Landlord lock law change

Landlord lock law change:

I have just been reading through the Home Office Document: ‘A guide to making your small paying-guest-accommodation safe from fire.’ A guide to compliance with fire safety law for those responsible for safety in small paying-guest-accommodation’

You can find the document here

Note this says fire safety law and therefore is the legal requirement of all landlords, certainly for those with holiday lets. I would argue long term tenants are also paying guests as they have no right to remain when a landlord decides they want their property back for any reason.

Speaking to a letting agency recently, I have also discovered that it will be expected of all landlords to read the document and comply with all points mentioned. You won’t always get a risk assessor to check things for you. You, as the landlord are entirely responsible should a fire break out. It is quite heavy reading and most of it is obvious, but it is my job to point out relevant issues to my own line of work.

In section 6, there is this statement:

‘Exit doors, such as the front or back door, should always be easy to unlock and must not need a key to unlock them from the inside. A simple latch or thumb turn is usually good enough. However, you may need to consider whether all guests are able to open these doors. A simple single action turn handle or lever will often be more appropriate.’

This means you must have a lock with a thumb turn on the inside. Something like this:

Thumb turn euro cylinder - Landlord lock law change

On all upvc type doors, this is simply a matter of changing the cylinder. On doors with mortice (often called ‘Chubb’ type) locks, you will need to change the lock, handles and purchase a cylinder. And while thumb turns are great for fire escapes, they do pose a security risk as it is possible with certain tools to go in through the letterbox and rotate the thumb turn to gain access. Therefore any locks with thumb turns on a door with a letter plate, should also purchase a letter plate guard to alleviate this problem.

The point is repeated on the checklist included in the document: ‘Are frequent checks carried out to ensure exit routes are kept clear and fire exits remain easily openable?’

That is your prompt to make sure no one can lock a door, remove the key and then be unable to get out while panicking in a fire.

October the 1st is the current date for this to become law over advice.

If you have your work done through AC Locksmiths Norfolk, you can expect to pay £55 for a kite marked thumb turn euro cylinder. These can be brass/gold, chrome, polished chrome, dual finish, black or white. An average of £50 to replace your mortice lock with a mortice euro lock case. Handles start at £25 but average at £45. More ornate handles such as wrought iron up to £200. In all cases, a labour fee of £75 is payable. (All prices correct at time of writing, but please get binding quote at measuring stage). In almost all instances, a measuring visit will be required. This is free to all properties within a half hour drive of Holt, Norfolk.

Should you have any questions regarding the above information, please do not hesitate to contact me; 07846643176

Thanks for reading.

admin July 17, 2023

Fire exit safety for landlords / Fire exits / Landlord legal requirements / Laws for landlord locks / Thumb turn locks /

Different Locks explained Part 3

This section of Locks Explained looks at the Euro Cylinder:

The Euro cylinder is most commonly used in UPVC double glazed doors with multi-point locking mechanisms. However, some mortice locks have them as well, but the principle is the same. Turning the key in the barrel turns a cam which then operates the locking mechanism in the main body of the mechanism itself. I will do a piece about locking mechanisms in the future, but for now, I am going to concentrate on the cylinder itself.

The first thing I need to draw attention to is the thumb turn – shown here:
Euro cylinder lock

Instead of being operated by a key on the inside, it has this handy part which you can turn to unlock and lock the door.

Very few people have this on their locks, but if you do and your lock does not display a British Standard Kite Mark, be warned, because they are extremely easy to bypass. Without the Kite mark, if this lock is on your outer door it might just as well be left unlocked. I do see them a lot in buildings with secure entrances, but if you are in any doubt, talk to your local locksmith and/or building manager.

Now let’s take a look at a Euro cylinder without the thumb turn, which is the type most of you will have in your double glazed doors:
locks explained
Almost every door that requires you to lift the handles before locking, has one of these going through it.

Locks explained
When the cylinder is in place, a screw passes through the mechanism and holds it tight by screwing through this hole.

You may have heard the term ‘cylinder snapping.’ When a burglar uses this method, this is the part that breaks. You can see there is not much metal here holding the whole thing together.

The next part is the cam:
lock cam

When the key is rotated, it too rotates which you can see here. This picture shows the cam position when the key is out. Lock cam position

and this one with the key in and part turned;
Euro cylinder camWithout going into too much detail, snapping the cylinder allows the burglar to operate the parts of the mechanism which the cam would move, and they can be inside your home in less than a minute without the need for any power tools.

The good news is that there are a few things you can do to stop this. You can have an anti-snapping device fitted inside the handles. You can have new handles that are resistant to attack. But they do not stop traditional lock picking and drilling is still an option for the determined burglar. Also, the insurance company will still pay up when you are burgled because for now at least, most accept these locks as suitable. In fact, if your locks have to be replaced, and these were the ones you had before, they will only pay for like for like replacements leaving you just as vulnerable. Many burglary victims will tell you that once it has happened to you, it will likely happen again.

