To think it's normal to have a Yale type lock/ night latch on your front door??

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Was just reading the thread about friends just walking into a MNers house to pick up cold pizza.....a lot to unpick there, but what is blowing my tiny London based mind is how many people seem to have a door without a Yale type latch on it 🤯

I feel this is one of those things where I've lived my whole life not even questioning something as it's so normal for me, my entire family, everyone I know, have ever known, that I assumed it is normal. To me, they're the thing that makes a front door a front door - nobody can walk in without a key, nobody has to be locked in the house/require a key to get out.

Please help me - and is this a regional thing? Roughly where do you live if you don't have one?? (Not fishing for addresses here, just like, is this a London thing, an England thing, a South thing, or what??)
YANBU - I have a Yale lock
YABU - Nope

I'd be amazed if it's regional. I've lived in plenty of different parts of the UK and come across both in equal amounts I reckon.

I'm London based and agree a Yale lock is entirely normal, and have had one everywhere I've lived.

But I have also lived in Devon where I had one at 2 different properties, and DCs have had uni houses in Bristol and Norfolk and all have had Yale locks too.

I cannot imagine having a property where anyone can just open the front door!

I lived in London for 27 years and we had about 4 locks along the inside of the front door, including a Yale type lock. It wasn’t even a particularly rough area. When I moved to Norfolk my mind was blown that the majority of front doors were basically what I consider to be PVC type back doors with one lock that you have to actually lock. I was shocked. 😳 😂

Our postman sometimes opens the back door, puts our post on the windowsill and shuts it again.

We live in the country and have only got one door which has a mortice lock. So unless you turn the key, it doesn't lock. And I never lock it when I'm at home.

So no we don't have a yale lock anywhere in our house.

I am SE London and don't have a Yale lock. I like that I can't lock myself out by forgetting my key.
DM in a town in Suffolk has the same.

My mother-in-law has one of those doors you have to lock/un-lock with a key from either side. It doesn't lock automatically.
I HATE it with a passion.
She has a habit of leaving it unlocked by accident or locking it when she comes in but then forgetting where she has put her keys down so is essentially locked inside until she finds the keys.
Her house is ex local authority and although she owns it she is not allowed to change the door without the councils permission.
She was told that style is required because it's a "safety" door - whatever the f that means.
It's a stupid door.
That's in the East Midlands.
Her previous house had a Yale lock.
My mums house (also Midlands) has Yale as does my London flat.

I suspect it is a town/country thing. Rurally more likely not to have one. In town particularly where people are walking past regularly- more likely to have one

Live in a large village in Wiltshire and never had a Yale type lock. I'd hate that, would end up locking myself out when putting the bins out or grabbing something from the car!

I don’t have a yale lock, and our front door is only a few years old. I always lock the door though even if I’m in.

I’ve lived in 4 houses and have flat and it was only the flat which had a Yale lock-I HATED it-the stress of potentially being locked out when I went to empty the bin was so high!

Our 100 year old "official" fronr door has one. We bought a modern front door which is our main entrance now, and this doesn't. We keep a key in it so we can lock it/unlock it as needed.

I think most modern doors (last 30 years or so) come with much more secure 5 point locking systems, but no "latch" type lock.

Traditional Yale locks aren't as secure as five lever mortice locks. I haven't lived in a house with a Yale lock for years. The last house we lived that had one also had a five lever mortice lock.

I don’t have one on my door, I just keep it locked most of the time and leave the key in the door. Stops me losing the key as well as I have locked myself in before!

Is a "five lever" one the type the OP means?
That you have to unlock with a key from the inside?
I hate my mother in law's one because I think it's a fire hazard. If she puts the keys in a random place or dropped them while attempting to open the door in a fire she's trapped.

No Yale lock in our house, ( NE Scotland) , we have the 5 point locks , same key, all doors. The door is locked pretty much all the time.

I’ve never had a door that locked automatically. I know that they exist but they’re in the minority around here. I used to have a job that involved visiting a lot of people’s homes(Not a burglar) and I only ever encountered one like that. Personally I don’t want to risk being locked out should I forget to take my key if I step outside for a moment and I always lock my doors the second I step inside and they are less secure than other locks.

SE here. Our current house has one. Last house was an odd set up with a full length garden gate with a Yale lock, then a walk down the garden to the ‘front door’ which just a regular lock.

I am incredibly obsessive about having keys when I leave the house now!

That's simple to resolve though- just keep one the spare keys in the back of the door.

I have a similar fear of being locked in but sounds like you have more of a "user error" issue than a door issue.

Never lived in a house with one in my life. Nor my grandparents.

Yale type locks have fallen out of fashion with the growth of UPVC & composite doors, haven't had one since my last wooden front door in the 80's.
With the multipoint locking systems installed in modern doors, surely drilling through the door to fit a latch type lock will interfere with this?
Keyless thumbturns are available for internal fitting (as long as the door isn't all glass of course) so you can keep the door locked without using a key.

I’ve had both in various houses and flats in large cities, suburbs and small towns - no particular pattern.

for those saying what if the keys are lost, mine stay in the door on the inside or hung by the door.

Yes....we have told mother in law a gazillion times to leave the key right by the door.
But I would prefer her to be locked out (where she can just walk to a neighbour who can help her out) than be locked in where she could die in a fire.

Not normal here. I honestly don't lock my house that often, nor to neighbours. Handy for the postman to be able to pop packages in the hall.

We’ve got one and I’ve locked myself out several times. Our neighbours have a spare key.

I don’t think it’s necessarily regional, although I do live in London. We have a Yale type lock and a mortise lock on the front door, both of which are locked at night. We part set the burglar alarm, and have CCTV. Having been burgled at two of our previous homes, and having had our garden furniture stolen at our current house, I wouldn’t dream of not being secure at night.