Keys, Lockboxes and Access for a Vacant Property

An empty house collects keyholders fast: the agent, the cleaner, the painter, the inspector, a neighbor who checks the mail. Every key and lockbox code that leaves your hands is a way in that you no longer control. Tracking every key narrows that gap.

One person owns the keys

• Name a key manager. The Hartford advises making one person accountable for keys and combinations at a vacant building.
• Keep a log. Number each key and write down who has it, when they got it and when it came back. Large organizations work this way: North Carolina’s Department of Administration labels each key with a code, lists one keyholder per contractor request and tracks every key cut and returned.
• No copies, no sharing. UNC Charlotte’s key policy prohibits transferring, loaning or sharing keys, and makes contractors who lose keys pay to rekey the affected spaces.
• No hidden keys. The National Association of REALTORS says never to leave a key under the mat, in a flowerpot or anywhere outside the house.

Rekey when control is lost

Rekey whenever a key goes missing, when a crew is done and you can’t account for every copy, and when a property changes hands. Hollister, California, Police advise rekeying every time you move into a new home. For FHA-insured foreclosures, HUD’s 2016 guidance required the main entrance lock to be rekeyed or replaced once a property was found vacant and, after the foreclosure sale, every lock set to one random key code recorded in the claim.

Lockboxes and access codes

• Mechanical lockboxes hang on the doorknob and open with a combination you set. Change the code when a job ends, if the box allows it.
• Electronic lockboxes used by agents can grant limited access. SentriLock offers one-day and contractor codes and can send a notice when the box is opened; Supra offers one-time access for contractors and stagers and records each opening.
• Agents: NAR says to follow the established lockbox procedure, check every room and the yard before locking up, and never describe a listing as “vacant.”

Contractor visits

• Give access for the days the work runs, not open-ended. UNC Charlotte asks for contractor access that expires shortly after the work is done.
• Agree on who unlocks, who relocks and where the key goes at the end of the day.
• Walk through after each crew leaves: doors locked, windows closed, nothing left running.