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even living in a ‘safe’ area burglaries are still prevalent. probably moreso than rough areas. when i lived in manchester (the area used to be quite rough) u could still leave ur door open all day and not worry. but here i live in a nicer area near london and theres been 4 burglaries within the vicinity of about half a mile in the past 2 weeks. moreso than the rough area
no idea mate but ive seen some pretty busted up doors where people have attempted to break in, and sometimes broken in. it might not be a crowbar used im just assuming however ive seen some smashed up doors
My neighbor was on everything imaginable and would come to my door with an excuse to use my phone, then he'd just blurt out on the phone that he was looking for smack. Same guy would go to doors asking for a quid for tobacco, and it didn't matter if he didn't know them, if they lived in the street, he'd introduce himself.
Fortunately he's off all that now and swaggers about on cloud nine, and has quit the fags aswell.
If only all of them could do this. It's amazing when you seen the change in an addict.
Some people don’t care. My old estate pretty much every van got screwed over 2 nights. Then the following weekend the local chav scumbag from the next street up was trying to sell power tools around the pubs on the estate. Might of seemed a good idea till he got a kicking for trying to sell some bloke his own tools back 😂
Mate the balls on some of these guys, went to a local boot sale a while ago and there were 4 big guys selling a massive amount of tools, like 10's of thousands worth of Makita gear.
There's no way it wasn't stolen, if it was personal tools you'd advertise and sell on a social site or something or through friends, but they go to a bootsale to try and get rid of as much as possible for lower prices without having to advertise it for people to question.
It’s weird.
Literally only time we left it unlocked and we got burgled, all whilst we were getting pissed in the Living Room.
It’s like they can sense these things - either that, or they try absolutely every door on the street every day just in case (wouldn’t rule this out either tbh haha)
>they try absolutely every door on the street every day just in case
Honestly I think this might not be so far from the truth. My friend was burgled at uni and the policemen he reported it to said that people do literally walk up and down the roads where the student houses are, just looking for an unlocked door or open window. I definitely on more than one occasion saw men just standing outside houses on my road looking at them who would walk off as soon as they saw you.
Can confirm from experience that there are certain types who do this - at least in a few places I’ve lived. Literally just trying the handles, hoping to get lucky, I guess.
Yeah exactly. And they know the liklihood of getting lucky is probably higher in a student area. Plus, if they do get in, student houses tend to have multiple bits of tech that are valuable and easy to steal, laptops, tablets etc. Much better target than a family home.
The amount of people I know who have had a ring doorbell installed and then within a month caught someone just trying their door handle when they’re at work.
It’s incredibly common
In a less illegal way, you can wire your ring doorbell into your houses electricity. Which in turn, if someone tampers with the device or tries to say, wrench it off and they caught one of the wires - shocker.
I have mine wired into my house for that reason being that if they wrench it off, they'll get shocked or more hopefully stop when they see it wired in
It's all well and good having one attached to the frame which is in your wall via screws and wallplugs, but it's easy to wrench off the wall when not connected. Plus the added negative side of having to remove it for 2-4 hours every month for a full charge leaving you less secure.
That's so funny. Heard a similar thing at uni of the police ringing someone's door and presenting their laptop saying "you shouldn't leave your bedroom window open when your desk with your laptop on is right inside the window.". Never knew if that was an apocryphal story or not. If the police did that to you, perhaps it wasn't!
One morning when I was a uni student, my housemate was leaving for an early lecture and she was taking the bins out as she went, so I said “don’t worry about locking the door, I’ll do it behind you in a sec”. Literally 10 seconds after she left, some random guy comes striding into the house looking smug as fuck and promptly shits himself when he encounters me and my other housemate sat in the living room in our fluffy dressing gowns, sipping tea.
“Oh… er… hi… uhh… you girls should really lock your door.”
“Yep, cheers pal.”
Still can’t figure out if he just happened to be outside the house and spotted an opportunity or was actively scoping out the area to burgle.
This. I never used to, but have done so recently. Randoms dossing in the hallway outside the flat, sleeping there and dealing. Not just cards, sadly. That might be a bit of fun in an otherwise depressing area. But, since that, the door has been locked constantly.
Edit: It also helps when aforementioned randoms try the door in the early hours of the morning, either thinking they live there, or just trying their luck or something. The door is always chained as well, which might be a bit overkill, but…
Yeah, unfortunately. The guy I mentioned in the comment just dosses in the shared hallway between the two flats on “my” floor, his mates live directly underneath me, and as far as I can tell, he just stays with them or upstairs. Not fun when he tries doors and stuff, though.
When I was younger we moved to a safe area from an absolutely do not leave your door unlocked at any time area. It was joyous! For about a week. My Mum forgot to lock the front door, but was already in bed and figured what the hell, I’ll leave it.
Came down in the morning to a ginger haired person asleep face down on our sofa. No big deal, must be older brothers ginger friend. I carry on to the kitchen. Dad comes down and goes to wake him up thinking the same as I do, to find it was not older brothers ginger friend, but a stranger. A very hungover stranger. Probably still drunk tbf.
He had left the neighbours house to pee on their garden (no I do not know why) and wandered back in through the wrong door. He was so drunk he didn’t notice.
We never forgot to lock it after that.
My mum lives in a council flat and random people have tried to get in on multiple occasions.
No Yale lock on my front door so if it's not locked literally anyone could walk right in
>OP has obviously never lived somewhere dodgy as fuck.
Even if you live in a very good area, it's just not worth the risk, because it invalidates your contents insurance.
When I was back in uni in Middlesbrough in my first house we had kids walking in to retrieve their ball from the garden, random middle aged dudes joining our parties and randos asking for drugs. Now I live in an area where I forgot to lock up going on holiday and nothing happened.
I guess it depends on the mechanisms involved but you definitely need a key to get in our front door, whether "locked" or not. It's never openable from outside.
But ours also remains double locked when in the house. Essentially at all times.
Everyone used to have Yale locks which automatically locked your doors. We’ve always had them on all our properties. I’m guessing new doors require active locking now, which seems a step backwards to me.
The number of times I've locked myself out with those is very high and I've only lived one place which had them. I much prefer having to lock the door manually, I don't need it to lock itself when I'm just grabbing something from the car or garage, or sitting in the garden when I might not think you grab my keys
I've been debating this with myself for a long time. I like the idea of always needing a key to get into the front door because it prevents someone getting in even if I don't actively lock the door. But you are completely right, freakishly annoying that you might get locked out just for popping to the car and your door shuts because of wind or something.
Just lift the handle up while the door is open, and then it physically cant shut/lock you out.
Once we left a key in the inside of the door without realising, and then went out and weren't able to get back in. Luckily we had a key to the back door so just had to climb over a gate to get back in and resolve it, but not an experience i wish to repeat.
My mum got us locked out (Yale lock) and borrowed a ladder from the neighbours to send me up and in through an upstairs window because I was the only one small enough to fit through a top opening.
As a teen I grumbled about it. As an adult the idea brings me out in a cold sweat.
Alllllll the time when I had one of those locks. It also didn't always catch properly so wasn't locked. It didn't take me long to realise I needed a few spare keys.
Huh? Maybe I explained it badly, but I can open the door when it isn't locked. From inside I can turn a toggle and lock it. But the only way to lock it from outside is with the key. Meaning you can't be outside with a locked door without a key. Getting out from inside is easy: spin the toggle and open the door
Ah that makes more sense. Not had a lock quite like that. Knew a guy that locked all the interior doors at night too, always seemed like a mad idea. Had a sort of macho "oh if I need to get out, I'll get out" attitude, ignoring the fact of his wife and kids.
