Surveyor let himself into my flat and bedroom while i was sleeping, as agent forgot to tell me apt

AskAsk

Sapindus said:

If the surveyor had been told there was no-one in the house, he would have said he didn't ring the doorbell because he thought the house was empty.  Instead, he comes up with the rubbish about he didn't ring the doorbell because they "rarely work".  Which might have been true before Ring doorbells were invented.

i notice people who deliver parcels just knock on our door even though there is a doorbell there 

AskAsk

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

Sapindus

AskAsk said:

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

I leave the key in the lock (non-Yale) so no-one could use a key and I could unlock it quickly if I needed to get out, but then my neighbour put the frighteners on me saying someone had burgled their house by reaching in the letterbox and taking the key out.  So now I leave the chain on as well.  Can undo it in a second. 

Section62

Sapindus said:

AskAsk said:

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

I leave the key in the lock (non-Yale) so no-one could use a key and I could unlock it quickly if I needed to get out, but then my neighbour put the frighteners on me saying someone had burgled their house by reaching in the letterbox and taking the key out.  So now I leave the chain on as well.  Can undo it in a second. 

A friend locked herself out when she left a spare key in the inside end of a euro lock so the key she had with her wouldn't work on the outside.  The expensive locksmith spent a few seconds opening the door using a very simple tool (I've since made one for myself).

Some learning points -

1) Don't leave a key in the lock inside of a front-door - if you forget (or the door slams behind you) you can be locked out even if you have a key with you.

2) You don't need a key to quickly and quietly unlock a door unless there is some form of internal deadlocking being used.

3) Avoid locking yourself out on a Sunday afternoon.

AskAsk

Section62 said:

Sapindus said:

AskAsk said:

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

I leave the key in the lock (non-Yale) so no-one could use a key and I could unlock it quickly if I needed to get out, but then my neighbour put the frighteners on me saying someone had burgled their house by reaching in the letterbox and taking the key out.  So now I leave the chain on as well.  Can undo it in a second. 

A friend locked herself out when she left a spare key in the inside end of a euro lock so the key she had with her wouldn't work on the outside.  The expensive locksmith spent a few seconds opening the door using a very simple tool (I've since made one for myself).

Some learning points -

1) Don't leave a key in the lock inside of a front-door - if you forget (or the door slams behind you) you can be locked out even if you have a key with you.

2) You don't need a key to quickly and quietly unlock a door unless there is some form of internal deadlocking being used.

3) Avoid locking yourself out on a Sunday afternoon.

some doors don't self lock when you are on the outside and you have to use your key to lock it, so if the key is on the inside, you wouldn't be able to lock the door from the outside.

Section62

AskAsk said:

Section62 said:

Sapindus said:

AskAsk said:

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

I leave the key in the lock (non-Yale) so no-one could use a key and I could unlock it quickly if I needed to get out, but then my neighbour put the frighteners on me saying someone had burgled their house by reaching in the letterbox and taking the key out.  So now I leave the chain on as well.  Can undo it in a second. 

A friend locked herself out when she left a spare key in the inside end of a euro lock so the key she had with her wouldn't work on the outside.  The expensive locksmith spent a few seconds opening the door using a very simple tool (I've since made one for myself).

Some learning points -

1) Don't leave a key in the lock inside of a front-door - if you forget (or the door slams behind you) you can be locked out even if you have a key with you.

2) You don't need a key to quickly and quietly unlock a door unless there is some form of internal deadlocking being used.

3) Avoid locking yourself out on a Sunday afternoon.

some doors don't self lock when you are on the outside and you have to use your key to lock it, so if the key is on the inside, you wouldn't be able to lock the door from the outside.

But relatively unusual for a front door to not have some kind of mechanism (e.g. split spindle) which makes it impossible to open the door from outside without the use of a key.

Bonniepurple

Section62 said:

Sapindus said:

AskAsk said:

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

I leave the key in the lock (non-Yale) so no-one could use a key and I could unlock it quickly if I needed to get out, but then my neighbour put the frighteners on me saying someone had burgled their house by reaching in the letterbox and taking the key out.  So now I leave the chain on as well.  Can undo it in a second. 

A friend locked herself out when she left a spare key in the inside end of a euro lock so the key she had with her wouldn't work on the outside.  The expensive locksmith spent a few seconds opening the door using a very simple tool (I've since made one for myself).

Some learning points -

1) Don't leave a key in the lock inside of a front-door - if you forget (or the door slams behind you) you can be locked out even if you have a key with you.

2) You don't need a key to quickly and quietly unlock a door unless there is some form of internal deadlocking being used.

3) Avoid locking yourself out on a Sunday afternoon.

