Cylinder Nightlatches

When a front door will not stay shut properly, sticks on the latch or has a tired old lock that has seen better days, a replacement cylinder nightlatch is often the straightforward answer. These familiar rim-mounted locks are fitted to the inside face of a timber door and latch automatically as the door closes, making them a practical choice for homes, flats, offices and communal entrances where the door needs to close securely behind people.

Traditional Yale-style cylinder nightlatches remain common on older front doors, so getting the replacement right is less about chasing a modern-looking lock and more about matching what is already there. Check the backset, the cylinder position and the type of pull or handle fitted to the outside of the door before ordering. This is particularly important when replacing established models such as Yale 77 Series or 723, ERA 133 and 135, Legge 766, or Union 1022, 1026, 1027 and 1028 nightlatches.

Standard cylinder nightlatches provide convenient everyday latching, but they are not a substitute for high security mortice locks for external doors. On a main entrance, it is usual to pair a rim nightlatch with a separate deadlock; where an insurer requires a specific standard, that may mean fitting 5-lever deadlocks that meet insurance requirements. For a lock that deadlocks automatically when the door shuts, see the dedicated auto-deadlocking and British Standard nightlatch options instead.

These locks are intended for timber doors rather than replacement cylinder locks for UPVC doors, which normally work with a euro cylinder and multipoint locking system. If your existing nightlatch is damaged, unreliable or simply no longer matches the door furniture, replacing it with the correct traditional rim lock is a clean, cost-effective repair that keeps the door working as it should.