Charlotte, NC Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

Section 11-151(b) governs deadbolt hardware on lodging establishment exterior doors: locks may require a key, card, or combination to open from the outside, but from the inside they must open "by a knob or lever without the use of a key, card, or combination or special knowledge or effort to operate." The section goes further than a design preference: "no person shall install a deadbolt lock on a hotel room or motel room door that does not comply with all applicable laws." The same section requires a posted evacuation diagram: "there shall be conspicuously displayed immediately adjacent to or on the inside of every exit door from a sleeping room, a diagram depicting two evacuation routes." For ordinary dwellings, the parallel rule sits in § 11-77(o): "all doors providing access to any place of habitation shall have operable locks, and, in the case of dwellings and dwelling units, the owner or operator shall provide a change of locks or keys for new tenants." Both rules trace back to the same fire-safety and turnover-security concerns, but they're distinct provisions for distinct building types, and a violation of either one is treated seriously: § 11-45(e)(11) lists a door or window lacking an operable lock, or an owner's failure to rekey for a new tenant, as one of the 13 conditions that make a place of habitation "imminently dangerous to health or safety."