There must always be keys near doors?

[Namechange202323]

im sick of arguing with DH and my parents about this. With UPVC doors that are locked with a key from inside, rather than putting keys on a hook near door, they will take them into the house / upstairs, pockets whatever. Meaning you have to find a key to open the door and/or leave the house! I feel really strongly (from a fire risk etc), that we should always be able to get out and there should ALWAYS be a key at the door. They just don’t care as much and don’t think it matters. Even if it means a visitor is waiting for a few mins while they go get a key. Please tell me they are being ridiculous, and if there are any ideas to make sure key is always there. We have loads of spares and every so often I’ll put all 4 spares on the hooks but within a week they are in pockets / bags etc and need to be found! grrrr!

Gosh worried mum that must have been terrifying. We're you all okay? Did you lose the house?

Yes when we got a new upvc (or composite something whatver it's called) I vaguely think we mentioned we wanted it to freely open from inside.

Is this genuinely not the norm? Or is it those without that come to these thread?

I agree that this is a fire hazard. I have mine on a hook next to the front door in the hallway. I don't worry about letterbox fishing as I have an enclosed front porch as well, so the letter box is on the side of the porch. I do think the pp's idea of a spring coil with a key is good though.

Absolutely agree! We leave the key in the door all the time. The layout of our house means we have to go through the living room and kitchen to get to the back door,so if there was a fire downstairs and keys were in the living room or kitchen, we'd never get out.

Local police held a talk and said that pretty much all burglaries in our area are down to people leaving doors unlocked because most people have composite doors and thieves try the doors. If they’re open, they come in so I don’t go with the ‘they’ll find a way’ argument. They won’t, they’ll just try the next door.

Keys are left in the same place in the house in the hall, but not within fishing distance of the door and not visible if someone was looking through a letterbox.

You can protect yourself from both burglary and fire.

Get thumb turns. Honestly so much easier than faffiing about looking for keys. They are very easy to install yourself.

The thumb turns can be fitted to those type of doors. I have them.

It’s not just about possessions though is it. I want the people in my house to be protected from a horror show of a person breaking in, going into my daughter’s room and harming her. I don’t care about possessions, you’re right, they can be replaced. I don’t want anyone in my house if I haven’t invited them in while we’re all asleep.

Internal key safe by the door and only you know the pin and that’s where you keep your spare key. hook underneath it for everyone else.

or you need a key with an obnoxiously huge key ring one that you can’t fit into a pocket and is just for the front door.

I also recommend glow in the dark keyrings on emergency keys. Easier to see in less than ideal lighting conditions.

Believe it or not there are many ways to keep a key near the door and also secure from thieves. My dps also have a similar anxiety over the miraculous abilities of burglars to fish for keys and take precautions way over and above what would reasonably be required to prevent such an eventuality. Likewise imagining they live in a horror movie where people break in to random houses to harm their occupants .

My Husband is always doing this when he comes in and it drives me mad! Each time I tell him it’s dangerous in case of a fire, but he can’t seem to remember to not do it.

I only recently discovered that some people don’t have self locking night latches on their front doors. I assumed everyone did.

I’d imagine that many people have the same problems as you OP and I think a non self-locking front door is madness - both a burglary and fire risk as well as a practical pia.

At no point have I said that can’t be done. I do keep keys in the hall but out of sight of the door.

If you’d not been so busy thinking of ways to belittle me, you’d have noticed that.

Mirabi yes I'm completely with you here.

And those with composite doors that are open on the outside?! Theives couldn't get in my door as its always locked fromm outside and always open from inside.

You are all being unreasonable, to different degrees.

Keys should not be kept next to the door - it’s a security risk but keys should be kept close to the door in case of fire.

Maybe losing the keys across the house is being made worse by having several keys? I would suggest a safe place for the key, close, but not within arms tech from outside, for each door.

Always keep keys close to doors and windows. The last thing you want to be doing in a burning smoke filled house is looking for keys

As for car keys, i was always of the opinion that they were put away safe for the evening... Until a friend was woken early one morning by a masked gang standing over him with a freshly boiled kettle, demanding his car keys.

Since then, i leave my car key with my house keys

Lots of insurances have a clause where it’s invalid if you leave key in door

All of us put our keys on the table in the hall. No one is ever scrabbling around looking for their key, it’s second nature to leave them there. It would be very scary to urgently need to leave the house and not have a key to hand.

Change the locks to a type that doesn't need a key from the inside ?

@wonderstuff

i keep my keys on a desk fairly near the door. In the vastly unlikely event of someone breaking into my house to get my car keys, I'd rather they found them straight away without going into bedrooms etc.

I'd never buy a door that doesn't lock/unlock with a thumb lock. if I bought a house with one I'd have it changed immediately.

My kitchen door key is on a key ring that I have superglued a magnet to, it then sticks on the side of the fridge.

Y’all need a Banham night latch people. None of this glueing keys to magnets, key safes by the front door. What a way to live.

Your local fire service will come round and do a risk assessment for you for free - and advise about keys and locks as well as all the rest. That way you have a definitive answer for your OH - or would it just initiate willy-waving on his part?!

So where do you keep your banham lock keys? This thread is about safe and accessible places to keep keys.

It always shocks me when I see this. A key should be in the door. There is in most areas a lower risk of burglary while you're in ( certainly a low risk of a burglar who would harm you) than of fire.

Was having this conversation with my mum and she said the silliest thing

‘I don’t like people having their keys on hooks near their doors. Someone could break a hole in the door and reach in to grab the keys’

surely if someone is gunna break a hole in the door they are already robbing you no matter what lol