General Chat

Now I am also wondering why you would hide your window keys? just leaving them on the dining room table would be ok.....burglars are not likely to want to break out or are they? or is this just incase they come back to burgle you again?...when they would normally have to break through a double glazed window, to find the key doesn't work as you have had them changed :-D

:-D :-D @ Persie - me too, I would hide keys etc in a 'safe' place, and then used to forget where the safe places were!!!
We eventually invested in a safe...and I know where that is 'cos it never moves!!


P.S. I'd still like to know how, from the outside, you get a key out of the lock.

Our front door and back door open with the same key so we take one house key and maybe one of the vehicle's keys when we go away. I then hide the window keys and all others. When I get back I can't always remember the clever place that I put them.. so if I can't fairly sure a burglar can't as well.

We do have a bag of keys in the pantry but none of them work on our house they are our rental property keys and they are not labelled as such so no one can go and break into those properties either.

That's what we are saying Sue

We cant leave the key in the door when out anyway as we cannot get back in.

Should a burglar come in through the back...be it a window or door, they cannot get out the front door whilst we are out so would have to go out the way they came....which would then be over a 6' fence into someones garden....we do not have a side entrance as such as we have a garage

The point about the key in the front door is this: they get in the back, find a suitcase or a duvet cover, put all your stuff in it then let themselves out the front door. They can open it because the key is there. You only need to leave the key in the door at night when you're in bed so you can escape in case of fire.

Just one more question...I DO seem to have a lot don't I...
.....when a key is in the lock, just how do you get it out? Bearing in mind I have a small window at the top of my front door and no window in my back door. :-S

:-D :-D @ Jax.....of course.....or under the big flower pot by front door!!!

Hi Uzzi, yes, that's what Jax is saying.....that without a locksmith it is impossible for us to get in, if there is a key in the lock :-) so we don't leave keys in the door when we are out.
x

Jax trust me a good locksmith can sort any lock out. There is always a way.

As already said Uzzi If some of us left our keys in whilst out ,we could not get back in unless we called out a locksmith....plus still cannot see how you can remove the keys from the outside

This thread is so interesting.
Karen my camel friend you have made me laugh.
I don´t leave keys in doors when I go away. because I know how easy it is to get them out. Plus the insurance wouldn´t pay out if they found out.

I do have key safes around because I am around.
If I go away ....whoooo I am looking forward to it. Then I shall lock all my windows and doors and leave 1 person that I trust with the key ...All other keys will be out off sight.
Mind I may just aswell get somebody in my flat to look after my house.

I wouldn´t leave my keys in the lock when away. not even on a half turn as they used to say was safe. I could get in that.

You could also have a spare key hanging on a long piece of string inside your front door, just poke hand through letter box to get it :-D

Thanks for that link Jax :-)
Key Safe, I've read the info, and the first lot of reviews....but what I can't see is where in heck's name do you put the thing? In the garden shed? By the front door?

Ah well, I'll save myself the money and stick to my spare key being in a tin and buried in the garden. Anyone who needs a key to my house, ie a neighbour and my brother, actually has a set themselves, so the garden tin is purely for me in emergency. :-D

We have a upvc stable door at the 'back', which is actually the door nearest the road :-D. If you lock and leave the key in it, you can't open it from the outside with a key. It also has a deadlock on the bottom half which we always lock at night and when out. The front door has no letterbox, just a Yale lock and a deadlock. I don't lock windows, just close them. Sister has a spare set of keys - she lives about 5 miles away.

Very few problems generally in this area. We did have a spate of burglaries a few years ago when some houses were being built nearby. We think certain houses were watched and targeted. You can't see our house from the road and most people wouldn't know it was here.

This must be the key safe....wouldn't a burglar be able to break into it?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/6238120.htm

Jax,
Yes sounds to me like we have the same type of door....if key is in the lock you've no chance of getting back in!!!! As I said, locksmith call out was £60, so I won't be doing it again :-) I hope.

Hi DC,
I'm still not sure I follow your way of reckoning....

your question "why on earth would you lock yourself in at night." has me a little confused. Is locking yourself in at night not a safe thing to do then? I don't understand :-)

Secondly I still don't understand WHY is it not safe to leave the key in the door (as I do at night).
By the time a burglar has smashed a window and clambered in I would have heard him (being a light sleeper) so where does the key in the door matter? If you mean its because he can then let himself out easily, well, he could do that if there was no key in, but a chain on an unlocked door, surely?


Inspector Green Pen - what's a key safe??
I have a spare key in a tin, which is buried in the garden for emergency use. Is a key safe a better option?

Sorry I don't live in London and not heard of burglars in this area smashing the door in......so really cannot see what your argument is about

How can someone reach the keys?? .....oh ok no keys we will kick the door in then

Only times I have been burgled is through windows (two locked and bolted) the other time they got in through an open bedroom window passing our wonderful big German shepherd who was the guard dog out the back of the pub....I had moved out by then

The keys in the locks also double bolt the door

So by your reckoning.....to be safe in your own home is just to have a chain? No wonder they easily kicked the door in

As said before by someone else. If they want to get in that badly they will.

However, we should be doing the best we can to make it as difficult as possible for them.

And why on earth would you lock yourself in at night? A chain on the door should be sufficient as any noise made to break in through one would be enought to alert you to a break in, and is easy to undo to get out in an emergency.

I live in Plumstead Sth London. But when living at home (Elephant and Castle)we were burgled and I lost ALL my jewellery, then when I first got married (Camberwell SE5) we we burgled, they literally kicked the door off its hinges, took very little but made a terrible mess. Then some year later living the The Borough on a main road, our door again was kicked in and all they took was the rental Video and a bath sheet to carry it in (we believe it just went upstairs!).

So having been burgled in the past I know how distressing it can be.

I am very safety conscious. But the Burglary when I lived in Camberwell and in SE1 both happened when I was working on the Post Office counters and was living and working in the same area, so anyone who knew me and where I lived only had to look in to see if I was at work and then they knew the place would be empty. And I know this is what happened at Camberwell. Luckily I was moved to a different office. And after that no-one was asked to work in the office closest to where they lived.

I trust no-one, either online, by phone or knocking on my door.

And the complacency shown by the threads on here about leaving keys in locks etc., just appals me. Most thieves are in and out in less than 5 minutes, and those 5 minutes can ruin your life. I lost all my grandmothers jewellery that she had given me (we never told her). Jewellery bought by my parents, fiance and myself. The loss of these items was heartbreaking.

I would still like to know how a burglar is going to get the keys out of the door unless they are Twizzle......how would they know they are in there?

I am talking about solid doors with small half moon windows at the top....

Those key safes can be probably prised off the wall or whereever they are positioned.

I have used several holiday homes where they are in use and the people text us the code as we are on our way. One uses the same code all the time as we have been there several times and it's always the same number.

Lizx