Condo Building Lock Change Practices - is your condo board using the best practices? What are the best practices for lock changes?

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Every couple of years a building needs to change their locks for many reasons but the most obvious one is that if your building has a a lot of renters its just good practice to change the locks periodically to ensure there are no unwanted visitors. So what is the best way to change the locks in a building with hundreds of people and services and all the people who need to gain entry to the building? The easiest answer is as humanly as possible taking people and human beings into consideration. That's sounds pretty simple doesn't it? If your board and property manager sit down and consider all the possibilities of who needs to enter the building and when and make sure that all scenarios are covered then it really should be an easy process. Lock changes are all about planning and consideration for the owners of the building.

Before we start talking about the best possible scenarios lets talk about what not to do! What you should never do is only communicate through one medium, like only sending emails to owners advising them of a lock change and then changing the locks the next day. It's also very bad practice to only give a small window for owners to pick up keys and anything else they require. I think we can all agree that when a building is changing the locks the biggest consideration should be to make sure owners are not locked out of their building. The first thought for any board should be how can we mitigate and plan to ensure that people are not locked out of the building and put in a situation where they could be harmed. It is the responsibility of the board of directors of a condo corporation to "do no harm" and should make up part of their code of ethics. Before a condo board makes any decision or takes any action they need to consider the harm that could be caused by this action. If you govern and run the condo board using ethical principals you will be able to sleep well at night!

Can you imagine if you lived in a condo and were away on a long vacation and didn't check your email or maybe you did check your email but it doesn't matter because you are out of the country and can't make it to pick up the locks because the board gave a small inconvenient time that suited them and very few in the building? You came home from vacation during a long weekend and are locked out of your home with no where to go in the middle of the night or early morning? It's a horror show! The scenarios are endless, we live in Alberta where it's very common for so many people to work away and in camps so you can't make the one day to pick up your new keys? You come home early in the morning and your key doesn't work in the lock? The worst scenario is someone who didn't receive the emails for whatever reason, goes to spam, busy haven't had time to check emails, sick or in the hospital and you leave your home in the early morning or come in late at night and you can't get back into your home because your condo board didn't consider that there are human beings with all different types of lives and schedules and they weren't aware of the lock change. One of the worst scenarios is a women who may be being harassed or followed by someone and they can't easily gain access to their building because the board changed the locks without any consideration to their owners. Lock changes without consideration create more problems because people who don't have access will start propping open the doors because they can't get access to the building and now we have security issues and an open invitation for anyone to enter the building. This is why we created this company to help people who have very little organizational skills or understanding of their roles. If you had called us first we would have helped make sure none of these scenarios ever occur.

The "Do no harm" principal is derived from John Stuart Mill -

‘The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of their number, is self-protection…the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others’. On Liberty (1974), pp. 68-69, Penguin Books.

There are so many scenarios that a condo board can practice when changing locks. Let's look at the basic principals. First, you never want anyone to be locked out of the building so you need to make sure you use more than one medium to notify owners, emails are not enough to provide to owners of lock changes, emails are not reliable enough to ensure that owners have actually received the notice. Actual physical signs should be used at all doors to remind owners of the lock changes. In fact the days of property managers sitting all day waiting for owners to show up are generally over. Most new systems are online so access to new systems can be downloaded and links sent to owners or scan codes included on the physical signs so owners can download the information, there is no need to have owners personally show up for lock changes in this day and age. If you need to switch out physical keys throw them under the doors, put them in the mail boxes or stagger the times for pick up over weeks or months so everyone has a chance to pick up the keys. Staggering the physical lock changes over months is also a good way to ensure that owners aren't locked out but it reminds them that ok this is the door I use and the lock will be changed next week so I better figure out how to get my new locks soon! Owners need to have time to get used to the new system and the board should want to ensure that people are familiar with the new lock system so they aren't locked out so staggering the locks or system between doors would ensure that owners are not put in a compromising situation.

Its takes thought and consideration and the ethical principals of "do no harm" should be considered for all board decisions. How can we complete our task and make changes without harming any owners in the process should be the first priority of any condo board of directors! We would love to hear your stories or ideas on lock changes let us know and of course contact us if you are a board and need help with lock changes in your building.

Its Friday today so remember smile at your neighbor in the elevator tell them to have a great day and happy condo living!