Did you know that if you had the wrong locks on your door it could invalidate your contents insurance?
Can you tell the difference between a mortise dead lock to a multi-point locking system?
Or a British standard night latch to a standard night latch?
The general rules are as follows
Locks accepted by 99.99% of insurance companies are:
- 5 lever mortise dead lock/SASH lock
- Multi point locking system (normally with a min of 3 locking points)
- A British standard night latch
- Keyed bolts (one on the top part of the door one on the bottom of the door)Ok so you may have seen that little list on your insurance renewal but what does it all mean?
Let me try to explain
5 lever mortise lock
There are hundreds of different mortise locks available, but the most common are the 2 lever, 3 lever and 5 lever.
Inside the lock case there are levers that all get aligned when you put the key in the lock and this allows the bolt to move across and open.
2 and 3 lever locks are more suited for internal doors.
You can check your locks by looking at the side of the lock where the bolts comes out. It should have a number on there detailing the amount of levers it has.
Multi point locks.
These locks are the ones that appear in the UPVC doors and composite doors.
If you’re not sure if you have this type of lock, open your door and look down the side of the door. If you can see a metal strip down the door with hooks, rollers, bolts etc. this is a multi-point lock.
These locks are insurance locks but are only as strong as the cylinder that locks the door. Although a 5 pin euro cylinder is all that is needed for the multi-point locks I would highly recommend are anti-snap cylinder. Please see a link to the recent blog about anti snap locks.
Is your night latch a British standard one?
Can you double lock it from the inside with a key?
Does it have an anti-drill plate on the front of the lock?
Above are two night latches. The gold one is a British standard lock and the grey is just a basic night latch.
Please note that you only need either a BS night latch or a BS mortise lock. You don’t require both for your insurance but it does no harm!
Keyed bolts.
There are many types on the market but as long as you have one at the top of the door and one at the bottom and they can be secured by a key your covered!
If any of your doors have none of the above please call today for a free security and crime prevention check.
GPM Locksmiths in Milton Keynes 01908 483464.
GPM Locksmiths in Bedford 01234 731362.
GPM Locksmiths in Northampton 01604 269423