Housemate Regularly Forgets to Lock the Door. Advice?

um7y1h83ge06nx

Hi guys,

I'm an owner occupier and I have 3 housemates in the house. I've never had a problem with anyone before but one of the current guys is wrecking my head even though he is a nice guy.

The problem is something simple and that is the issue of locking the front door and patio door. He regularly forgets to lock it and sometimes the door could be unlocked over night. It's annoys me because it increases our risk of opportunistic burglaries.

The front door is a modern 3 point locking door where you need to turn the key from either side in order to lock it. The patio door is the bog standard sliding door.

I have mentioned it to him regularly and he still forgets to lock it a lot of the time. Even though we live in a grand area I warned him about opportunistic burglars that might pop in and grab something. Last week he had a road racing bike stolen from outside a friends house up the street (left it at the front of the house overnight :rolleyes:). He bought a new one that's worth almost €1000 and leaves it in the front room (converted garage) which is fine. However I thought the new bike, which is probably the single most expensive item in the house now, might help him focus more on locking the door but to no avail.

He was out last night and sometime after that I woke up to grab a glass of water and found the door unlocked again! So annoying!

I was thinking of adding a lock like this to the front door Yale Lock but that would only allow locking at one point if people didn't use the key, so I don't want to do this.

I feel the only thing I can do is issue him an ultimatum that if he doesn't start locking the door that he should find somewhere else to live. It sounds harsh but it's not fair on me or the other 2 lads.

Any advice?

seamus

Try something for a little while. Put a sticker on the inside of the door, relatively big and somewhere that you absolutely cannot miss it when you're leaving the house. All it needs to say is "REMEMBER TO LOCK THE DOOR"

Make it clear to the housemate that it's being put there for his benefit. Give it a month and see how it goes. If he's still forgetting, then it might be time to ask him to move on.

sebphoto

Create e-mail / text notification / daily recurring appointment with reminder each day early morning and late evening that he have to lock the door.
If he'll behave in the same way you should tell him to find new place to live definitely.

J K

When he's out some evening trash his room, piss on his bed and steal his valuables. Then you head to the pub leaving the front door wide open.
When you get in later and console him, look at him very seriously and say "Now you did lock the door didn't you? Didn't you"?

TwoShedsJackson

You can try the sign, and tell him that if the place gets robbed while the front door was unlocked, your house contents insurance will not pay out. A burglar has to make an effort to break in, if the doors are left open and stuff is nicked, they will not cover it.

Advise him that in that case you'd have to pursue him for any losses, that might help him clarify it in his head

s_carnage

Give him one or two more chances but warn him that if he continues to forget to lock the door he will have to pay to have an alternative lock (like the one you have linked to) fitted on the door. I'm sure a financial hit might give him a kick up the a$$ but considering how he treats the new bike he bought you'd never know.

Not sure if the above is legal to carry out though!

sebphoto

s_carnage wrote: »

Give him one or two more chances but warn him that if he continues to forget to lock the door he will have to pay to have an alternative lock (like the one you have linked to) fitted on the door. I'm sure a financial hit might give him a kick up the a$$ but considering how he treats the new bike he bought you'd never know.

Not sure if the above is legal to carry out though!

yep, or just rent increase will make him to think first before he'll do something silly. Eventually he'll move out very soon

meemeep

what's your address? :-)

Copper_pipe

Lock him out and then he will realise the importance of locks

sebphoto

meemeep wrote: »

what's your address? :-)

Apparently his/her IP address is... 127.0.0.1

meemeep

how about a fine every time he forgets - 10euro a go to build up a slush fund to cover your losses in case of burglary

sebphoto

meemeep wrote: »

how about a fine every time he forgets - 10euro a go to build up a slush fund to cover your losses in case of burglary

i'd rather go for extra insurance

Misty Moon

All of the above.

Plus look into getting the lock changed so that you need a key to get in from outside. I know we had this done at home years ago when we got a new door. My dad was not at all impressed with the handle being on the outside at well at all and he insisted that that part of the lock be taken off and replaced with a non-moving handle. So that you had to use the key to open the door from outside. You were still supposed to turn the key twice from outside to lock it properly but at least you couldn't just get in if someone forgot.

beertons

10er fine isnt a whole lot, and will barely cover new locks if place is broken into. i would absolutely shake the **** out of him, waking him, to get up and lock the door. next time he does it, open rlap to face. repeat steps 1 & 2 till the penny drops. or hide his bike in a neighbours for a few days.

