Locks And Keys Are an Important Property Management Process

When you acquire a property locks and keys are an important process requirement. To begin with, in many states if not all, legally the locks and keys are required to be changed upon a new resident moving into the property. Even if the law does not require this, from a practical stand point this requirement should be observed. For a large property, the low cost and simple way to do this is to hold onto the locks and keys and exchange them with other units. As a practical matter, this can meet the legal requirement while avoiding having to pay for new locks and keys.

If you are operating a large portfolio, you may want to consider getting your own keying machine. Keying can be extremely expensive for a property. For a 100 to 200 unit project, costs can be hundreds of dollars of month without a machine. On the other hand, the machine is a relatively modest cost to pay and the machine is reasonably simple and will operate with little to know maintenance. Generally, a machine can be purchased used for only a few hundred dollars. Using a machine requires special training. Because of this you will have to plan training for your staff to be able to produce keys. This training normally requires a day or two and is not an extreme cost. The greater difficulty will be finding a class as they are not that readily available.

Staff members who perform key work should be subject to a thorough background check, these checks should be periodically repeated, and drug testing is a good idea as well. Not taking this precaution can open the property to unnecessary legal exposure.

Keys, copies of keys, and records of their changes should be carefully maintained. Additionally, you should keep copies of all keys in a secure location under lock and key. Finally, there should be master keys for all locks if at all possible. The master key should be changed on any occasion that the persons operating the key machine or the maintenance staff who access to the master keys leave your employment.

You should check the specific regulations applying to your jurisdiction. However, these basic rules will assure that you avoid significant issues managing the lock and key requirements of the property. Further, your costs will be minimized and operating efficiency should be good. At a minimum, you should give the subject serious consideration.

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