Gaining access in an emergency

[SPJ]

We had a friend staying in our cottage a couple of weeks ago and the second day there was no sign of her by lunchtime. I went down to see if she was awake and tapped on the door. There was no reply. In fact she was just having a badly needed long lie-in and we met later.
However, this got me thinking. Most of our guests lock the front door and leave the key in the lock. They also often shut all the (double glazed) windows and the two french windows and may also shut the shutters.
If there was an emergency, we would struggle to gain access.
Do you have a means of gaining access to your gite? If so, what? I'd be grateful for any suggestions as to what we should do. Thanks.

[Mouse]

It is a good thought for any owner to have. Things can happen.

We always advise guests on check in never to leave keys in the door. We explain that it prevents anyone gaining access with another set of keys either another member of their party or us in an emergency. No 9ne has ever queried that.

TBH we can gain access via a connecting door from our abode to the house....guests think its a cupboard, but we would prefer to knock on the front door and enter that way.

Mousie
x

[greenbarn]

Yes, we have codelocks on the main entrance door and although guests can deadlock from the inside with a thumbturn we have a master key which will open the door regardless from the outside. Other exit doors are only lockable from the inside with a thumbturn, so can also be opened from the outside. None of the exit doors require the guest to find and use a key to escape.
I don’t know if it would be possible to have a satisfactory fire risk assessment (required in the UK) where all the exit doors could be locked from the inside leaving no quick means of access from outside?

[Drax]

Like Greenbarn we have thumbturn locks on both the front and rear doors of our holiday cottage, thus we would always be able to gain access in an emergency.
(I am under the impression that it is a requirement under UK fire regulations to have thumbturn locks fitted to holiday lets. Correct me if I am wrong.)

[LotBoy47]

It is a good thought for any owner to have. Things can happen.

We always advise guests on check in never to leave keys in the door. We explain that it prevents anyone gaining access with another set of keys either another member of their party or us in an emergency. No 9ne has ever queried that.

TBH we can gain access via a connecting door from our abode to the house....guests think its a cupboard, but we would prefer to knock on the front door and enter that way.

Mousie
x

I think we’re going to add that to our welcome spiel and our guest book.

Thanks for the Public Safety Announcement all!

[SPJ]

Thanks for the info everyone. Can I just check please - as I'm not familiar with a thumb turn lock.
Is there still a key lock on the outside? So when our guests go out they can lock the door and take the key with them.
Also, would a thumb turn lock fit into the normal type of hole in a front door that we have here in France?
If so, then I think the easiest thing to do is to replace what we have at the moment.

[greenbarn]

A thumbturn is an option for one side of a standard Eurocylinder lock, with a key for the outside. The cylinders are very easy to swap out, but you need to measure the existing one to get the correct dimensions for a replacement. This is what they look like.

[SPJ]

Thanks Greenbarn

[akwe-xavante]

As a rental either permanent or short let (Holiday Let) it's now law that at least one external door MUST have a thumbturn.

This allows tennants / guests to escape quickly without having to find the keys. Fire being the main reason.

This allso by chance ensures that it's possible to get in (with a key). Nobody can leave a key in the lock. I was pulled up on this one, a guest complained that he couldn't leave a key in the lock to prevent access. I explained why this was not possible and why it was a thumbturn. He vowed he wouldn't book again!!!!!!!

You can't please everybody.

You can get euro thumbturns to fit mortice lock cases (cylinder lock cases) so that you can take out older mortice locks and swap them for euro locks. I use lockandkey.co.uk, i allso use keyalike so that keys (one key) fit all locks.

[SPJ]

You can get euro thumbturns to fit mortice lock cases (cylinder lock cases) so that you can take out older mortice locks and swap them for euro locks. I use lockandkey.co.uk, i allso use keyalike so that keys (one key) fit all locks.

Thanks for the info. I've been looking at thumbturn units in our local brico and they all seem large cumbersome units that come with a separate "case" to hold the lock that fits on the door frame, so I googled your description and found exactly what I need.