Our tenant claims a first floor flat must have a Yale lock?

Reply to the comment left by Alan Bromley at 08/09/2022 - 10:48
Only a Night latch Yale I think, if you drop the latch, stops you being locked out

Reply to the comment left by Dennis Forrest at 08/09/2022 - 18:38I have two rental flats in a large purpose built block where there is a thumb turn to lock on the inside. Problem is the flat door has a letterbox and although I’m not aware of issues at this development, I have heard some sites have experienced breakins whereby the thief brings along a small child who puts his hand through the letterbox and operates the thumb turn opening the door. Burglary occurs then child relocks the door and nobody can figure out how entry occurred. Of course a door with no letterbox (box separate in communal area) doesn’t have this problem. So I have fitted a 5 lever mortice lock so tenant has choice to use it as well for additional security. Both flats have a patio door leading to a balcony (and also large windows) so I reckon this is sufficient should tenant not find their key. But be beware of thumbturns and letterboxes.

In Scotland we are allowed to have both a yale and a thumbturn euro lock on the exit door.
As long as the tenant can exit their room or property door without the need of a key its allowed.

I don't understand some of the responses to this thread.
Where the fire risk is higher, such as with an HMO, then keyless exit is mandatory.
However, if I was renting out a first floor flat to an individual or couple, I would not be pressurised into changing the lock just because the tenant says a key operated mortice lock isn't suitable unless it was a legal requirement. I doubt that it is a legal requirement. Otherwise, why would Screwfix and Toolstation sell Euro locks that are operated by keys from both sides?
I bet that loads of owner occupied flats on the first floor have key operated locks on the exit.
This just sounds like the tenant is disorganised and always losing their keys. That isn't the landlord's problem.

Reply to the comment left by Martin Thomas at 10/09/2022 - 11:59
I don't think you understand the potential problem - in the case of an emergency like a fire then ability to escape the property quickly is essential without hunting for keys. We have a holiday let which has only key operated locks to the front and the back doors. But by each door we have on a hook a red painted fire key so that a key is always readily available to escape. This has been accepted as an adequate response. Guests are requested never to remove the fire keys from the property but just to use the two keys we provide in the key safe when they arrive.

Reply to the comment left by Martin Thomas at 10/09/2022 - 11:59
It sounds as though you are oblivious to the possibility of your tenants waking up in the middle of the night to find the flat full of suffocating smoke and simply having to get out as quickly as possible without first of all in the darkness finding the pocket or handbag in which they had left their key.

Reply to the comment left by Dennis Forrest at 10/09/2022 - 13:45
I do understand the risks of fire, as it happens. All our properties are HMOs and are kitted out to the proper fire safety standards.
And my point about this particular thread is that those risks are much the same for an owner occupied flat as a tenanted one, provided it isn't an HMO, in other words, occupied by an individual, couple or even a family.
Incidentally, the idea of a key hanging up next to the door as a failsafe is a good one.
If many owner occupied flats have a key operated lock, be it a more secure Chubb mortice lock or a Euro lock, then I can't see why a landlord should feel obliged to fit something different unless it is a legal requirement.
Anyone that owns an HMO will be well aware that councils demand standards of landlords that are well above those that are found to be commonplace and acceptable in many owner occupied properties. The most obvious example is mains operated, interconnected smoke and heat alarms. Property118's forums are full of tales by landlords where they have been obliged to fit this or install that to satisfy a council officer when that item is not commonplace in an owner occupied property.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 10/09/2022 - 14:18
In the course of my career I have visited hundreds of houses and am staggered at how many times the householder cannot locate the door key to let me in. I always mention it.

As you say, trying to get out in a hurry could be a problem if you can't find the key.

I have also dealt with blocks of flats where residents take it upon themselves to decorate hallways with coffee tables, bicycles, shoes, etc. They always say that everyone knows they are there but fail to realise that the property would look different when filled with smoke in the middle of the night.

This stuff is pretty basic.

With a Euro style lock, if the key is left in the lock after locking the door, when in the flat, it can not be opened from the outside until the internal key is removed from the lock.
I do point this out as added security and hope it encourages holiday let and tenants to leave the key in the lock when in and during the night. Then they know where the key is in an emergency.
The down side is if you need to get in the property because of an emergency, someone keeled over and in need of help.

Reply to the comment left by Richard G at 12/09/2022 - 05:16
So as I pointed out in an earlier post then best to have a spare key on a hook attached to the the door frame. It is then not neccesary to leave a key in the lock overnight.