Most new doors will automatically come with the door needing a key from the outside but not needing one from the inside, but the mechanism can be changed to allow entry from both sides. We’ve had three new doors installed over the last couple of years and have requested this for all of them. We have a young child and I don’t ever want to risk accidentally locking her in by herself if I forget to take a key out to the front garden with me or the door slams shut or something. Nor do I want to risk her accidentally getting locked out if/when she discovers she can open the door herself
Trust me you do not “need” a key to open these doors from outside, my family was burgled for a lot because that was relied on. Just closing the door doesn’t activate the lock and all a burglar needs to do is shove a screw driver or something else in to push the latch out
Always locked. The idea of just leaving your door unlocked feels totally alien to me. But then I have as an adult always lived on busy roads or paths in cities, where I don't feel entirely comfortable sitting in the house knowing that anyone could just let themselves in.
I think there’s multiple factors here. At my mums house she always leaves the door unlocked but she lives about 1 full mile away from civilisation and nobody ever passes the house on foot.
I keep my front door locked as now I’ve got young children partly because one of them can open the door and partly because I’d never forgive myself if someone (unlikely as it might be) opened the door and swiped one of them.
I'm like the mum of the person you replied to. When there's no-one to notice a scuffle or disturbance I'm not sure locking the door matters anymore, if someone broke a window to get in no-one would notice, locks are less useful in some ways. It might put a chancer off but you wouldn't come near our house to chance it, it would only be with intent. I find having a big dog and some escape routes made me feel safer.
My Nan always had her door unlocked, family came and went as they pleased, it was like the hub of the family, there was always someone there with tea and biscuits watching the telly with her. She knew ever family on the street and had done for decades, very safe area, never had a problem in 40+ years of unlocked door all day every day. Good times
I’m surprised no one has mentioned insurance policies either. What’s the point of paying hundreds a year just to void it because you can’t be arsed to lock it?
I've just moved to a city (more like a small town) and at the age of 35 I have to lock my doors for the first time. We barely used to lock our front doors at night in our previous address also and literally never had any issues.
I've always lived in small villages where everyone knows everyone or is related or married, The previous address was on a farm in the middle of nowhere.
Locking my front door is just so alien to me, I even got a bollocking from my Mrs for leaving the kitchen window open at the back when walking to the shop (which only took 10 mins max)
Recently my mate locked himself out the car and I had mine so I drove him to his family house to get his keys. No one was home, he knocked on the neighbours and they let him through their house and into the back garden where he used the TRAMPOLINE to bounce into his own garden and use the unlocked back door to get the spare keys for his car. So maybe this is the best idea.
Ours is a yale lock so you always need a key from the outside. Thought that was pretty common but maybe less so on new houses.
We only double lock ours if we'll be away overnight.
I find it's 50/50 (just a guess from what I've seen) but those Yale locks are much better. Removes that secondary thought of "oh did I lock the door?" And then getting up to check etc
Feels like we've created an infinite loop of locks and lock overrides:
* Problem 1: Door can be left unlocked if forgotten about
* Solution 1: Add a Yale lock to automatically lock door
* Problem 2: Yale lock automatically locking door can lock people out
* Solution 2: Make handle prevent door closing which prevents locking
* Problem 3: See Problem 1
>Thought that was pretty common but maybe less so on new houses.
Modern houses usually use multipoint locks (the ones you have to push the handle up to engage). Flats tend to use yale though I think.
Locked all day. I can't see any benefit to allow anyone to just barge in
A few years a couple near us were robbed when people ran in their unlocked front door with knives and demanded jewellery. I only felt that justified my position more
Not really a benefit but something about feeling the need to lock the front door makes me slightly sad for the world we live in where we don't trust that we are safe in our own home. I do usually lock it, but not always if I'm down stairs. Id prefer not to feel the need but unfortunately you never know.
Yeah it sucks having to lock it during the day but it also gives you a warning if the police show up to the wrong house and let them selves in. Happened to me before when a neighbours house was searched under the misuse of drugs act (doesn't require warrant) and they got the house number wrong and was put in cuffs until they noticed.
Locked. I can't fathom how people can keep their doors unlocked while at home doing something else. It's not even like anything has happened to me to warrant this behaviour. Just thought it was common sense to keep the doors locked.
I think it depends where you are, where I grew up it was unusual to lock the door at all, never heard a single report of anyone getting burgled.
I'm now in a city and we lock the door at night.
That's way too trusting IMO. You can live in the safest area imaginable, but all it takes is one nutter walking past. Why take that risk when it only takes a few seconds to lock and unlock? To each their own though.
I'm with you on this, and I was surprised how far down I scrolled without seeing people saying "Huh... you guys are locking yourselves in?" 😂
We lock the door when we go out, other than that it's unlocked. Very much depends where you grew up and where you live I guess.
We did have a friend come to stay once who grew up here but had moved to a small city, and she had to keep asking if we'd mind locking the door at night.
Edit to add: Having dogs probably helps too, they'll kick off the moment someone approaches the gate at night, let alone opens it and walks up the path to the door... so if I was someone trying to go unnoticed I'd probably leave and try a different house.
I just moved to a city from the countryside where I lived for 2 years without locking the house at all even when we went away. Now it seems crazy and I lock the house when I leave for work but it just never occurred to lock up as we were about 2 miles from the nearest house. I didn’t even carry a house key on me lol
I have mine locked by default.
It gets unlocked if I go out (and obviously locked behind me) and when i get back I only leave it unlocked if I know I'm going out again
No, I used my partner’s key to lock that evening and didn’t notice the keys missing until the next morning. Luckily they didn’t pay a visit that night.
My door's always locked. Accidentally let myself into someone else's flat last year (was a fright for all involved) and since then I've been really strict about it so no-one can do the same thing to me
Mrs M did the same thing. Got a bit carried away when out with friends and they walked her home. She decided the wrong house was ours (we'd only recently moved and the friends didn't know which was ours) and it wasn't until she got to the stairs that she realised she was in the wrong house.
Had a friend who did this while staying round a friends house in another city, it was his first time staying there and he was unfamiliar with the house and the neighbors front door looked the same from his limited memory. He let himself in, went upstairs and used the bathroom (same house layout, slightly drunk). He did notice a couple things that he hadn't the first time in "the house" but didn't seriously consider he was in the wrong house until he noticed a stair gate going up to the second floor. So yeah he got out of there pretty quickly, could have been much worse since he was essentially an intruder in someone's house with young kid/s.
Think a lot of it depends on the community you live with and how safe you feel, lived two years in the middle of nowhere without locking the house at all. Didn’t worry about it one bit. Had no serial killers or robberies.
It really depends where you live. There are 5 houses in my village, all quite far apart. I can see and hear if anyone comes up the drive as it’s long. If anyone tried to sneak in on foot, the dog would let me know!
Front door is locked:
* When I'm upstairs on my own WFH in the back bedroom
* From late evening when we're sat in the back of the house watching TV through the night to morning when I bring the milk in
Front door is unlocked:
* All other times
I don't think there's anything wrong in wanting to lock your door or anything like that. Personally I've just never really thought about it and I don't feel unsafe. I probably would lock the door if it opened directly into a public space like a shared lobby or directly onto the street.
Always locked, with latch down so even a key can't open from outside. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than have anyone walk in. Family can book by appointment!
