My son and his wife recently moved into a lovely flat - but the previous occupant did not leave keys to open the double doors in the lounge. They are on the first floor so cant get to the locks from the outside.

A few people said it would be 'easy' to drill into the lock and just loosen it with a flat head screw driver. So here we are 6 drill bits later, a whole day and a block of angry neighbours and the no closer to opening the doors.

Before anyone says 'get a locksmith' they have a 7 day old baby and no money so its not an option right now and the lounge is BOILING as there is no air getting in there. HELP PLEASE!!!

Made a good mess of that

I will PM You some links as they might help some dick break into peoples houses....

Ouch. Good luck with the lock & the New baby.

Isn't the landlord obliged to sort it with it being a fire escape? (I assume).

The Landlord wanted £50 call out plus cost of locks. But the good news is that the info Andy sent me was awesome and they were off within 4 mins - BOTH locks. The bad news is that I have four locks like that on my house

you also have windows... our plumber had his house broken into they couldn't do the lock so just launched his patio chair through the French windows......

I find a shotgun pointing at their face is a better deterrant than any lock anyway

Glad you sorted it. You going to replace the locks?

Glad it's sorted. Hope the prick of a landlords attitude isn't a sign of things to come

Its a Housing Association property and they did a mutual exchange into it. So the rule is no repairs for 12 months and you take it as you find it. That said, it was SUPPOSED to have been inspected before the exchange was allowed and you would think that given its the only way out if a fire breaks out and blocks the front door that they would make an exception. That said its a lovely new build place so worth it.

Andy Monty said:

you also have windows... our plumber had his house broken into they couldn't do the lock so just launched his patio chair through the French windows......

Click to expand...

Our house has been burgled before, there is so much 'play' plastic door frames that they just twisted the back door with an iron bar. I had it replaced with an aluminium door in a hardwood frame but thats just one of four doors and they all have these locks. Our neighbour had the centre of his front door just kicked in, the outer (plastic) frame was still intact and securely locked. The walked in through the hole left in the middle of the door. The insurance company then suggested that they wouldnt need a new door because that centre panel just pops back in........

http://www.abs-secure.co.uk/

Those are the locks you want, for every door.

Dom

Nice educational video for the low-life.

just seen this, what a mess.
How you gonna repair your landlords door.