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.

Yes. Surprised you dont tbh. Our local site constantly posts doorbell footage of people trying the handles of front doors. Opportunist jump in to grab a purse or car keys. I'd also be terrified that someone snuck in and hid!

Depends who is home, if just me in I tend to lock the door onward and also if i am hoovering/shower etc. When husband is home we sometimes have been known to go to bed with the door open but we are very rural and do have a dog who is very efficient.

@TheNestedIf

Bit of a tangent, but the talk of yale locks (because they are a bit generic) has just reminded me of the time we parked up in my mum's very, very old Fiesta, and it happened to be next to another very, very old Fiesta. The owner was staring forlornly through the window at her keys. We got out, and she, very politely in desperation, asked my mum if she would mind trying her key in the door.

30 seconds later, she was thanking my mum and on her way.

When I was a teenager my mum’s friend parked in a car park, went shopping, got in the car and started driving home. Ten minutes later she couldn’t find her door key that she’d left in the glove box. It wasn’t her car! That was a Ford Cortina, same colour etc as hers. She returned to the car park, reparked the car, locked it up and located hers a bit further along.

You are absolutely asking for trouble, and no chance of getting a bean back from the insurance if (when!) you get burgled. Mine is locked all the time. I live in a very nice place and we've had a few occasions where chancers have tried to get in, one time when we were clearly sat in the lounge! And don't ever leave keys in locks, that like asking for your car to be nicked too.

You are absolutely asking for trouble, and no chance of getting a bean back from the insurance if (when!) you get burgled.

It happened to my BIL. They got everything back from their insurance.

@brokenbiscuitsx my friend did actually go into someone a house once
He was at a house party late at night, a bit tipsy had gone to meet someone from their taxi and wandered into the neighbour's house. He is the loveliest guy ever but the neighbour was definitely "surprised" to see a huge guy with a thick Turkish accent in her house at 11pm, even if he was saying "sorry sorry" as soon as he realised!

You are absolutely asking for trouble, and no chance of getting a bean back from the insurance if (when!) you get burgled

No one asks to be a victim of crime.
There is no requirement in my insurance policy to lock myself into my home
As for when well 47 years and counting and not been burgled yet.

No one asks to be a victim of crime.

Of course they don't. Any sensible person does what they can to reduce the risks. We live in a low crime rate area. I have just cjecked the statistics - the latest being August. There were 4 incidents of reported crime where we live during the month of August.

BUT I suspect that a lot of it is because people take appropriate measures to prevent crime by locking their houses and cars, and placing their car keys in ARFID wallets or similar, and keeping expensive bikes etc somewhere secure. We have a lot of serious cyclists round here.

We have a lot of serious cyclists round here.

I'm a cyclist but I like to have a laugh and chill out

I'm so pleased I live afloat on a fast-running tidal river. My entrance hatches are never locked whether I'm there or not. Access is always required. Vessel could be sinking, moorings coming adrift, crew injured below etc. We all keep a careful eye out for each other and our vessels. If something needs doing and the owner/crew aren't there, the first person who sees it will make sure that at least a temporary repair is done. We're interdependent.

Ive always locked my doors as soon as ive gotten in and put the catch on too. Ive lived in several houses and done the same in each home

I know 2 woman who dont lock their doors and both have had their young DC leave the house ( several times ) without them realising because they leave their door unlocked

I lock mine as im worried my children would get out and im worried a stranger would get in

Always locked!! Too many thieves and murders about (not trying to be dramatic but it’s true). Insurance may not cover anything stolen. This time of year with dark nights and Christmas coming up is prime stealing time. Would you leave the keys in your car engine? Just inviting someone in to rib you, may as well leave the doors wide open

I didn't even realize this was a thing...leaving your doors unlocked! How do you even relax knowing that a burglar/rapist/murderer.... could walk in any minute?

Rob not rib

@starray

I didn't even realize this was a thing...leaving your doors unlocked! How do you even relax knowing that a burglar/rapist/murderer.... could walk in any minute?

Because I'm not a paranoid wreck. And when I left the door unlocked I lived in a place that was very safe. In the forty-something years I was there, there was something like four murders, not one of which would have been prevented by a locked door. In every case, the victim was known to the perpetrator, and in three out of four cases it was a partner.