Spiritofthekop

I used to live with a good friend of mine who kept on leaving the big back window open ALL THE TIME! which he used to always flick his finished smokes out. I kept warning him that someone will get in and rob the place & if it happens your paying for my sh#t!!

There was a key hook on the wall just to the right of the window he kept leaving open with all the car keys on it.

One weekend we all went away for mates wedding & all our cars (4 of them) were left behind with keys hanging up.

He was last to leave and of course left the window unlocked.

We came home and the only car to get nicked was his!!...LOL..his car was no better than anyone elses but the little thieves did not enter the house thinking we where all asleep upstairs but they just reached in and grabbed the first set of car keys (which was his) and took his car (it was found 3 days later burnt out).


Deep down I was laughing inside!!

He never forgot to lock the window after that.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Cheers for the responses.

The mischief maker in me would love to hide his bike on him for a night to give him a good fright, but I'll be good.

The reminder inside the door is a good idea, I'll put something up.

As regards making changes to the door so a key is always needed to open it. I visited a good locksmith at lunch. as far as I know, it's a woodgrain effect PVC door so as it's PVC, he's not sure how much can be done for it. However he'll be passing tomorrow and said he would pop in to take a look at it. If something can be done, it would probably be good in general, not just for this particular situation.

This evening I'm just going to have to say to him that he really needs to be more careful with the door as it could affect everyone in the house, not just me.

It just p*sses me off so much as it is something that is so simple to solve, yet it's become a big deal.

Katekat

Tell him if he leave it open one more time you will have to ask him to leave... simples!!

Kosseegan

Change the lock on the door when he is out. When he gets back and can't get in tell him you changed the lock. When he asks for a key, say "what for?" you never use it anyway.

mikemac

Yep, contents insurance will not pay out if the door is just left open

Go with the sign, you can buy them in hardware stores or buy them online
Nice big red writing

Victor

Consider a self-locking dead lock (like a night latch, but its a dead lock) and a door closer.

One has to wonder if he is deliberately inviting something to happen (by his mates) - how sure are you that his bike was actually stolen and not that it was a convenient story?

Borderfox

I lived with somebody like that when i rented a few years ago and they didnt last long, funny thing was they had very few possesions so if anybody (walked) in I had much more to lose than them. back door/front door/windows, went away for a weekend and left their velux window open and caused serious damage to the house.

I wouldnt have any patience with that behaviour

the_syco

Katalina Gifted Stake wrote: »

I'm an owner occupier

<snip>

The front door is a modern 3 point locking door where you need to turn the key from either side in order to lock it. The patio door is the bog standard sliding door.

Get a door that locks when you close it. Don't allow him to use the patio door.

I lived in a house with a door like that, and had people "pop in" at 4am after a few drinks looking for X person who either wasn't in at the time, or had moved out a few months beforehand. Never again, as it drove me up the wall at times.

Victor

the_syco wrote: »

I lived in a house with a door like that, and had people "pop in" at 4am after a few drinks looking for X person who either wasn't in at the time, or had moved out a few months beforehand. Never again, as it drove me up the wall at times.

They could be drunks or burglars.

the_syco

Victor wrote: »

They could be drunks or burglars.

They were usually French, and most of them would live a few doors down.

Insane lesson from that house: if French people keep taking your potato peeler and not returning it (3 went missing), get a stainless steel one, and engrave 13 swastikas onto it to ensure it never goes missing again.

:eek:

mathie

Victor wrote: »

They could be drunks or burglars.

Or worse. Druglars.

HardyEustace

I would issue a formal warning and if they still don't lock the door then give them notice and get another tenant in.

I had a similar issue with a tenant leaving the windows open when the house was unoccupied. Looking back now, it was one of the first indicators that they weren't happy in the house. Essentially they really didn't give a toss about the house or it's other occupants.

From my experience this isn't a situation that will get any better. So, issue a very formal warning, let them know the consequences if they don't change their behaviour and then change tenants if their behaviour doesn't change.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Well, job sorted.

It's a timber door after all (silly me for thinking it was the woodgrain effect PVC :rolleyes:).

So on Saturday I decided to get a Yale lock fitted. The cylinder for the 3 point main door lock was also changed so the same key can be used for both.

After I read the responses here and thought about it more, I decided that regardless of any housemates or anything, a system where a key would always be required from the outside would be best. I made sure they all have the new keys and know how to use it.

While I was at it as well I got one of those patio locks fitted as well that prevents the door being lifted off the runners.

Thought I may as well get it done as we're entering prime burgling season.

Thanks for all the replies.