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Originally Posted by 4691mls
A couple of years ago I read two or three books that all had a plot line where someone was locked inside a house that was on fire. Is it common in the UK to have outside doors that can only be opened with a key?
In the US, every house or apartment I've ever lived in or visited has had one or more locks on the outer doors - typically one in the knob itself plus a deadbolt. These are normally operated from the outside by a key, but on the inside there is some kind of knob or lever so if you didn't have a key you could still get out in case of emergency.
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In the UK, it is common to have doors that you cannot open without a key, So without the key, you cannot open the door. That's when you are on the inside. In the UK, most door keys look like skeleton keys.
In the US, you can have a door lock and a deadbolt. But that's mostly for apartments. In the houses/condo I've lived in, we only had door locks.