---
title: "Shut Out on Your Own Balcony, Twenty Floors Up"
description: "A sliding door can latch behind you. What to do if it happens on a high floor, who to call from the balcony, and the small change that stops it happening."
url: "https://locksmithbenidorm.es/blog/shut-out-on-your-own-balcony/"
business: "Locksmith Benidorm"
---

# Shut out on your own balcony, twenty floors up

A sliding door that latches behind you turns a view into a problem. What to do if it happens, and the small change that stops it.

24 September 2026 · 4 min read

Benidorm has more than thirty buildings over 100 metres tall, and thousands of flats whose best feature is a balcony. Most balconies are reached through a sliding door of aluminium or uPVC. On some of those doors, the catch can engage if the door is pulled shut firmly from outside. You step out with a coffee, the door slides home behind you, and the flat is on the other side of the glass.

## If the door has already closed behind you

**Stay calm and stay put.** Do not try to climb to a neighbour’s balcony. Nothing inside the flat is worth that, at any height.

**If you have your phone:**

- Ring whoever has a key: a partner, the host, the owner, reception.
- If nobody does, ring a locksmith and say clearly: you are

  *on the balcony*

  , the flat door is locked or pulled shut, and the balcony door has latched. Give the building, floor and door.
- Somebody will need to get into the building and to your front door. If there is a conserje, they can let the locksmith in.

**If you do not have your phone:**

- Attract a neighbour’s attention, on the next balcony or below. Ask them to ring for you.
- In heat, with a child inside, or if you feel unwell, ask them to ring

  **112**

  . The emergency services will deal with the door.

## Why it happens

A sliding door locks with a hook or catch that should only engage when the handle is turned. When the mechanism wears, is adjusted too tightly, or has been fitted with a self-latching catch, a firm push can engage it on its own. Once it has happened once, it will happen again.

## How to stop it

- **Test it.**

  With someone inside, slide the door shut from the balcony side, firmly. If it latches, it needs attention.
- **Until it is fixed, prop it.**

  A doorstop or a folded towel in the track stops the door closing fully behind you.
- **Get the catch adjusted or changed**

  so it only engages from the handle. It is usually a small repair.
- **Take your phone onto the balcony**

  , every time. It is the habit that makes the rest a minor story.

If the flat door behind you was locked with the key, the job becomes a normal lockout from the landing side: [the emergency line](https://locksmithbenidorm.es/emergency-locksmith-benidorm/) is the number to ring.

## Fixing a balcony door that latches itself

Hooks, catches and handles on aluminium and uPVC balcony doors, adjusted or replaced so the door behaves.

[Read more](https://locksmithbenidorm.es/balcony-door-locks-benidorm/)

## Need hands on the door rather than advice?

Ring, or send a photo of the lock and your location on WhatsApp.

Open 24 hours · 7 days

[+34 678 583 290](tel:+34678583290)

[WhatsApp](https://wa.me/34678583290?text=Hi%2C%20I%20need%20a%20locksmith%20in%20Benidorm.%20The%20building%2C%20floor%20and%20door%20are%3A)