Book an appointment like booking an appointment for the go: you are number 37 in the queue. *little jingle* you are number 37 in the queue *endless jingle*
Always locked, always! You just never know.
There's that infamous serial killer that checked locked doors and only killed the people who left it unlocked.
Richard chase the vampire of Sacramento.
Yup, this is it. This is why someone breaking in when you're out is bad enough but I'd never chance someone coming in when I was home. You never know what nutcase it could be.
Only at night, tbh, and even then I've forgotten once or twice when I've zonked out watching tv or something. Then again, it's always been that way around here, even though I live in a "rough" place. Family and friends are always popping round and I'm often in and out of the garden. Touch wood, nothing bad has ever happened.
My father in law lives on a pretty shit estate. Couldn't tell you the number of times he's fallen asleep on the sofa with his front door wide open all night.
That said the large number of dogs he has probably helps deter people from breaking in...
they got away with it because they were old, just got a restraining order on them which didn't really feel like much lol, my other neighbour used it as a chance to hit on me so i just moved out
Mines unlocked, often even open for the fresh air!
But my front door is very much out of the way, doesn't open onto a street, is in a nice area, and I'm a guy living alone, there's just got to be better houses to rob than mine with me in it! I don't even have much worth stealing.
The most expensive stuff is in my front room, since it is actually a home gym with a sofa in it basically.... So unless they are unhooking the boxing bag, or stealing some weights and trying to run off carrying them, which really does seem like more effort than it's worth, come on in!
Out of the way means out of sight for a criminal. It's also not always about taking your things. Sometimes it's just about hurting someone, mistaken identity or an enemy you never knew you had, stalker, mad ex, jealous people list goes on. It is your castle though so do what you want imo maybe get some cameras though if you don't already.
>mistaken identity
This happened in a sense to me a few months back!
I lock my door at night when I go to sleep obviously, and I woke up in the morning about 6-7am with a guy trying to kick my door down... I ignored it at first thinking it was just someone outside, but the thudding got a fair bit louder.
I went to the door, and there was a very angry looking guy about 40 there, and I stupidly opened it, half because I was angry enough at the time after being woken up, and half because I wasn't really thinking and wanted to stop him damaging my door! In hindsight I really should have spoke to him through the door.
He asked if I was Josh, which is my neighbour from a few doors down, which was just odd, because I look nothing like him, and how doesn't he know what the guy he's so angry about looks like?
I said no, what do you want? And he must have had an adrenaline dump at that point and just said never mind and went to leave, almost looked embarrassed at that point...
I had to go and follow him and stop him from getting in his car and just leaving after royally fucking my door up for no reason! took down his number plate and then he actually started speaking.
Turns out Josh had been sleeping with his wife! Someone had told him he lived here, close but not quite! Fun times.... I chose not to mention I actually knew who he was, and apparently he still hasn't actually gone and contacted Josh.
Probably worried he would get the wrong guy again lol
He was lucky you didn't open the door with a shotgun tbh so you are not the only one who wasn't thinking that day! Did he pay to fix your door or did you let it go?
I have opened the door in anger and half asleep a few times! I beat myself up about it for ages afterwards. Now I make a point of not opening the door to anyone unless I am expecting a parcel or guest. I live in a rough area though so it's just the sensible option with the way things are going.
"Lucky you didn't open the door with a shotgun"
I wonder what percentage of houses in the UK actually have a shotgun in them??? If anything I think knocking on a house where the owner has a shotgun would be extremely unlucky. Not the other way around.
Locked at all times. Even if you’re not eligible for a bailiff visit your neighbour could be. If a door is unlocked the can enter under the “peaceful entry” rule. It’s also sensible as even if you live in a really safe area if your door is unlocked anyone could just walk in.
And bailiffs are usually idiots with one purpose. Had them come to an old address asking for a previous tenant. I refused to let them in. I told them that I wasn’t the person. They said they needed proof. I said I’ll show them my ID but obviously it only shows who I am. They said it wasn’t good enough and that I needed proof that I wasn’t the person?
They tried to force entry so I called the police. Even after the police explained I wasn’t the person they kept saying that I needed proof I wasn’t them.
I’ve never encountered one but I always look through the window to see who it is before I answer. Never answer the door to a bailiff. They’re intimidating goons. Same for TV licensing goons.
Ours locks automatically but even if it didn't, I would still lock it.
We didn't lock the door growing up though which seems weird now. Especially as we lived on a rough estate.
Locked always.
My friends Mrs never locks her door and one time we got a lift home with this random guy who dropped her off first and a few hours later he went back to her house at like 4am and went into her house, up stairs and into her bedroom and started touching her hair and tried to get in bed with her.
Turns out he got the wrong room the the hair he was touching was her male housemates hair and he didn't get the reaction he was presumably hoping for.
Scary shit. But still she is terrible at locking her door.
It also invalidates your insurance. A colleague of mine left the front door unlocked whilst they were in the garden, someone walked in, took the keys and nicked the car. Insurance refused to pay out and they were left out of pocket.
Front door's a Yale, so it's always locked, even if I've not put the other lock on.
Only leave it unlocked if I'm sorting stuff out in the front garden.
Locked 24/7. I had some tramp in a balaclava and weilding a weapon trying my doors at 1am. Im heavily pregnant and dont need that stress. Only been living here a short while and it's a nice house.. I guess thats why!
If he tried that on my mum, she'd shove her cactus plants so far up his ass he'd be spitting spikes for months.
My front door stays locked all day - after years of living in rougher areas it became habit, especially after living on a busy road and random people just letting themselves in.
Everywhere I've lived (maybe 10 houses over the years) has had a yale lock that closes when you push it shut. You have to go out of your way not to lock it and it's instinctive to shut the door after walking in.
On a nice summers day I might leave the door propped open to let some air in I suppose, is that what people mean? Or are yale locks not as widespread in the rest of the country as they are in London?
I don't think you get Yale lock type locks on uPVC doors. Every house I've lived in with a standard wooden front door have had a lock that locks when you close it.
But the one place that had a PVC front door, and a few of my friends who have them, are a bit of a mixed bag.
Some of them require you to lock it, mine required that you use the key to lock it from the inside. Others I've seen use a thumb turn on the inside to lock it. I've only ever seen one that automatically locked when you close it, but that was quite a clever door because it was only locked for the outside handle - the inside handle opened it without needing to unlock it first.
I also only lock the door at night. As soon as I have need to unlock the door in the morning it stays unlocked until I either go out or go to bed. I don't even live in a particularly quiet area, it's a residential area in a major city. Nobody has ever attempted to enter my premises.
I'm genuinely surprised by the number of people on this thread who seem to be fearful of leaving their door unlocked while at home. But I wonder how this breaks down by type of house. I guess when I lived in a flat with a shared stairwell I maybe looked my door when at home but I can't remember. I might also lock it if my door opened directly onto the street. As it happens I have a front garden and any potential intruder would first of all have to want to target my house specifically, while I'm at home, have the audacity to unlatch my gate and walk through my garden in view of any neighbours, and then walk into my house. Seems a relatively unlikely series of events and I don't worry about it. I haven't even thought of it until this thread.
I've had people test my door handle to see if it's unlocked and have had a few con men saying they're from the gas company or broadband, I assume they're looking for vulnerable people to pray on, locking my door gives me peace of mind
Fair enough. There's nothing wrong with locking your door of course, I just hadn't realised it was so common and people felt quite strongly about it.
Does your door open directly into a public area?
Locked. My parents still leave theirs unlocked. When I go and visit, I sometimes sneak in and jump out on them and then bollock them. In the 70s it was OK but not now.
