Woman Demands Parents Cover Locksmith After Broken Door Locks Her Out of Bedroom, but They Refuse

A woman asked the Reddit community for advice after getting locked out of her own bedroom and disagreeing with her parents over who should pay for a locksmith.

She explains that she lives at home, pays rent, and has long dealt with her siblings’ kids going into her room and making a mess.

“Her kids kept going into my room while I was out and kept making a mess,” she wrote about when her sister and her two children lived with them in 2020. “One time I had cake in there and it got crushed EVERYWHERE. Another time, I came back to nail polish painted onto my floor.” She adds that none of the damage was ever fixed or replaced.

Later that year, COVID-19 restrictions changed things again. One of her other sisters, who lived alone with her two kids, needed help because of her mental health, so the woman’s parents asked her to move in for a month.

She agreed, but only if she could put a lock on her door. “I agreed but only if I got a lock put on my door due to the kids,” she explains. She spent £100 ($135) on the lock, while her parents contributed £70 ($94). “It’s a number lock, like the kind you see on staff rooms.”

The lock caused more problems than she expected. In 2023, one of her nephews played with it until the code stopped working. “Somehow I was able to fix it following a YouTube decoding video,” she says.

Even though she kept her room secure for a while, issues continued. “A couple of times since I’ve been locked out of my room but been able to somehow unlock it again,” she says, explaining that she started leaving the door unlocked most of the time.

Leaving it unlocked created a new problem. Her nephew, who lives in the house, would repeatedly barge into her room. “He kept barging into my room just to be a pain in the a–,” she writes.

To stop him, she started locking her door from the inside and unlocking it when she left. This also helped with a broken door handle that made the door slam when a window was open.

Then things got worse. “A couple days ago, I forgot to unlock. So now I’m locked out,” she explains. Despite hours of trying, the lock wouldn’t budge. Her essential items were inside: “All my meds are in there, my laptop which I need for uni, my clothes, etc.,” she shares.

She turned to her dad, who was at work, hoping he would call a locksmith. “He says he will today. Brilliant, I think. It’s getting fixed today, hallelujah,” she recalls. But her father said the job would be treated as an emergency and cost more.

When she explained how urgently she needed her things, her dad said it was her responsibility. “He says it’s going to be more expensive for me,” she writes. Her mother first disagreed but later sided with her dad. Now, they are at a standstill.

Frustrated and unable to access her medication or schoolwork, she asked Reddit for advice. “Who do you think should pay?” she asked readers.

Some people questioned the type of lock used. “INFO who picked an electronic lock for an interior door in the first place? If you’re repeatedly locked out of your room why didn’t you replace the lock prior to this?” one user asked.

She clarified that it wasn’t her decision. “It’s a mechanical number lock and my dad chose it,” she said, adding that she only wanted a simple sliding lock that kids couldn’t reach. “My dad thought I should get one more secure. It’s unfortunately too secure.”

She also explained why she hadn’t replaced it sooner. “I didn’t get it replaced because I was still able to access my room,” she admits. Despite repeated problems, she found temporary solutions — until this final lockout left her stranded.

Now, she remains locked out of her room and stuck in a disagreement with her parents.