We do get asked this question quite a lot and it basically comes down to security. Yes we could fit just a night latch and or a chubb dead bolt, but these do not provide enough security or performance to meet current legislations.

Security has moved on a great deal in the last few years and now even timber door systems have multi-point locking systems to pass much harder security tests and achieve Secure by Design. This means the door will have been certified to British Standard PAS 24-1 ‘Doors of Enhanced Security' (including impact resistance, operation and strength)

Nearly all modern doors whether they are uPVC, timber, aluminium or composite, lock using a multi-point locking system as on our door.

This serves two purposes:

1: It provides superior locking at several points, not just one like a night latch or chubb lock

2: It compresses the door tightly into the seal to confirm to PAS 23 General performance requirements of a door' (including weather tightness, wind loading and energy efficiency.)

Secure by Design (SBD) is an official Police initiative supporting the principles of ‘designing of out crime'. What this basically means is the police have developed a series of sophisticated tests based on real statistics on how a door has been broken into and are continually pushing manufacturers to improve their products to design out how the criminal gained entry. So every time the criminals figure out how to break into the house through the door, the Police SBD initiative devises a test to replicate the entry method. To achieve the much acclaimed Secure by Design accreditation the manufacturer must pass the new test and not allow entry during this test.

With a multi-point lock there are 3 types of conventional handle operations:

Lever/lever – operation like a normal uPVC back door, means you can open the door without the need for a key, unless the deadbolt has been locked

Lever/pad - to open the front door a key is required whether or not the deadbolt has been thrown. This means if you close the door behind you, the dead latch in the centre will not open when the handle is operated, a key will need to be used to open this. This is to stop people following straight behind you into your house. (Nb, the front door will not be fully secure to unauthorised entry until the multi-point locks have been thrown and the deadbolt locked by the key.)

Split spindle lever/lever – this operates the same way as a lever/pad, but looks the same a lever/lever style handle. Basically, the internal spindle, as the name suggests is split and they operate different parts of the multi-point lock.

To summarise:

Multi-point locking systems are now the norm for modern front door and back door security, to ensure you keep burglars at bay.