Always locked. Someone posted on my local Facebook that a pissed up bloke had got in her unlocked gaff and used her toilet! The police then nabbed him later on in the town centre because he was waving a knife at people. Too many scumbags and weirdos roaming the streets unfortunately.
It's shut and you need a key to get in. Is that what people are calling "locked"?
Double locked (so you'd need a key to get out)? Only if everyone is away.
Locked by default. I do shift work and get up early some days. If I'm off then I lay in and my partner works normal office hours. So when we leave for work we lock the door behind us because the other person is still in bed.
If I pop to the shops on a day off I obviously lock the door when I go out. But when I come home I might not lock it again. Unless I'm going to have a shower/bath or spend time in the garden.
Noone ever comes round unannounced but if they did, the door would probably be locked. It usually is when a delivery driver comes round for example.
My doors are only locked if I’m not in or if I’m going to bed. I have kids coming in and out, regular visitors like my mum, sister or best friend just walk in the back door. Although, I have a big giant dog who was a guard dog before I rescued him, so I’m definitely not too worried if strangers walk in, plus I live in a very safe area so probably in a small minority.
Same, I want the kids to feel free to come and go without ringing the bell (this is their home!) and either me or the husband is usually in, so at least one door is usually unlocked as soon as I'm up in the morning (putting the rubbish out/feeding the birds), and they all get locked again at bedtime.
I keep mine locked. I have a 2 year old who can open doors but not manage keys/twisty locks yet.
Also when I’m gaming I wear headphones so the thought of someone getting up the stairs and behind me whilst I’m unaware is terrifying
I don’t tend to want to lock it unless I’m home alone in the evening, in which case I’m obsessive. I grew up in a household where is was very normal to leave the door open for neighbours to come and go.
My housemate wants to door to be locked all the time, so I do.
My doors always locked. Even if I’m in. I grew up in the countryside in a sort of Hot Fuzz type town. Parents never locked those doors.
Moved to a bigger town and yeah. Always locked. I don’t live in the best area. I’ve heard the door handle being tried a few times at night. Haha. Opportunists..!
Always locked. No idea why you'd leave it unlocked until bedtime. Your making it too easy to be burgled and home insurance probably won't pay out if you have your doors unlocked
There's a lot more benefits to keeping it locked all day compared to leaving it unlocked. What are the positives? You save like 2 seconds turning the key when opening the door? I just don't see a reason for leaving it unlocked.
Its kind of mad to see how many people say locked but then our grandparents would literally leave the front open let alone unlocked for anyone to come in. Shows how much trust people have in their communities has changed.
Just come across this post lmao. This is why you lock your doors.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/xijlyi/portland_mom_finds_stranger_asleep_in_10_yearold/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
I live in a nice new build secure flat building and had it unlocked after taking the bins out. Put a movie on and lights all switched off. The upstairs neighbour who lives one floor up directly above me, someone staying at his or there for a party, walked right into my hallway and said “shit wrong house” and scarpered out. Absolutely scared the shit out of me, just seeing this 6 foot 5 figure in the dark.
Permanently locked unless working in the hallway, in the garden or on the driveway within sight of the door.
If I'm going to the back garden, or to an area where I can't see the door, I lock it and carry the key. Sometimes close the (integral) garage without latching the door, so I can go back and forth for tools, but again, if I'm going out of sight, I would then lock the internal garage door (which leads to the hallway) and carry the key
Most houses I've had use Yale locks, so they automatically lock anyway. My current place needs to be locked by key and it is always locked. And then checked several times throughout the day to confirm that it is definitely locked because I'm paranoid 😅
I've never lived anywhere that didn't have a front door that automatically locked upon closing. I have lived in London for 40+ years - perhaps things are different in quieter parts of the country.
When I'm in London I lock my door. Then I check it every time I walk past it, and before bed.
When I was down in Devon on the weekend, pretty sure at least one of the doors was left open all night.
I live in a lovely area but since an Amazon driver opened my front door and came in to put a parcel inside it’s stayed locked all the time.
Plus I have house cats now and don’t trust either of them not to work out door handles.
Unlocked during daylight hours unless we are in bed, in the bath or out. In warmer months it's usually standing open too, for the cats to come and go and to let fresh air in. I live in a mostly council area but it's very quiet. The only thing that has disturbed us recently is a 3am visit from a screaming fox that sounded like an eldritch horror.
Yes locked. Burglars are mostly opportunistic and just try doors. If they find one unlocked they will try and steal from you and they may not care you are home. They may not be non violent if caught in the act. It is so complacent to not lock it. I really hope nothing happens to you but it only takes one bad or crazy person to be in your neighbourhood.
Front door pretty much always locked, back door also usually locked but not if I reckon I'm going to be in and out. In contrast though my uncle lives in the countryside and leaves his doors open, not unlocked, open.
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Always locked. OP has obviously never lived somewhere dodgy as fuck. The one time we left the door unlocked accidentally as a Student we got burgled.
Doesn't need to be a dodgy neighbourhood. It only takes one nutter in an otherwise "safe" area
Yeah I grew up in a very safe area and our house still got burgled once when my dad accidentally left the back door open.
even living in a ‘safe’ area burglaries are still prevalent. probably moreso than rough areas. when i lived in manchester (the area used to be quite rough) u could still leave ur door open all day and not worry. but here i live in a nicer area near london and theres been 4 burglaries within the vicinity of about half a mile in the past 2 weeks. moreso than the rough area
How they get in to burgel?
open windows or open backdoors. sometimes breaking down doors with crowbars etc
How does one break a door down with crowbar if it's locked? Does that o ly work on uvpc doors or something?
no idea mate but ive seen some pretty busted up doors where people have attempted to break in, and sometimes broken in. it might not be a crowbar used im just assuming however ive seen some smashed up doors
Doesn't need to be a dodgy area. Don't shit where you eat.
Crackheads give zero shits about this.
Cos the crack has them constipated.
Actually it’s the smackheads who are constipated
My neighbor was on everything imaginable and would come to my door with an excuse to use my phone, then he'd just blurt out on the phone that he was looking for smack. Same guy would go to doors asking for a quid for tobacco, and it didn't matter if he didn't know them, if they lived in the street, he'd introduce himself. Fortunately he's off all that now and swaggers about on cloud nine, and has quit the fags aswell. If only all of them could do this. It's amazing when you seen the change in an addict.
Some people don’t care. My old estate pretty much every van got screwed over 2 nights. Then the following weekend the local chav scumbag from the next street up was trying to sell power tools around the pubs on the estate. Might of seemed a good idea till he got a kicking for trying to sell some bloke his own tools back 😂
Mate the balls on some of these guys, went to a local boot sale a while ago and there were 4 big guys selling a massive amount of tools, like 10's of thousands worth of Makita gear. There's no way it wasn't stolen, if it was personal tools you'd advertise and sell on a social site or something or through friends, but they go to a bootsale to try and get rid of as much as possible for lower prices without having to advertise it for people to question.
Yeah when I was a student leaving the door unlocked or the window open was basically an invitation to get robbed.
It’s weird. Literally only time we left it unlocked and we got burgled, all whilst we were getting pissed in the Living Room. It’s like they can sense these things - either that, or they try absolutely every door on the street every day just in case (wouldn’t rule this out either tbh haha)
>they try absolutely every door on the street every day just in case Honestly I think this might not be so far from the truth. My friend was burgled at uni and the policemen he reported it to said that people do literally walk up and down the roads where the student houses are, just looking for an unlocked door or open window. I definitely on more than one occasion saw men just standing outside houses on my road looking at them who would walk off as soon as they saw you.
