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Updated 2 days ago on . Most recent reply

How do you deal with tenants losing keys?
I have a friend who owns a few rooming houses and occasionally has a tenant lose their key and lock themselves out. He self manages, so he usually ends up delivering a spare key which is a huge time suck. How do other property owners or managers handle these situations?
Most Popular Reply

Yeah, constantly driving over to let someone in gets old fast—especially if it's late at night or happens often. A lot of landlords and managers handle lockouts with a mix of prevention and systems that don’t require them to be there in person.
Some of the common ways people deal with it:
They install smart locks or keypad entry systems, which are a game changer. You can generate codes for each tenant or just reset them remotely if needed. Some locks even let you track when someone enters. It’s a little upfront investment, but saves so much time and hassle.
Others just keep a lockbox on-site (like the realtor-style ones) with a spare key inside, and only give the code to tenants in case of emergency. You just have to make sure it’s secure and not super obvious.
Some landlords also charge a lockout fee—$50, $100, whatever—to discourage carelessness and make it worth the trip if they do have to show up. If your friend doesn’t want to be the one doing it, they can even pay a handyman or local locksmith to handle those calls for a fee.
It just depends how hands-on your friend wants to be. But in general, tech + boundaries = less stress.