This sounds like something my family would do.  In order:
My Mum moved into the house before my Dad (1977).  First night there “officially” my Dad was out for the evening and my Mum locked up as usual, including the deadlock.  This meant that my Dad couldn’t unlock the door.  He had to go and find a phone, ring my Mum up and get her to unlock the door.

My Mum, dashing for the school run, left her keys behind and closed the Yale lock front door behind her.  She didn’t worry because she had the back door key as a spare.  Only thing was, there was a key on the inside of said back door so it wouldn’t unlock-and the methods we’d picked up from Enid Blyton didn’t work.  That involved a police officer smashing the window pane and a new door.

Years later, my brother and I were coming back in the early hours of Christmas morning. I went to unlock the door and my key broke in the lock.  I had to try to find the spot in the garden that had mobile phone signal and call my parents to let us in.

After that incident, my parents changed the locks.  It was unfortunate that this coincided with me moving out, but they did give me a key.  Eventually.

Shelldean

Section62 said:

AskAsk said:

Section62 said:

Sapindus said:

AskAsk said:

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

I leave the key in the lock (non-Yale) so no-one could use a key and I could unlock it quickly if I needed to get out, but then my neighbour put the frighteners on me saying someone had burgled their house by reaching in the letterbox and taking the key out.  So now I leave the chain on as well.  Can undo it in a second. 

A friend locked herself out when she left a spare key in the inside end of a euro lock so the key she had with her wouldn't work on the outside.  The expensive locksmith spent a few seconds opening the door using a very simple tool (I've since made one for myself).

Some learning points -

1) Don't leave a key in the lock inside of a front-door - if you forget (or the door slams behind you) you can be locked out even if you have a key with you.

2) You don't need a key to quickly and quietly unlock a door unless there is some form of internal deadlocking being used.

3) Avoid locking yourself out on a Sunday afternoon.

some doors don't self lock when you are on the outside and you have to use your key to lock it, so if the key is on the inside, you wouldn't be able to lock the door from the outside.

But relatively unusual for a front door to not have some kind of mechanism (e.g. split spindle) which makes it impossible to open the door from outside without the use of a key.

My front door only locks from outside with the key. Or inside via the latch.
If I take the rubbish out and it slams shut I just push it open again.
Whereas my last house had that happened I'd have been locked out.

Daughter's front door is the same  won't lock if slams behind you, but her has a keyhole on the inside as well so can lock from inside. And even if a key is in the lock inside you can still use a keys to get in...... Took a while to get my head round the doors not locking when slammed tbh

AskAsk

Shelldean said:

Section62 said:

AskAsk said:

Section62 said:

Sapindus said:

AskAsk said:

pumas said:

Door chains should only be used on opening the door, to see who is there. (Fire) hazard if trying to escape quickly.

i always lock the yale lock when i go to sleep so that no one can enter with a key.

I leave the key in the lock (non-Yale) so no-one could use a key and I could unlock it quickly if I needed to get out, but then my neighbour put the frighteners on me saying someone had burgled their house by reaching in the letterbox and taking the key out.  So now I leave the chain on as well.  Can undo it in a second. 

A friend locked herself out when she left a spare key in the inside end of a euro lock so the key she had with her wouldn't work on the outside.  The expensive locksmith spent a few seconds opening the door using a very simple tool (I've since made one for myself).

Some learning points -

1) Don't leave a key in the lock inside of a front-door - if you forget (or the door slams behind you) you can be locked out even if you have a key with you.

2) You don't need a key to quickly and quietly unlock a door unless there is some form of internal deadlocking being used.

3) Avoid locking yourself out on a Sunday afternoon.

some doors don't self lock when you are on the outside and you have to use your key to lock it, so if the key is on the inside, you wouldn't be able to lock the door from the outside.

But relatively unusual for a front door to not have some kind of mechanism (e.g. split spindle) which makes it impossible to open the door from outside without the use of a key.

My front door only locks from outside with the key. Or inside via the latch.
If I take the rubbish out and it slams shut I just push it open again.
Whereas my last house had that happened I'd have been locked out.

Daughter's front door is the same  won't lock if slams behind you, but her has a keyhole on the inside as well so can lock from inside. And even if a key is in the lock inside you can still use a keys to get in...... Took a while to get my head round the doors not locking when slammed tbh

i have across a few properties where the door won't lock when slammed close but you would need a key to lock it.  i think this is better as it means you can't be locked out by accident.

Grumpy_chap

lincroft1710 said:

When I got to the property it was obvious someone was in the bathroom which was on the ground floor. Said "Hello", a woman's voice answered, so explained the EA had given me keys to come and view the property. The woman was in fact the new owner who had bought the property through another EA and had only moved in a week or so previously!.

Perfect evidence of the need to change the locks on moving in to a new property.
Just a general observation as it does not help the OP in any way.