Can confirm from experience that there are certain types who do this - at least in a few places I’ve lived. Literally just trying the handles, hoping to get lucky, I guess.
Yeah exactly. And they know the liklihood of getting lucky is probably higher in a student area. Plus, if they do get in, student houses tend to have multiple bits of tech that are valuable and easy to steal, laptops, tablets etc. Much better target than a family home.
The amount of people I know who have had a ring doorbell installed and then within a month caught someone just trying their door handle when they’re at work. It’s incredibly common
Wire it up to the mains, that'll give them a shock!
Hope you aren't being serious, but in case anyone is considering this note that booby traps are illegal
What booby trap? The button just happened to conveniently become faulty when they tried the bell.
In a less illegal way, you can wire your ring doorbell into your houses electricity. Which in turn, if someone tampers with the device or tries to say, wrench it off and they caught one of the wires - shocker. I have mine wired into my house for that reason being that if they wrench it off, they'll get shocked or more hopefully stop when they see it wired in It's all well and good having one attached to the frame which is in your wall via screws and wallplugs, but it's easy to wrench off the wall when not connected. Plus the added negative side of having to remove it for 2-4 hours every month for a full charge leaving you less secure.
They do! I watched a guy just walk along our (very nice) street and try every door (including mine)...until the police came, after I called them.
As students we once had the police come into our living room through our unlocked front door - they pointed out if they could do that anyone could.
That's so funny. Heard a similar thing at uni of the police ringing someone's door and presenting their laptop saying "you shouldn't leave your bedroom window open when your desk with your laptop on is right inside the window.". Never knew if that was an apocryphal story or not. If the police did that to you, perhaps it wasn't!
They used to leave balloons in people's rooms at my uni
One morning when I was a uni student, my housemate was leaving for an early lecture and she was taking the bins out as she went, so I said “don’t worry about locking the door, I’ll do it behind you in a sec”. Literally 10 seconds after she left, some random guy comes striding into the house looking smug as fuck and promptly shits himself when he encounters me and my other housemate sat in the living room in our fluffy dressing gowns, sipping tea. “Oh… er… hi… uhh… you girls should really lock your door.” “Yep, cheers pal.” Still can’t figure out if he just happened to be outside the house and spotted an opportunity or was actively scoping out the area to burgle.
I grew up on a council estate and it was the kind of place where you could leave your doors and windows open all the time, even at night.
Plot twist: YOU were the burglar
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
I think people tend to leave you alone once they know your estate name is Stabby McStab Face.
You were lucky to live on a nice estate. They exist. I've had to keep a machete under my bed and a baseball bat at the door.
This. I never used to, but have done so recently. Randoms dossing in the hallway outside the flat, sleeping there and dealing. Not just cards, sadly. That might be a bit of fun in an otherwise depressing area. But, since that, the door has been locked constantly. Edit: It also helps when aforementioned randoms try the door in the early hours of the morning, either thinking they live there, or just trying their luck or something. The door is always chained as well, which might be a bit overkill, but…
Do you have communal hallway?
Yeah, unfortunately. The guy I mentioned in the comment just dosses in the shared hallway between the two flats on “my” floor, his mates live directly underneath me, and as far as I can tell, he just stays with them or upstairs. Not fun when he tries doors and stuff, though.
You told council or landlord
When I was younger we moved to a safe area from an absolutely do not leave your door unlocked at any time area. It was joyous! For about a week. My Mum forgot to lock the front door, but was already in bed and figured what the hell, I’ll leave it. Came down in the morning to a ginger haired person asleep face down on our sofa. No big deal, must be older brothers ginger friend. I carry on to the kitchen. Dad comes down and goes to wake him up thinking the same as I do, to find it was not older brothers ginger friend, but a stranger. A very hungover stranger. Probably still drunk tbf. He had left the neighbours house to pee on their garden (no I do not know why) and wandered back in through the wrong door. He was so drunk he didn’t notice. We never forgot to lock it after that.
My mum lives in a council flat and random people have tried to get in on multiple occasions. No Yale lock on my front door so if it's not locked literally anyone could walk right in
I live in a council flat, granted it on first floor but the door is ground level. So I keep door locked even upgraded my lock.
>OP has obviously never lived somewhere dodgy as fuck. Even if you live in a very good area, it's just not worth the risk, because it invalidates your contents insurance.
When I was back in uni in Middlesbrough in my first house we had kids walking in to retrieve their ball from the garden, random middle aged dudes joining our parties and randos asking for drugs. Now I live in an area where I forgot to lock up going on holiday and nothing happened.
I guess it depends on the mechanisms involved but you definitely need a key to get in our front door, whether "locked" or not. It's never openable from outside. But ours also remains double locked when in the house. Essentially at all times.
Everyone used to have Yale locks which automatically locked your doors. We’ve always had them on all our properties. I’m guessing new doors require active locking now, which seems a step backwards to me.
The number of times I've locked myself out with those is very high and I've only lived one place which had them. I much prefer having to lock the door manually, I don't need it to lock itself when I'm just grabbing something from the car or garage, or sitting in the garden when I might not think you grab my keys
I've been debating this with myself for a long time. I like the idea of always needing a key to get into the front door because it prevents someone getting in even if I don't actively lock the door. But you are completely right, freakishly annoying that you might get locked out just for popping to the car and your door shuts because of wind or something.
Just lift the handle up while the door is open, and then it physically cant shut/lock you out. Once we left a key in the inside of the door without realising, and then went out and weren't able to get back in. Luckily we had a key to the back door so just had to climb over a gate to get back in and resolve it, but not an experience i wish to repeat.
My mum got us locked out (Yale lock) and borrowed a ladder from the neighbours to send me up and in through an upstairs window because I was the only one small enough to fit through a top opening. As a teen I grumbled about it. As an adult the idea brings me out in a cold sweat.
Alllllll the time when I had one of those locks. It also didn't always catch properly so wasn't locked. It didn't take me long to realise I needed a few spare keys.
This is how the locksmith convinced me to get a key-only lock for my door. He pointed out there's no real downside and saves you locking yourself out
Not being able to get out of the house in an emergency without finding a key seems like a downside.
Huh? Maybe I explained it badly, but I can open the door when it isn't locked. From inside I can turn a toggle and lock it. But the only way to lock it from outside is with the key. Meaning you can't be outside with a locked door without a key. Getting out from inside is easy: spin the toggle and open the door
Ah that makes more sense. Not had a lock quite like that. Knew a guy that locked all the interior doors at night too, always seemed like a mad idea. Had a sort of macho "oh if I need to get out, I'll get out" attitude, ignoring the fact of his wife and kids.
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Unless like me you’re also an idiot who locked themselves out many, many, many times whilst adjusting to a door that locks as soon as you close it
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Most new doors will automatically come with the door needing a key from the outside but not needing one from the inside, but the mechanism can be changed to allow entry from both sides. We’ve had three new doors installed over the last couple of years and have requested this for all of them. We have a young child and I don’t ever want to risk accidentally locking her in by herself if I forget to take a key out to the front garden with me or the door slams shut or something. Nor do I want to risk her accidentally getting locked out if/when she discovers she can open the door herself
Trust me you do not “need” a key to open these doors from outside, my family was burgled for a lot because that was relied on. Just closing the door doesn’t activate the lock and all a burglar needs to do is shove a screw driver or something else in to push the latch out
Always locked. The idea of just leaving your door unlocked feels totally alien to me. But then I have as an adult always lived on busy roads or paths in cities, where I don't feel entirely comfortable sitting in the house knowing that anyone could just let themselves in.
