Do student rooms have to left open for access from outside?

[Guest Ryan]

I am moving into a student accommodation house and the landlord is refusing to put external locks on the bedroom doors as it is illegal. Is there any legislation against this as every other house that I've seen has had external locks on their doors. As it currently stands the bedroom door can be locked from the inside but can still be opened from the outside without the use of a key (which isn't right in itself). But should I want to leave my room and the house, the bedroom door must be left unlocked which surely cannot be the case?

[Tom Sutton]

The landlord is wrong, it looks like the locks have been installed the wrong way round. They should be easily opened from the inside without the use of a key, in the direction of means of escape. Once the room is unoccupied you should be able to lock it from the outside for security reasons unless there is a means of escape through that room.

[Guest Guest]

The landlord says that the first floor windows are usable as fire escapes but all rooms have corridor access to the front door with no obstruction. Do the first floor rooms still need to be accessible by everyone despite there being a clear, direct route to the main point of escape? The first floor also has a bathroom with a window that is also a fire escape so surely that would be sufficient?
Thanks for your quick response, Tom

[Tom Sutton]

The primary means of escape is the normal route out of the premises and should be used first. The window escape is an alternative escape, to be used as a last resort and only if the primary escape is unusable. The window escape is for the people in the room and people in other rooms would have to enter the primary escape to get to other rooms, how could they if the primary escape is unusable?