Do you give keys to your trusted contractor / repair / maintenance guy?

[Nicole A.]

I'm curious about this and wanted to poll you all about it.

If you have a maintenance guy you've been working with and trust, you may find he's going to your rental properties fairly often.

If you have multi-unit properties, would you give him a key to at least get in the main door? Or also a key to get into the units themselves? Or no key at all?

I'm not suggesting he'd go in without notice of course. But sometimes it's tough for the landlord to always be there in person. Sometimes, the tenants step out or are sleeping and may not hear him knock at the main door.

Do you have a written agreement between you and the maintenance man regarding his possession of a key?

If he does have a key, tenants may complain that they don't like that he has a key. How would you manage that?

[Dawn Anastasi]

I do not give contractors keys.  I am either there myself or I have the tenant let them in.  Especially if it's the first time the tenant meets the contractor I will go there myself and introduce the contractor but if the tenant is there I don't stick around for the full job.