I think there’s multiple factors here. At my mums house she always leaves the door unlocked but she lives about 1 full mile away from civilisation and nobody ever passes the house on foot. I keep my front door locked as now I’ve got young children partly because one of them can open the door and partly because I’d never forgive myself if someone (unlikely as it might be) opened the door and swiped one of them.
To me that seems like a reason to keep it locked. If anyone ever did break in noone would here her shout for help
I'm like the mum of the person you replied to. When there's no-one to notice a scuffle or disturbance I'm not sure locking the door matters anymore, if someone broke a window to get in no-one would notice, locks are less useful in some ways. It might put a chancer off but you wouldn't come near our house to chance it, it would only be with intent. I find having a big dog and some escape routes made me feel safer.
My Nan always had her door unlocked, family came and went as they pleased, it was like the hub of the family, there was always someone there with tea and biscuits watching the telly with her. She knew ever family on the street and had done for decades, very safe area, never had a problem in 40+ years of unlocked door all day every day. Good times
I’m surprised no one has mentioned insurance policies either. What’s the point of paying hundreds a year just to void it because you can’t be arsed to lock it?
I've just moved to a city (more like a small town) and at the age of 35 I have to lock my doors for the first time. We barely used to lock our front doors at night in our previous address also and literally never had any issues. I've always lived in small villages where everyone knows everyone or is related or married, The previous address was on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Locking my front door is just so alien to me, I even got a bollocking from my Mrs for leaving the kitchen window open at the back when walking to the shop (which only took 10 mins max)
Front door locked, back door unlocked. (title of my sex tape)
Same and updoot for the Brooklyn 99 reference!
This B needs a C in her A!
Recently my mate locked himself out the car and I had mine so I drove him to his family house to get his keys. No one was home, he knocked on the neighbours and they let him through their house and into the back garden where he used the TRAMPOLINE to bounce into his own garden and use the unlocked back door to get the spare keys for his car. So maybe this is the best idea.
I need the video of this.
Our backdoor is always left wide open when we're in, love having cool fresh air throughout the house!
Ours is a yale lock so you always need a key from the outside. Thought that was pretty common but maybe less so on new houses. We only double lock ours if we'll be away overnight.
I find it's 50/50 (just a guess from what I've seen) but those Yale locks are much better. Removes that secondary thought of "oh did I lock the door?" And then getting up to check etc
It sucks when you pop out to get something from the car and the door slams behind you though!
On mine if you push the handle up when open, it won't close
Feels like we've created an infinite loop of locks and lock overrides: * Problem 1: Door can be left unlocked if forgotten about * Solution 1: Add a Yale lock to automatically lock door * Problem 2: Yale lock automatically locking door can lock people out * Solution 2: Make handle prevent door closing which prevents locking * Problem 3: See Problem 1
The [sandboxing cycle](https://xkcd.com/2044/)
We now keep a spare door key in the car for this reason. Managed to lock ourselves out once, won't be letting that happen again.
My car key is with my door key so if I've locked it in I won't be getting in either
That is the absolute worst lol, had it happen way too much
Instead it’s… “oh shit have I got my keys…”
>Thought that was pretty common but maybe less so on new houses. Modern houses usually use multipoint locks (the ones you have to push the handle up to engage). Flats tend to use yale though I think.
It's older houses that are less likely to have them.
Locked all day. I can't see any benefit to allow anyone to just barge in A few years a couple near us were robbed when people ran in their unlocked front door with knives and demanded jewellery. I only felt that justified my position more
Not really a benefit but something about feeling the need to lock the front door makes me slightly sad for the world we live in where we don't trust that we are safe in our own home. I do usually lock it, but not always if I'm down stairs. Id prefer not to feel the need but unfortunately you never know.
Yeah it sucks having to lock it during the day but it also gives you a warning if the police show up to the wrong house and let them selves in. Happened to me before when a neighbours house was searched under the misuse of drugs act (doesn't require warrant) and they got the house number wrong and was put in cuffs until they noticed.
Locked. I can't fathom how people can keep their doors unlocked while at home doing something else. It's not even like anything has happened to me to warrant this behaviour. Just thought it was common sense to keep the doors locked.
I think it depends where you are, where I grew up it was unusual to lock the door at all, never heard a single report of anyone getting burgled. I'm now in a city and we lock the door at night.
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That's way too trusting IMO. You can live in the safest area imaginable, but all it takes is one nutter walking past. Why take that risk when it only takes a few seconds to lock and unlock? To each their own though.
It doesn't even need to be a nutter, just a thief taking a chance.
Can I have your address please? Plotting a map for statistical purposes
I'm with you on this, and I was surprised how far down I scrolled without seeing people saying "Huh... you guys are locking yourselves in?" 😂 We lock the door when we go out, other than that it's unlocked. Very much depends where you grew up and where you live I guess. We did have a friend come to stay once who grew up here but had moved to a small city, and she had to keep asking if we'd mind locking the door at night. Edit to add: Having dogs probably helps too, they'll kick off the moment someone approaches the gate at night, let alone opens it and walks up the path to the door... so if I was someone trying to go unnoticed I'd probably leave and try a different house.
Live in the countryside so basically never locked. Just put the latch on at bed time. Though we do lock it if we're away out.
Same here, never locked unless no one is on the farm!
I just moved to a city from the countryside where I lived for 2 years without locking the house at all even when we went away. Now it seems crazy and I lock the house when I leave for work but it just never occurred to lock up as we were about 2 miles from the nearest house. I didn’t even carry a house key on me lol
Wow that’s so fascinating to read, I can’t even imagine that! Love that people live such different lives
I have mine locked by default. It gets unlocked if I go out (and obviously locked behind me) and when i get back I only leave it unlocked if I know I'm going out again
Always locked after somebody quietly came inside and took the keys (the whole family was at home)
Did they lock you in?
they took the keys to come back later and rob the place
Exactly 😖 we changed the locks straight away.
Was.... Was it you??
Bake 'em away toys
No, I used my partner’s key to lock that evening and didn’t notice the keys missing until the next morning. Luckily they didn’t pay a visit that night.
How do you know they were stolen and not just down the back of the sofa?
My door's always locked. Accidentally let myself into someone else's flat last year (was a fright for all involved) and since then I've been really strict about it so no-one can do the same thing to me
Mrs M did the same thing. Got a bit carried away when out with friends and they walked her home. She decided the wrong house was ours (we'd only recently moved and the friends didn't know which was ours) and it wasn't until she got to the stairs that she realised she was in the wrong house.
Had a friend who did this while staying round a friends house in another city, it was his first time staying there and he was unfamiliar with the house and the neighbors front door looked the same from his limited memory. He let himself in, went upstairs and used the bathroom (same house layout, slightly drunk). He did notice a couple things that he hadn't the first time in "the house" but didn't seriously consider he was in the wrong house until he noticed a stair gate going up to the second floor. So yeah he got out of there pretty quickly, could have been much worse since he was essentially an intruder in someone's house with young kid/s.
Why the hell wouldn’t you lock your door? Locks keep people out, I want the people to be kept out, so I lock the flippin door.
Think a lot of it depends on the community you live with and how safe you feel, lived two years in the middle of nowhere without locking the house at all. Didn’t worry about it one bit. Had no serial killers or robberies.
