St. Louis County, MO Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

' The only way around that rule is door hardware that is itself permitted by the St. Louis County Building Code, meaning a property cannot simply swap in a keyed deadbolt or a hidden latch on an exit door because it is convenient for the owner. The same chapter addresses barred windows and window wells used as emergency escape and rescue openings. 4 requires those openings to be operable from inside the room without a key or tool, and it specifically allows bars, grilles or grates over an escape window only if the device itself releases or lifts away from the inside without a key, tool, or more force than the window's normal operation already requires.

Landlords who install security bars on a bedroom window in an existing building have one more obligation attached to that installation: Section 704 requires a smoke detector in that room, because bars on the only emergency exit raise the stakes if a fire starts while the device is in place. 2 rounds out the fire-safety side of the same amendment, requiring that fire and smoke-stop doors stay in operating condition and not be blocked, obstructed, or otherwise disabled, and it specifically calls for door closers to be reinstalled at individual apartment units where the original approved equipment included them.