So what if you don’t want to make that call to the insurance company after the burglary? What can you do to drastically reduce the chances of your home being burgled? Well, firstly, you can go to your local DIY chain and buy a BS3621 kite marked cylinder. These are anti-snap and in many cases will deter the opportunist. However, they can be picked (with patience) and can be bypassed in other ways. It’s a lot harder, but you still might need specialist handles to be really secure.

Or you can opt for the ultimate Euro Cylinder. At the time of writing, and to the best of my knowledge, this is the best cylinder you can have without the need for additional parts;
BS3621 kite marked cylinder
 You can see from this picture some studs that run through the bottom. These

hold a reinforced bar aimed at the prevention of cylinder snapping.

                               

                    
Kite marked Euro cylinder

Coupled with this part, which is weakened intentionally so that the front snaps off, rather than the whole thing breaking in the middle. The burglar is not going to easily get to the internal parts of your door.

Locks explained

From the front, the lock looks like this;

It is highly recognisable from a distance, meaning the seasoned burglar might not even venture past your front gate because he knows this will be no easy break in. Someone who takes the time to put one of these locks on is probably going to have increased window security as well, so why bother looking when next door’s house looks just as big, has just as nice a car on the drive, but has visibly easier locks to get past? If however he does get close enough to take a good look at the lock, not only will he see that kite mark, but he will also see those three stars. Those stars have a big message. They state that this lock is so good, it doesn’t need the extras. You can make your security three stars with a British Standard lock and some other bits, but this lock does it all in one. I’ve had to bypass one so far. I have specialist equipment and I can tell you it took me a lot more time than a burglar would probably be willing to take and I had to replace a fair few tools afterwards.

So, you can’t snap it, and it is extremely resistant to power tools. What about picking? I’d love to see a TV show where the hero gets out his trusty lock picking set and faces this!

This is the key;
Key for anti-snap lock
To pick this lock, not only do you have to get these dimples in the right place, you have to get them the right size, because the pins inside the lock are doubled with a pin within a pin. Not only that, but the flat circle you can see is a magnet which can appear anywhere along that key and must tally with the correct magnet position in the lock itself.

For extra security, very few people can cut you new keys for these locks. Only the holder of the key card that comes with the lock can get copies made.

Here is the card;
anti-snap keys

 

So, you can rest assured no one is going to make copies. Even those few who do cut these keys cannot copy from another key. It must be done from the code on the card. That makes these locks brilliant for landlords of long term tenants and short term holiday lets.

I like these locks so much, they secure my own home.

If you have any questions regarding the above information, please feel free to get in touch via the contacts page.

Thanks for reading

admin January 13, 2016

Different locks explained / Which lock is best? /

Different Locks Explained Part 2

The mortice lock (sometimes spelt mortise) and often referred to as a ‘Chubb’ lock.

When your home insurance talks about 5 lever locks, it is referring to this type of lock and not the multi-point locking system of the type found on upvc type doors.You can have two main types of mortice lock.

This is the deadlock;   
IMAG0795 (2)
 













And this is the sash lock – essentially a deadlock with retractable latch;

IMAG0796 (2)




The two pictures are 5 lever mortice locks and made to British Standard 3621 quality. The following pictures show what makes them such high quality:


IMAG0797The black layers you can see in between the hard steel plates, is designed to snag hack-saws, stopping any potential attack where a wide gap between the door and frame might allow for this to happen. The bolt itself comes out a long way to ensure anyone attempting to ‘pop’ the door with a crowbar is in for a serious struggle. In burglaries I have attended where the door has been opened with a crowbar, the wood of the door has split rather than the lock breaking. That is because the keep that sits in the door frame is a solid construction as well. Two and three lever mortice locks have a much smaller bolt and usually, the keep is just a thin piece of metal that goes over holes cut into the wood.


A five lever mortice lock keep looks like this:
IMAG0804
It will be made of a thick hard plate metal and secured with four deep set screws.Two and three lever mortice locks can be picked relatively easily, because tools can be inserted up into the lock from the key hole from where the burglar can manipulate the levers.

On a BS3621 5 lever mortice lock, that method of attack is made all the harder by the anti-pick curtain, shown here:  

IMAG0801
This round bit is the part you put your key into and stops any manipulation of the levers above.