Years ago we lived in a hillside house with a garage and basement store room. I was in the house on my own. Went downstairs to the storeroom which had a door into the garage which was unlocked. I'd opened the garage door earlier because I was about to go out to pick up the children from school. A man was standing in the doorway into the garage. Scared me rigid. He'd put some boxes of apples in my storeroom and was demanding a large payment. He was tall and well built and I was so terrified I gave him a cheque. Made me realise for the first time how vulnerable I am.

How do you even relax knowing that a burglar/rapist/murderer.... could walk in any minute?

By slapping myself hard in the face and telling myself to get a grip.

At a time when violence against women is being called an "epidemic", any woman leaving her home unlocked is taking serious risks with her own safety and that of any children in it.

The epidemic consists of domestic violence, by intimate partners, in homes where both live.
There is also a recent spate of well-publicised attacks on women outdoors.

Do you want to know what would make the epidemic stop?
Decisive, timely police action, effective prosecution, and very well-publicised, extremely harsh prison sentences for the perpetrators.

Not keys turned in locks.

@mathanxiety

How do you even relax knowing that a burglar/rapist/murderer.... could walk in any minute?

By slapping myself hard in the face and telling myself to get a grip.

I agree with your second post, but I've read out some of the comments to my detective sergeant DH, and he's just slapping his forehead in despair. So many of the calls coming in over his time in the police have been opportunistic burglaries/assaults in poorly secured houses. It does happen and it's a tricky thing to explain to, say, a car insurance company, if you have your car keys stolen from an unlocked house, and then you have your car stolen. Potentially along with your bag containing your purse, driving licence, debit card, etc

@wantanotherdog

Years ago we lived in a hillside house with a garage and basement store room. I was in the house on my own. Went downstairs to the storeroom which had a door into the garage which was unlocked. I'd opened the garage door earlier because I was about to go out to pick up the children from school. A man was standing in the doorway into the garage. Scared me rigid. He'd put some boxes of apples in my storeroom and was demanding a large payment. He was tall and well built and I was so terrified I gave him a cheque. Made me realise for the first time how vulnerable I am.

Yes, this is the sort of thing, and others, that DH talks about.

It does happen

I don't think anyone is saying it doesn't.

Just that in some places it's exceptionally rare.

When I was a teenager my mum’s friend parked in a car park, went shopping, got in the car and started driving home. Ten minutes later she couldn’t find her door key that she’d left in the glove box. It wasn’t her car! That was a Ford Cortina, same colour etc as hers. She returned to the car park, reparked the car, locked it up and located hers a bit further along.

Back in the 1980s my mum had a Ford Cortina. A garage mechanic once demonstrated to us how easy it was to steal (from) cars then by taking a random key from another car he was servicing and unlocking the Cortina. People think it's funny that I carefully lock my car up because it's so old it has no market value and they joke there's no way anyone would steal it. My reply is that it's precisely the kind of car someone might steal, because it's easy to take. Plus I have a load of horse riding kit in it and I'd rather give someone at least one hoop to jump through before they nick it.

One of my scary near misses was when I was at home alone one evening in a basement flat and someone knocked on my front door and asked for directions. He'd have had to go down a flight of external steps to do this and it was in a city so he could have found someone on the street to ask. I didn't open door, just shouted directions through it. I do wonder what he might have tried if he'd been able to get in easily. I mean it didn't help that it was near Halloween and I was watching a horror movie when he hammered on the door, but even so it's reasonable to assume he might not have been entirely benign.

It does happen. I don't think anyone is saying it doesn't. Just that in some places it's exceptionally rare.

But it is naive to assume that it will never happen unless you live somewhere really remote. We get a lot of problems in the more rural parts of our county, especially with farm thefts. We are also close to two county borders, so we have problems with county lines drug dealing and associated crime.

I have dogs who would let me know of anyone coming up the path. Front door automatically locks from outside but back door doesn't. Back door is unlocked if im home but lock both at night and when out more because the dogs can open the doors but not shut them again!

I lock mine at night or if I go out. This is a step up from my ex who didn't even possess a key for his door so it was never locked regardless of whether he was in or out. He often also leaves the keys in his car ignition! We live in a safe rural area and have never had a problem.