If your rental property has self-locking door knobs, your tenants WILL get locked out. They might just have lost their keys and cannot get in.
After getting locked out, the first person they call is you, the landlord. You know it happens we have all locked ourselves out at one time or another. When they accidentally lock themselves out, they will expect you to come rushing over with a key. Right?
What is “Self-Locking”?
It is any door knob or latch that automatically locks behind you. These are also known as a “keyed privacy locks”, and they are quite common. The intent is to allow the door to lock behind you without having to use your keys.
They are supposed to save you time. However, they cause more trouble than they are worth.
When a tenant gets locked out, most leases call for it to be something they take care of. If it is during business hours, this can be remedied easier than after hours or weekends. The issue can be that tenants hire a locksmith that damages your hardware, the tenants break a window to get in and expect you to pay for it.
The Solution
Swap out all your keyed privacy door knob locks with deadbolts. Configure the door hardware so that it is impossible for the door to lock behind someone without keys.
One solution is to install an entry door handle set on every exterior door. These handle and deadbolt combos require a key to be used to lock the door from the outside – making them “lock-out” proof.
Another solution is to install a closet knob as the main handle and keeping your existing deadbolt.
An alternative is Kwikset’s Smartkey locks for all the exterior doors. These locks make re-keying a property quick, easy, and inexpensive. They come in handy when a tenant loses a key or you are forced to re-key a unit between tenancies.