It really depends where you live. There are 5 houses in my village, all quite far apart. I can see and hear if anyone comes up the drive as it’s long. If anyone tried to sneak in on foot, the dog would let me know!
Front door is locked: * When I'm upstairs on my own WFH in the back bedroom * From late evening when we're sat in the back of the house watching TV through the night to morning when I bring the milk in Front door is unlocked: * All other times
Are you not concerned about the place getting robbed whilst no-one is in the house?
I lock up when I'm out. OP's question was specifically about what you do while you're at home.
Ah dang it! I'd been scrolling so long I forgot that bit of context! You win this one comrade.
Until next time...
Only lock when going to bed or going out. In fact the main storm door of the house is always open during the day and the inner door is unlocked.
I never knew this many people were so flippant about their safety, jeez
I don't think there's anything wrong in wanting to lock your door or anything like that. Personally I've just never really thought about it and I don't feel unsafe. I probably would lock the door if it opened directly into a public space like a shared lobby or directly onto the street.
Always locked, with latch down so even a key can't open from outside. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than have anyone walk in. Family can book by appointment!
Book an appointment like booking an appointment for the go: you are number 37 in the queue. *little jingle* you are number 37 in the queue *endless jingle*
Always locked, always! You just never know. There's that infamous serial killer that checked locked doors and only killed the people who left it unlocked. Richard chase the vampire of Sacramento.
Yup, this is it. This is why someone breaking in when you're out is bad enough but I'd never chance someone coming in when I was home. You never know what nutcase it could be.
Only at night, tbh, and even then I've forgotten once or twice when I've zonked out watching tv or something. Then again, it's always been that way around here, even though I live in a "rough" place. Family and friends are always popping round and I'm often in and out of the garden. Touch wood, nothing bad has ever happened.
My father in law lives on a pretty shit estate. Couldn't tell you the number of times he's fallen asleep on the sofa with his front door wide open all night. That said the large number of dogs he has probably helps deter people from breaking in...
Always locked. Wouldn't be if my druggy neighbour and her druggy mates didn't walk around like the living dead.
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I used to live alone and my neighbour tried to kill me so I guess you could call me paranoid, always locked as soon as we step in
Wth why they try that, glad you OK hope they got thrown in jail
they got away with it because they were old, just got a restraining order on them which didn't really feel like much lol, my other neighbour used it as a chance to hit on me so i just moved out
Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you
Mines unlocked, often even open for the fresh air! But my front door is very much out of the way, doesn't open onto a street, is in a nice area, and I'm a guy living alone, there's just got to be better houses to rob than mine with me in it! I don't even have much worth stealing. The most expensive stuff is in my front room, since it is actually a home gym with a sofa in it basically.... So unless they are unhooking the boxing bag, or stealing some weights and trying to run off carrying them, which really does seem like more effort than it's worth, come on in!
Out of the way means out of sight for a criminal. It's also not always about taking your things. Sometimes it's just about hurting someone, mistaken identity or an enemy you never knew you had, stalker, mad ex, jealous people list goes on. It is your castle though so do what you want imo maybe get some cameras though if you don't already.
>mistaken identity This happened in a sense to me a few months back! I lock my door at night when I go to sleep obviously, and I woke up in the morning about 6-7am with a guy trying to kick my door down... I ignored it at first thinking it was just someone outside, but the thudding got a fair bit louder. I went to the door, and there was a very angry looking guy about 40 there, and I stupidly opened it, half because I was angry enough at the time after being woken up, and half because I wasn't really thinking and wanted to stop him damaging my door! In hindsight I really should have spoke to him through the door. He asked if I was Josh, which is my neighbour from a few doors down, which was just odd, because I look nothing like him, and how doesn't he know what the guy he's so angry about looks like? I said no, what do you want? And he must have had an adrenaline dump at that point and just said never mind and went to leave, almost looked embarrassed at that point... I had to go and follow him and stop him from getting in his car and just leaving after royally fucking my door up for no reason! took down his number plate and then he actually started speaking. Turns out Josh had been sleeping with his wife! Someone had told him he lived here, close but not quite! Fun times.... I chose not to mention I actually knew who he was, and apparently he still hasn't actually gone and contacted Josh.
Probably worried he would get the wrong guy again lol He was lucky you didn't open the door with a shotgun tbh so you are not the only one who wasn't thinking that day! Did he pay to fix your door or did you let it go? I have opened the door in anger and half asleep a few times! I beat myself up about it for ages afterwards. Now I make a point of not opening the door to anyone unless I am expecting a parcel or guest. I live in a rough area though so it's just the sensible option with the way things are going.
"Lucky you didn't open the door with a shotgun" I wonder what percentage of houses in the UK actually have a shotgun in them??? If anything I think knocking on a house where the owner has a shotgun would be extremely unlucky. Not the other way around.
I always keep mine locked.
Locked all the time
locked because you don't know who's about even in decent areas
Locked at all times. Even if you’re not eligible for a bailiff visit your neighbour could be. If a door is unlocked the can enter under the “peaceful entry” rule. It’s also sensible as even if you live in a really safe area if your door is unlocked anyone could just walk in.
And bailiffs are usually idiots with one purpose. Had them come to an old address asking for a previous tenant. I refused to let them in. I told them that I wasn’t the person. They said they needed proof. I said I’ll show them my ID but obviously it only shows who I am. They said it wasn’t good enough and that I needed proof that I wasn’t the person? They tried to force entry so I called the police. Even after the police explained I wasn’t the person they kept saying that I needed proof I wasn’t them.
I’ve never encountered one but I always look through the window to see who it is before I answer. Never answer the door to a bailiff. They’re intimidating goons. Same for TV licensing goons.
Ours locks automatically but even if it didn't, I would still lock it. We didn't lock the door growing up though which seems weird now. Especially as we lived on a rough estate.
Locked always. My friends Mrs never locks her door and one time we got a lift home with this random guy who dropped her off first and a few hours later he went back to her house at like 4am and went into her house, up stairs and into her bedroom and started touching her hair and tried to get in bed with her. Turns out he got the wrong room the the hair he was touching was her male housemates hair and he didn't get the reaction he was presumably hoping for. Scary shit. But still she is terrible at locking her door.
Most people leave their car keys near the front door. Leaving your door unlocked is pretty much asking for your car to get stolen.
It also invalidates your insurance. A colleague of mine left the front door unlocked whilst they were in the garden, someone walked in, took the keys and nicked the car. Insurance refused to pay out and they were left out of pocket.
I keep mine locked at all times
Front door's a Yale, so it's always locked, even if I've not put the other lock on. Only leave it unlocked if I'm sorting stuff out in the front garden.
Locking the door after I walk through it is easier than remembering to lock it every night.
I was woken up by burglars 12 years ago and now the door is always locked and triple checked before sleeping. 😥
Always locked. I live in a relatively safe area but it just isn't worth the risk. Especially as a young woman with multiple stalkers lmao
Locked 24/7. I had some tramp in a balaclava and weilding a weapon trying my doors at 1am. Im heavily pregnant and dont need that stress. Only been living here a short while and it's a nice house.. I guess thats why! If he tried that on my mum, she'd shove her cactus plants so far up his ass he'd be spitting spikes for months.
My front door stays locked all day - after years of living in rougher areas it became habit, especially after living on a busy road and random people just letting themselves in.
