Do you lock your door when you’re in the house?

[patienceandprudence]

Inspired by another thread (no prizes for guessing which).

I was surprised that people lock their doors sheen inside the house. Granted, we live in a small house, but it’s in a ‘bad’ area. We never lock our door when someone’s in, except at night if someone remembers. I’d say we leave it unlocked while out a good 30% of the time so if the kids come back or someone drops by to visit they don’t have to wait outside.

In my area this is the norm, and most of the time if you knock you’ll just be called in and told to walk right in next time. We tell anyone the same, even the regular delivery-people know that they can open the door and put the parcel in if it’s open.

When, not sheen

Ours locks automatically when you close it. However, I know the thread you mean and in that circumstance I would have made sure it was unlocked.

Ridiculous and naive to leave your house unlocked 30% of the time, in my opinion. Do you know how many burglaries happen in the day time? Asking for trouble.

Always lock it! When I was younger and lived on my own a hooded man walked into the flat. Luckily my male friend was visiting and I screamed his name so the hooded man ran off. I also know several people who have had cars stolen because front doors were unlocked and someone helped themselves to the keys.

My main door locks itself when you close it, but I also lock the porch door as well. We've had a coat stolen from the porch so taking no chances. Main door gets double locked when the last person goes to bed.

We lock ours when upstairs and every night! And we live in a very low crime area. Silly not to IMO!

Yes our doors are locked while in the house. Do not like the idea of people just walking in even if I know them, and personally find that rude. I also used to childmind so doors were kept locked for safety and safeguarding.

Ours is only locked at night , or if we’re out

Yes, usually. I was burgled a few years ago when I left the door unlocked and someone put something through the letter box to pull the handle from the inside. I have also had random kids run up and kick the door which damaged the lock and wouldn't have happened if it had been properly locked.
So yeah, I usually lock the door from the inside, and always would if I was alone and going to have a bath or shower.

Always overnight but rarely during the day. Back door is always unlocked during the day to let dog/cat in and out and front door is generally left unlocked after first person leaves the house if someone else is in.

Yes I always lock it when I'm
In

Ours is always locked unless someone's walking through it.

Always. Living in London I once had a big scary looking guy walk in!! I was so furious that I stormed towards to door shouting "what the fuck are you doing".

He scarpered.... next door and then robbed my neighbour who didn't have the door locked either and was elsewhere in the house. He took her laptop, phone etc that were close by.

My front door is always locked when I'm in the house. The back door is usually unlocked and open during warm weather but it can can only be accessed by a bolted gate. If a door is shut its usually locked so I don't forget to do it when I go out. I would never go out and leave doors unlocked, although I did find my patio doors unlocked a once and couldn't remember the last time I used them!
I live in a safe, low crime area.

Always lock it behind me, my Dad drummed it into me when I was growing up as he’d been subject to a walk in during the day that took his car keys.

I very rarely lock it when I’m in.

The front (main road) is locked but I don't lock the back patio while I'm in and awake. I lock the back gate though!

Yes. I lived in a house before and the car keys got stolen. While I was in the house upstairs. Then they drove off with the car. So now it’s always locked.

First thing I do when getting home is to lock the door behind me.

Yes, because I can’t see the approach to the house and it’s up a flight of stairs, so if someone up to no good let themselves in, I wouldn’t know until they were in the room with me.

Always lock the door if I'm home on my own but not I'm more relaxed when my DH is home too. Now the evenings are getting darker I have started locking the doors earlier x

Yes, usually. We live in a nice area, but old habits die hard and it's such an easy way to secure something that's important to me that I don't want to stop doing it. I'd kick myself to hell and back if someone unwelcome walked in - they could have both sets of car keys, a couple of laptops and God knows what else in under 30 seconds.

My front door locks itself when closed but my back door is left unlocked most of the day. I live very rural with low crime rate and also there is no way anybody would get to the house without either me or more to the point, two dogs, hearing somebody walk up a long gravel drive.

When I lived in my flat in London, it just had one door which didn’t lock automatically when shut but I am sure that I would have always locked it behind me,

I lock the doors as soon as I get in the house. We live in a lovely area on a quiet estate but I don't think that would stop someone trying to burgle.

For example.. two months ago, our doorbell camera alerted us to someone at the door. It was a man delivering a charity clothing bag, and he stole our rainbow NHS hanging decoration off the front door! We then saw him looking through our windows and then he tried to open our neighbours front door ! We informed the charity that he delivered for and the police as he tried several of our neighbours doors. This really wobbled me and now we have several cameras around our house.

I'm home alone often and I'm always aware that wherever you live, there is always a chance someone could try and enter your home whether you're there or not, I feel very vulnerable in a house that isn't secure and even at friends homes I ask if they've locked the front door when we're inside. It gives me peace of mind that I can fully relax when I know the house is secured

Ours locks automatically but I would lock it manually if it didn't. If someone was to come in and steal something would your insurance even be valid if you had left the door open?!