Security Screens, Window Locks And Rental Compliance

Two window items in a NSW rental are legal requirements rather than upgrades, and both are cheap to get right and expensive to get wrong.

Locks on accessible windows

A rented property has to be reasonably secure, and that includes locks on windows that can be reached from outside.

Ground floor windows, windows off a balcony or a fire escape, windows reachable from a flat roof or a carport.

This gets missed most often after a renovation, where new windows go in and nobody checks that the hardware actually locks. A latch that holds a window closed is not a lock.

Window safety devices above ground level

Strata buildings in NSW have to have devices on windows that open more than a set amount where there is a drop below.

A safety device restricts how far the window opens, resists a child pushing it, and can be released by an adult so the window is still usable in an emergency.

A screen is not a substitute. Flyscreens are not designed to hold weight and they give way under it, which is exactly the failure mode the rule exists to prevent.

In a strata building this is an owners corporation obligation covering every lot, so it is a building-wide item rather than a per-tenancy one.

Security screens, which are a different thing

Security screens are about keeping people out, not keeping people in.

A proper security screen is a stainless steel mesh in a structural frame, fixed into the building rather than into the timber trim. A cheap aluminium flyscreen with a lock on it is not a security screen and will not behave like one.

What matters in practice:

The fixings. Most screen failures are the fixings pulling out, not the mesh failing. It has to be anchored into something solid.

The frame. A screen door frame carries load every time the door is used. On a heavily used entry it needs to be rated for it.

The lock. A keyed lock on a screen door has to be usable from inside without hunting for the key, or it becomes a hazard.

Egress. At least one exit route has to be openable from inside without a key. A house with keyed deadlocks on every screen door is a fire risk.

Where this interacts with other work

Screens and locks are usually fitted at the same time as the [sliding door and window hardware](/blog/sliding-doors-and-window-hardware-that-stick) service, because the same person is already at the window and the same hardware is involved.

They also come up at turnover, alongside the rest of the [end of lease make good](/blog/end-of-lease-made-re-let-ready-fast), because a missing lock is the kind of item that holds up a lease.

For a property manager

The practical approach is an audit rather than a reaction.

Walk every accessible window and check it locks. Check the safety devices on anything above ground level, including that they have not been removed or defeated by a previous tenant. Check screen doors open from inside without a key.

Record what is there and what is missing, then fix the gaps in one visit rather than one at a time.

Doing it as a scheduled item costs a fraction of doing it after a complaint, and it removes an item that sits squarely with the owner rather than the tenant.