Camarillo, CA Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- CMC Sec. 16.04.395 (IPMC Sec. 702.3)
- Core rule
- Egress doors openable without a key from exit side
- Exception
- Hardware permitted under the California Building Code
- Applies to
- Existing buildings, ongoing (property maintenance code)
- Enforcing agency
- Code Compliance Division (Sec. 16.04.316)
- Penalty
- Misdemeanor, up to $1,000 / 6 months
Summary
Camarillo's amended Property Maintenance Code bars any means-of-egress door from being locked in a way that keeps occupants from getting out without a key or special knowledge. Sec. 16.04.395 (IPMC Sec. 702.3) allows only door hardware the California Building Code itself permits as an exception.
16.04.395 - Locked doors.
Section 702.3 of the IPMC is amended to read as follows:
702.3 Locked Doors. All means of egress doors must be readily openable from the side from which egress is to be made without the need for keys, special knowledge or effort, except where door hardware conforms to that permitted by the California Building Code.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 27 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 395 of the Camarillo Municipal Code, adopted by Ord. No. 2034, Sec. 3 of the International Property Maintenance Code to require that every means-of-egress door be readily openable from the side people are exiting from, without keys, special knowledge or unusual effort, unless the hardware is one the California Building Code separately permits, such as approved delayed-egress or access-control assemblies. This sits inside a run of egress provisions the city also amended: Sec. 392 (IPMC Sec. 1) requires a safe, continuous, unobstructed path of travel from any point in a building to the public way, and Sec.
394 (IPMC Sec. 2) requires that required aisle widths stay unobstructed. Because these are property-maintenance rules rather than one-time construction standards, they apply to existing buildings on an ongoing basis, not just new work, and are the standard the Code Compliance Division cites when it finds a business or apartment building with padlocked, chained, or keyed-only exit doors during a property maintenance inspection.
Violations & Fines
Maintaining, using or occupying a building in violation of the locked-doors requirement is a misdemeanor under Sec. 16.04.310, carrying a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day the violation continues charged as a separate offense. The Code Compliance Division, created by Sec. 16.04.316, is the agency that inspects for and enforces egress-door violations, and the Building Official may post a notice restricting occupancy until the hardware is corrected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a landlord put a keyed deadbolt on an apartment exit door in Camarillo?
Does this rule apply to older, already-built buildings?
What happens if the city finds a chained or padlocked exit door?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Camarillo
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