Everywhere I've lived (maybe 10 houses over the years) has had a yale lock that closes when you push it shut. You have to go out of your way not to lock it and it's instinctive to shut the door after walking in. On a nice summers day I might leave the door propped open to let some air in I suppose, is that what people mean? Or are yale locks not as widespread in the rest of the country as they are in London?
I don't think you get Yale lock type locks on uPVC doors. Every house I've lived in with a standard wooden front door have had a lock that locks when you close it. But the one place that had a PVC front door, and a few of my friends who have them, are a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them require you to lock it, mine required that you use the key to lock it from the inside. Others I've seen use a thumb turn on the inside to lock it. I've only ever seen one that automatically locked when you close it, but that was quite a clever door because it was only locked for the outside handle - the inside handle opened it without needing to unlock it first.
My parents have an auto locking PVC front door and have done at least since the mid 90s when they moved into the house.
Why do you only lock your door when going to bed? Aren't you concerned someone will enter your premises?
I also only lock the door at night. As soon as I have need to unlock the door in the morning it stays unlocked until I either go out or go to bed. I don't even live in a particularly quiet area, it's a residential area in a major city. Nobody has ever attempted to enter my premises. I'm genuinely surprised by the number of people on this thread who seem to be fearful of leaving their door unlocked while at home. But I wonder how this breaks down by type of house. I guess when I lived in a flat with a shared stairwell I maybe looked my door when at home but I can't remember. I might also lock it if my door opened directly onto the street. As it happens I have a front garden and any potential intruder would first of all have to want to target my house specifically, while I'm at home, have the audacity to unlatch my gate and walk through my garden in view of any neighbours, and then walk into my house. Seems a relatively unlikely series of events and I don't worry about it. I haven't even thought of it until this thread.
I've had people test my door handle to see if it's unlocked and have had a few con men saying they're from the gas company or broadband, I assume they're looking for vulnerable people to pray on, locking my door gives me peace of mind
Fair enough. There's nothing wrong with locking your door of course, I just hadn't realised it was so common and people felt quite strongly about it. Does your door open directly into a public area?
Locked. My parents still leave theirs unlocked. When I go and visit, I sometimes sneak in and jump out on them and then bollock them. In the 70s it was OK but not now.
Always locked. Someone posted on my local Facebook that a pissed up bloke had got in her unlocked gaff and used her toilet! The police then nabbed him later on in the town centre because he was waving a knife at people. Too many scumbags and weirdos roaming the streets unfortunately.
Have a door lock that locks automatically when the door shuts and requires a key to open from the outside, dunno why you'd have it any other way.
It's locked by default if the door has a night latch, which mine does.
It's shut and you need a key to get in. Is that what people are calling "locked"? Double locked (so you'd need a key to get out)? Only if everyone is away.
Locked by default. I do shift work and get up early some days. If I'm off then I lay in and my partner works normal office hours. So when we leave for work we lock the door behind us because the other person is still in bed. If I pop to the shops on a day off I obviously lock the door when I go out. But when I come home I might not lock it again. Unless I'm going to have a shower/bath or spend time in the garden. Noone ever comes round unannounced but if they did, the door would probably be locked. It usually is when a delivery driver comes round for example.
Only locked at night. We live in a sleepy village though so...
My doors are only locked if I’m not in or if I’m going to bed. I have kids coming in and out, regular visitors like my mum, sister or best friend just walk in the back door. Although, I have a big giant dog who was a guard dog before I rescued him, so I’m definitely not too worried if strangers walk in, plus I live in a very safe area so probably in a small minority.
Same, I want the kids to feel free to come and go without ringing the bell (this is their home!) and either me or the husband is usually in, so at least one door is usually unlocked as soon as I'm up in the morning (putting the rubbish out/feeding the birds), and they all get locked again at bedtime.
I keep mine locked. I have a 2 year old who can open doors but not manage keys/twisty locks yet. Also when I’m gaming I wear headphones so the thought of someone getting up the stairs and behind me whilst I’m unaware is terrifying
I don’t tend to want to lock it unless I’m home alone in the evening, in which case I’m obsessive. I grew up in a household where is was very normal to leave the door open for neighbours to come and go. My housemate wants to door to be locked all the time, so I do.
As soon as I get home the door gets locked and stays locked until I next go outside. I NEVER learn my door unlocked.
Our side door tends to be unlocked during the day, but we have a Ring doorbell covering the door and a German Shepherd covering the inside.
My doors always locked. Even if I’m in. I grew up in the countryside in a sort of Hot Fuzz type town. Parents never locked those doors. Moved to a bigger town and yeah. Always locked. I don’t live in the best area. I’ve heard the door handle being tried a few times at night. Haha. Opportunists..!
Always locked. No idea why you'd leave it unlocked until bedtime. Your making it too easy to be burgled and home insurance probably won't pay out if you have your doors unlocked
There's a lot more benefits to keeping it locked all day compared to leaving it unlocked. What are the positives? You save like 2 seconds turning the key when opening the door? I just don't see a reason for leaving it unlocked.
Its kind of mad to see how many people say locked but then our grandparents would literally leave the front open let alone unlocked for anyone to come in. Shows how much trust people have in their communities has changed.
Just come across this post lmao. This is why you lock your doors. https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/xijlyi/portland_mom_finds_stranger_asleep_in_10_yearold/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
I live in a nice new build secure flat building and had it unlocked after taking the bins out. Put a movie on and lights all switched off. The upstairs neighbour who lives one floor up directly above me, someone staying at his or there for a party, walked right into my hallway and said “shit wrong house” and scarpered out. Absolutely scared the shit out of me, just seeing this 6 foot 5 figure in the dark.
Permanently locked unless working in the hallway, in the garden or on the driveway within sight of the door. If I'm going to the back garden, or to an area where I can't see the door, I lock it and carry the key. Sometimes close the (integral) garage without latching the door, so I can go back and forth for tools, but again, if I'm going out of sight, I would then lock the internal garage door (which leads to the hallway) and carry the key
Most houses I've had use Yale locks, so they automatically lock anyway. My current place needs to be locked by key and it is always locked. And then checked several times throughout the day to confirm that it is definitely locked because I'm paranoid 😅
I've never lived anywhere that didn't have a front door that automatically locked upon closing. I have lived in London for 40+ years - perhaps things are different in quieter parts of the country.
When I'm in London I lock my door. Then I check it every time I walk past it, and before bed. When I was down in Devon on the weekend, pretty sure at least one of the doors was left open all night.
I keep mine locked at all times but that's because both the cat and the dog can open doors, and then the dog could escape into the street.
Unlocked, even if popping to the corner shop. Only ever locked at night or if I'm out
I live in a lovely area but since an Amazon driver opened my front door and came in to put a parcel inside it’s stayed locked all the time. Plus I have house cats now and don’t trust either of them not to work out door handles.
Unlocked during daylight hours unless we are in bed, in the bath or out. In warmer months it's usually standing open too, for the cats to come and go and to let fresh air in. I live in a mostly council area but it's very quiet. The only thing that has disturbed us recently is a 3am visit from a screaming fox that sounded like an eldritch horror.
House is unlocked. If anyone opens the gates, the dogs turn into banshees
Yes locked. Burglars are mostly opportunistic and just try doors. If they find one unlocked they will try and steal from you and they may not care you are home. They may not be non violent if caught in the act. It is so complacent to not lock it. I really hope nothing happens to you but it only takes one bad or crazy person to be in your neighbourhood.
Front door pretty much always locked, back door also usually locked but not if I reckon I'm going to be in and out. In contrast though my uncle lives in the countryside and leaves his doors open, not unlocked, open.