Keys, remotes and codes: the access control nobody keeps

How many keys to the front door exist? Nobody knows. That answer IS the security problem.

The typical free-for-all

Decades of unrestricted copies, rented flats handing over sets with no record, ex-partners and ex-tenants with keys, delivery drivers with the entry code scribbled on the bus shelter. The lock is new; the control is non-existent.

The control options (from least to most)

1. A master key system with restricted copying (with an ownership card): copies are only cut by the authorised manufacturer, on record. Moderate cost when you change the lock; real control.
2. Changing the door entry code periodically (where it opens the door) and after tenant turnover.
3. Electronic control (proximity fobs): individual activation and deactivation — a lost fob is cancelled without changing anything physical. Cheaper every year and already the standard in garages.

When to change without question

After a burglary or an attempt, when a master key goes missing, and honestly: if your building has gone 20 years without changing the front-door cylinder, it is time.

The minimum register

A living list: what access points exist (front door, garage, storage rooms, plant rooms), who has what (by flat, not by person), and the date of each handover. On sale or change of tenant: return or cancellation recorded. It sounds bureaucratic; it is ten lines that turn "I think that remote belonged to 2B" into a certainty.