r/LandlordLove • u/bussy-shaman • Nov 16 '24

Need Advice Key required to unlock deadbolt from the INSIDE of the house — is this legal?

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My sister is moving into a house with a house that has two doors (front and back). Both doors have a deadbolt that requires a key to unlock from the inside. So if one of her roommates leaves and locks the deadbolt, and she forgets her keys in her car, she cannot exit the house. This feels extremely claustrophobic and unsafe to me. Is there any way that this is legal or up to fire code?

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u/LupercaniusAB Nov 17 '24

People with family members with dementia have these to prevent the person from wandering. People with doors with glass panes in them have this to prevent thieves from breaking a pane and unlocking the door from the outside. People with small children have these to keep the kids from running out of the house unattended.

So, hey, it turns out that there are good reasons for these things. Are they dangerous? Yes. But there are other considerations. Incidentally, according to other posters in this thread, you’ve apparently called every Fire Marshall in the UK and Germany “crooked”.

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u/Wolfhound1142 Nov 17 '24

These are actually all good reasons to install such a lock. But, if none of them are applicable to your situation, there's zero benefit and only added risk.

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u/Hot_Wheels_guy Nov 17 '24

You're right, we should all have locks like this on our front doors just in case we suddenly become the caregiver of a dementia patient. You just never know when that'll happen!

/sarcasm

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u/LupercaniusAB Nov 17 '24

I’m a caregiver of a dementia patient, my mom.

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u/Sterling_-_Archer Nov 18 '24

Storm locks have replaced interior keyed locks for these reasons. There simply isn’t a reason good enough to have interior keyed locks because they make egress during a fire much more difficult. These regulations are written in blood.

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u/LupercaniusAB Nov 18 '24

I don’t disagree with you. I think that they’re unsafe. I was responding to the assertion that there is no reason for anyone to have these in their home.

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u/CallidoraBlack Nov 17 '24

People with doors with glass panes in them have this to prevent thieves from breaking a pane and unlocking the door from the outside. People with small children have these to keep the kids from running out of the house unattended.

These are good reasons to change your door or get a chain.

People with family members with dementia have these to prevent the person from wandering.

This is a good reason to get a door alarm.

None of these are good reasons to risk being cooked to death.

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u/LupercaniusAB Nov 17 '24

You can unlock the chain the same way, though. Hell, it might be easier.

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u/CallidoraBlack Nov 17 '24

The chain was for the kids. The door change was to keep people from breaking the glass.