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New Tenants: Change Locks and Protect Yourself Some managers or owners may be tempted to avoid the expense of a lock change when a new tenant moves in. Please, this can be dangerous. An owner or manager should never allow the possibility of access to anothers unit. If something happened, even just a theft and the tenant asked for proof that the locks were changed since there was no break in. You would have to provide a receipt from a locksmith. Without it, the law suit would certainly try for your property. Hardly worth the few bucks saved. Always issue a work order to change the locks and have a receipt attached to that order from the locksmith. If you have your own maintenance staff then there should be a set of new keys given to the manager to replace the set that no longer works. Our procedure is to have a locksmith make arrangements with the new tenant to be at the apartment when the locks are changed so they will have immediate access to their new unit. Of course, its possible to have the locksmith change the locks and deliver two sets to the owner so that a new set of keys is there for the lease signing. Be sure to collect all keys: 1. Unit keys 2. Mail box 3. Gate 4. Lobby Door 5. Master keys made for side doors or gates etc. must be inventoried to deny access to tenants that no longer live there. 6. All remotes TIPS: 1. We know of some owners that will swap out the cylinder and re-use the cylinder and keys in different apartments. We dont think this is as safe as a new cylinder, but it could work and its certainly saves money. Swapping cylinders is easy to do and does save money. 2. Our lease all contain the number and types of keys given to the tenant. This way we have a log of what went out and what came back. 3. You can list a "lost Key" charge in the lease to cover the expense of a remote or special safety keys such as Medco or Primus 4. Document all key changes: Save all work orders and locksmith receipts to prove you have changed locks 5. Many landlords want their locks "master-keyed" so that one key fits all of their locks. 6. If you have colleague that owns you could swap cylinders and keys for added safety and keep your costs to a minimum. You could add safety to the key swap by never giving the address or unit number. * Of course you can never change a lock on a tenant and lock the tenant out, we'll discuss this topic at a different time REsourced from www.yourpropertypath.com You may republish this article as long as you do not edit and you agree to preserve all links to the author and Your Property Path.com
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