency who said the area had flooded once in the 1960s and that since then flood defences had been put in meaning that from an insurance perspective, it was not a high-risk area for flooding.

I stopped house contents insurance at that point. it was abundantly evident that insurers were only going to insure me if they knew they could profit from it. Just stick the money you save in the bank and use that to replace whatever you want to replace, if you can.

Oh just seen your latest update - oh well if you are moving on anyway just put up with it until then. At least you are on the ground floor if there is a fire, I was on the 6th floor and there was only one staircase (not in the UK).

do you have laptops? games consoles? books, films, cooking appliances (*mixers) jewellery?

We had a huge flood on our rented flat, water dripping through the ceiling, I was very pleased we had insurance, we had to replace loads.

I agree with your neighbours and I’d be grateful they’re being vigilant with security, the nightmare scenario would be neighbours who don’t bother or forget to lock the door.

@BertramLacey

Don't feel browbeaten to get contents insurance. We never had it until we bought our own home.

I agree with this. Mumsnetters sometimes cannot face the reality that we don't all think £100k a year is a minimum salary, we don't all have several guest rooms kitted out in Laura Ashley fabrics and we don't think £800 is cheap for a handbag.

I spent hundreds on house contents insurance every year when I lived in a big city. I have no idea why someone above thought it was a tenner a month - it was more like 30 a month, 20 years ago. I never actually made a claim on it, although other flats in my block were broken into, so I felt I needed it. Then I moved to a small city with a much lower crime rate. Great, I thought, that will half the insurance. No, it didn't. The insurance company who'd taken thousands off me over the previous years refused point blank to insure me because I was at risk of flooding. I contacted the environment agency who said the area had flooded once in the 1960s and that since then flood defences had been put in meaning that from an insurance perspective, it was not a high-risk area for flooding.

I stopped house contents insurance at that point. it was abundantly evident that insurers were only going to insure me if they knew they could profit from it. Just stick the money you save in the bank and use that to replace whatever you want to replace, if you can.

Yeah tbh I've never actually considered having contents insurance, maybe I should have but I don't really own anything worth insuring? And most of the stuff that burglars might consider stealing, is second hand anyway. My office got broken into once, they stole all of the Apple Products, but left the del computers lol, obviously wasn't worth their time! Burglars would be very disappointed once they entered my flat 🤣

@ShrimpBarbarian

do you have laptops? games consoles? books, films, cooking appliances (*mixers) jewellery?

No films, I do have books but I wouldn't bother insuring any of them, I have a 10 year old laptop that I never use, no game consoles, I don't have any expensive jewellery, if we were to get engaged I'd insure the ring,

@TenThousandSpoons

YABU and I bet your neighbours are really annoyed that you never double lock the front door.

This. YABU

Also I rent and have contents insurance for what I own. When you take out insurance it goes into extreme detail when it asks what locks are on the door/what kind of windows there is on the property. If there was a break in and it was found that one of the locks on the door wasn’t used it would void my entire insurance.