Why not just have a deadbolt?

[Brandon Holtzinger]

I read a tip in one of the topics that said to just have deadbolts on your rental houses and just buy regular knobs without locks. This will keep your tenant from locking their keys inside and calling you at odd hours. The deadbolt I have on my rental is the kind with the keypad instead of using a key. When I have to change tenants I can easily delete the old tenants code and put in a new one.

I thought this was a great idea and just wanted others opinion why this would not be a good idea or why you are not using this method. Before I saw that post I was going to contact landlordlocks and get some of those, but I dont think I am going to now.

[Patrick L.]

The knob lock isn't very secure anyway.  Unless the door is tight against the jam it's very easy to open a bottom lock with a knife (or other long flat object).   

We have a policy of not running around opening lock outs for people.  I did have one about a year ago where the tenant called my maintenance guy and he said he was tied up and could get by there later in the day.  The lady was very upset because she had left a frozen pizza cooking in the oven and didn't want it to burn.   He said he'd head over and be there in about 30 min.   15 min later she called him back and told him not to worry about it, she called the fire department and they broke down the front door for her.