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.

I always lock mine when I'm in the house especially if I'm not in the kitchen where the back door is. The front door is always locked. If I have visitors I lock them in too. I don't get many visitors 😂

Front door often unlocked as is back door. We are having work done so have had a downstairs window open for the cat permanently for about 6 months. Also leave for work before builders so leave door unlocked for them.

Often go out and leave it unlocked.

Live in an area where burglaries are v rare. Burglary is front page news

I always lock my front door as soon as I get in I do it without even thinking.
I live in a nice area and feel safe but it doesn't mean someone opening the front door won't happen so I prefer to keep it locked.

Always locked overnight. We unlock it if/when someone goes out and lock it again when the last person is back in so if no-one is going out e.g. WFH days it can stay locked all day.

All this “living in a nice area” smug twaddle
Nice areas are targeted by thieves and opportunists
It’s not just rundown or “bad” areas you need to worry about

I live in a very nice area, on a main road and clearly visible to my neighbours. If I am in the house on my own I lock the doors. If dh and others are here too I might not. We have gone out with doors open - but only by mistake.

Police (and insurance people) have warned that a lot of crime is opportunistic - they try a door handle or window and if it is open, take the chance. I don't care only about stuff they steal - I care about people being in my house. I was burgled several times when living in Ireland and it is a horrible feeling that other people have been pawing through your things. I can still remember my mum sitting on her bed crying with the box of her deceased father's papers on her lap - the lock had been forced and they had been scattered.

I read the other thread also and no way on earth would I go to the loo/shower/be incapacitated with diarrhoea and leave the door open for anyone to walk in. Fair play to those of you who think that is normal. maybe you live in gated communities with security guards.

I don't know about the other thread

But I am baffled when people say they live in an area they can do this. Where is the magic place?

Always locked, I'm not particularly strong so would need the seconds/minutes that it takes, for a burglar to break in, to call the police, or else I'd be dead meat

My front door locks when you close it, but otherwise no, I wouldn't lock it. The back door is unlocked when we are in the house and in theory anyone could walk through the side gate and in through the back door. I live in a very safe area though.

I Absolutely never leave it unlocked. There is more chance of me getting locked in than me leaving it open 🤣 we live in a good low crime area but you can’t be too careful

I lock ours because I'm paranoid of my 3 year old getting out. Before that I didn't bother to lock it unless I was going to bed. I still unlock it if I'm expecting family/friend though.

@DaisyNGO my magic place is a council estate in an ex-mining town

Never unlocked and I don't know anyone who leaves it unlocked. Live in London.

I always lock mine, I couldn't hear if someone tried to break in from the back of the flat where my bedroom is. I might not lock it if just popping downstairs to talk to the neighbour or to take the bins out, but otherwise it is fully locked when I go out, and once-locked when I'm in. Why risk it?

always on the night latch here.
plus bolted at night.
neighbour had her jacket & bag stolen from her hallway.
neighbour just arrived at home after work, pulled the door closed and went to the toilet.
went to put coat and bag away and they were gone.
insurance nightmare as no forced entry.

I didn’t use to until around 3 months ago I hear my front door opening, presumed it was my mum as she regularly comes over. She normally says hi as she walks in then wipes her feet whereas this time there were no sound. Next thing I know some man is running down my stairs saying “sorry wrong house” I shit it. He did go into next doors so I do think it was a mistake, but it still shook me up.

I don't lock the door until I go to bed.

DH is a police officer. He deals with break ins and burglaries all the time.
People don't just break in to steal things.
How would any of you feel if you were pottering about with your kids and a total stranger walked in? Or if you were alone and in the shower? Do you honestly think you'd be happy about that? Do you really think it wouldn't happen?
You are very naive if you think chancers won't ever walk in and burgle/rape/ assault or otherwise intimidate residents just because they live in a quiet area.
I'm shocked that people are so cavalier about it!

Depends if I remember or not.

We live in a very safe area though so I never worry.

I do, but not for my security, and it's not usual for around here. We do live in an extremely low crime area (not in the UK) but I have a dog that would likely react badly to someone he doesn't know well barging into the house, and it's very common for people to knock, and then just try the door if they don't get any answer within a few seconds, so I lock the front door mostly because don't want my neighbours to get bitten, but also because I like my privacy.

Always locked. Very frequent robberies here. We had the police out at the beginning of the month with one attempted break in and I had to call again last night for another. Gangs are always trying car doors, gates and back doors and will simply crowbar it or drill it if they want to. People have been shoved out of the way and homes robbed just going to the bins and back.

Locked every single second, unless I'm actually going in and out.

Yes, ours locks automatically when it closes. Are there front doors that don’t?

We deliberately have to put it on latch to keep it open.

"All this “living in a nice area” smug twaddle
Nice areas are targeted by thieves and opportunists
It’s not just rundown or “bad” areas you need to worry about"

It's not smug to say you live in a nice area.
As I stated in my post I lock mine because it doesn't stop someone coming just because you live in a nice area.
But living in a nice area does have advantages such as lower crime rates, so some people may not be as vigilant.

Always. Had a bad experience before with someone hiding from police!
I live in a pretty safe quiet area.
You never ever know. I always lock the door.

I never lock my door when I am at home- and we often forget to lock it overnight too. I rarely lock my car either.
Naiive perhaps, but I have never heard of theft in my area.
I had to close my neighbours front door after he had gone on holiday for a week. It was deliberate apparently- to make it easy for delivery drivers.