You can see it again in this next picture which also shows the hardened steel plate that stops standard drills making any holes where burglars need them to move the levers and therefore open the lock.IMAG0799 (4)

















Levers

Now, onto the levers themselves. Because this is a 5 lever lock, there are obviously five of them. That means trying to pick one of these (if the burglar is willing to spend the time trying to get past the anti-pick curtain), is really difficult. There is a technique, but it requires holding just the right pressure as you do each lever in turn. If you make it to the fifth one, you are either very determined, or very lucky. These levers also have anti-pick traps, which in some cases, will render the lock completely unusable. Certain brands wear very easily and poorly cut copied keys can set these traps off, so make sure the person cutting any extra keys uses ones that have the brand name on them and has plenty of experience.
Here are the levers:
IMAG0802 (4)








If you just don’t know whether or not your locks are up to standard, there is one way to ensure it meets the necessary standards. It should display the British Standard Kite Mark like this:
IMAG0803














Now this piece only covers the basic mortice locks. There are other mortice locks which are in a bit of a grey area. For example, horizontal mortice locks which have the key hole and usually a knob on a side by side set up rather than a lever handle above the key hole. If you have one of these, the chances are it is a 3 lever lock and not insurance compliant as a standalone lock. There are 5 lever versions but these are expensive and do not always work with older doors. You can also have narrow fit mortice locks for doors that do not have much space into which a lock will fit. Non-standard 5 lever mortice locks do not carry BS3621 kite marks, but often satisfy insurance companies if they are made aware of the circumstances in which they have been fitted.

If you have any doubts at all, contact your local locksmith who can either advise on your best course of action, and may be prepared to word a letter to your insurance company explaining unusual circumstances. Remember even if the burglar gets in through a door that has the appropriate lock on it, some insurance companies will refuse to pay out if any one of your other locks is not up to standard.

If you require any more information regarding the locks mentioned above, please do not hesitate to contact me using any of the methods on my contacts page. If there are any other locksmith related topics you would like me to cover, please either leave a comment or drop me an email, my address can be found on the contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

admin December 16, 2015

5 lever mortice locks / British Standard locks / Which lock? /

Different Locks Explained

There are many different types of lock, some are insurance standard – some are not. In my blog I want to look at the pros and cons of the different locks. Part one is the Nightlatch lock.

1. The Nightlatch:

The Nightlatch lock is often referred to as a ‘Yale’ type lock. Here, I am going to look at some examples and explain the pros and cons of these locks.
Night Latch Standard Width Door

This is the most basic nightlatch. The key or the knob rotate to withdraw the curved latch. The small snib pushed up or down (depending on brand and side of door lock is mounted on) holds the latch either in or out. When the snib is activated the knob and key will not operate.

The part that the key goes into is called a ‘Rim Cylinder’ and can be bought as a separate part. This means if you lose your key, the locking part can be purchased quite cheaply without having to buy the whole lot. They are also easy for the amateur to fit as well, especially if there is already a hole for the rim cylinder to fit into as this passes from the front to the back of the door and into the back of the nightlatch itself.

The downsides to this lock are that as it is cheap, it doesn’t always last very long. If the snib is not activated, a burglar can bypass this lock in seconds. It is possible to accidentally knock the snib as you leave the house and because the latch will retract just a little bit, if you slam your door, you can now be locked out with the key being useless to you. Getting in from this position involves complete destruction of the lock and possible damage to your door. This lock carries no British Standard rating and therefore on its own will invalidate your insurance. Even if the burglar enters through a different opening, having this lock as your only lock on a final exit door will stop the insurance company paying out.

While I see this as a main lock on far too many occasions, I would only use it on internal doors like B&B rooms or if you rent a holiday home and you need to keep some rooms unused, etc.

It can be used on main doors, but there should always be another lock as well, preferably one that is British Standard 3621 with a kite mark.

This is the next level of nightlatch:

This one is a bit more robust than the one before. It’s fitting is slightly more complicated and more tools are required to fit it into place. It operates the same as well. But you can get these in a deadlocking version. That means, if you turn the key an extra turn, the latch is held in place just as the snib would do on the inside. On this example, the snib is black. While this deadlocking action gives slightly more security than the cheaper nightlatch, it does throw up its own problems, because now, if you accidentally rotate the key to the deadlocked position, step inside and slam the door, you will be locked in. The inside lever will not turn enough to free you. You will have to exit from another door or window, and unlock it again from the outside. This, of course is dangerous if you only have one door and fire breaks out.

Again, this lock is not rated to BS3621 and therefore not adequate security on its own.

Finally, the BS3621 Nightlatch:

This one really does the trick. The Rim cylinder is now protected against drilling. The latch comes out further and protects itself against a burglary method called “slipping.” Because the snib is a push button, you cannot accidentally lock yourself in or out as you could with the previous two locks. And because it carries the kitemark, it will satisfy most insurers as a stand alone lock without the need for others. While this is still possible to fit yourself, it can be fiddly and if not done properly, the automatic deadlocking feature will not work. In the image you will notice that there is a key hole on the lever. If you lock the lever in place, a burglar who has entered through another opening wil not be able to open this door and escape with all the stuff he is carrying. However, in the event of a fire, you must be sure where your keys are. There are versions that do not have this locking handle that still conform to BS3621.

Part 2 – coming soon, will be Euro Cylinders & Part 3 Mortice locks.

Should you have any questions regarding the locks above, please get in touch through my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

admin December 2, 2015

Different locks explained / Which lock? /