Should Students Have Locks On Their Rooms?
This question comes up every year - obviously in a purpose built hall of residence a student would expect to be able to lock the door to their room, but in a well maintained Victorian house, let to 3 or 4 friends, is it justified for them to ask for locks on the doors to their rooms?
Most landlords understandably want to maintain the character (and value) of their houses and don't want Yale locks throughout the property making it look less like a home and more like a bedsit.
Advice from the relevant authorities varies but there is a solution....
The University recommends that students are able to lock their personal belongings away, safe from any visitors that their housemates may admit and this seems logical.
The Council will not permit any form of lock which require the occupant to use a key to let themselves out - this could be disastrous if there were a fire and valuable seconds lost looking for the key... So the old solution of rim locks is not acceptable.
However, there is an alternative to the deformation of all of the doors throughout the property when Yale or similar locks are fitted. It is the hotel knobset (see picture) which can be used as an ordinary door handle when unlocked but when locked, can either be opened from the outside with a key or from the inside simply by turning the 'thumb turn' in the centre of the handle.
