Skokie, IL Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

1 of the adopted 2021 International Property Maintenance Code to set out exactly what hardware a rental unit's access door must carry. Every door providing access to a dwelling unit, room unit or housekeeping unit that is rented or let must have a heavy-duty deadbolt that is readily openable from the egress side without a key, special knowledge or effort, with a minimum lock throw of one inch; a sliding bolt does not satisfy this requirement. The door must also carry a separate heavy-duty door knob-in-lock set with a dead latch mechanism, both installed to the manufacturer's specifications and kept in good working order, plus a heavy-duty four-screw strike plate attached with three-inch screws long enough to penetrate the door frame.

The access door itself must be of solid wood or metal construction, and it must have a wide-angle 160-degree peephole mounted no higher than 58 inches above the floor. Landlords do not have to retrofit every door immediately: a door that does not yet meet these standards must be brought into compliance the next time the door is replaced or the property is sold, whichever happens first. Because the rule sits in the Village's Property Maintenance Code rather than the fire code, it is enforced through the same code-compliance inspections that cover heat, weatherproofing and pest control in rental housing, not through the fire marshal's egress-width standards in the building code.