Moving into a complex: the key questions nobody asks
6 min read · written for Fourways
You are handed a set of keys, a remote, probably a tag, and no history whatsoever. In a complex that has changed hands repeatedly over twenty years, the question of what else exists is genuinely unanswerable — unless you close it deliberately.
Ask how many of everything exist
Start with the managing agent, in writing. How many gate remotes are registered to this unit? How many access tags? Is there a key register for the unit's own door, and what does it say?
The answers are frequently incomplete, and that incompleteness is the useful information. It tells you which items need cancelling and reissuing rather than merely counting.
Deactivate before you replicate
Remotes and tags are managed by the development, not by you. Anything unaccounted for should be deactivated by the managing agent — that is the entire advantage of an electronic system over metal keys, and it costs nothing to use it.
Do this before ordering replacements. Otherwise you have added new credentials to a pool of unknown old ones, which is exactly the situation you were trying to leave.
Then deal with your own door
Your unit's lock is yours. Rekeying re-pins the existing cylinder so every previous key stops working, without changing anything visible — which matters in a complex where external hardware may be regulated.
It is usually cheaper than replacement and it addresses the actual risk, which is unknown keys rather than a defective lock. Where the hardware is genuinely old or weak, replacement makes more sense, and that is a judgement to make on site.
Check the hardware rules while you are at it
Ask the managing agent whether external door hardware is restricted and whether the complex runs a restricted key system. If it does, your door may need to sit inside it.
Establishing this now is far easier than discovering it after an installation that has to come out again.
The doors people forget in a complex
A patio or balcony sliding door, a garage or carport door, a store room, and any door onto a shared passage. These get overlooked because the front door feels like the whole security question.
Sliding aluminium doors in particular are worth a look. A plain latch on a slider can often be lifted or levered out of its track, and a hookbolt is a small upgrade with a real effect.
One thing that costs nothing
Learn how your door actually locks. On a multipoint mechanism, lifting the handle without turning the key frequently leaves it on the latch only — the door feels shut and is not locked.
It is a surprisingly common contributor to break-ins, and correcting it takes one demonstration.
Rather ask than read
Not sure how this applies to your door?
Services this relates to
Rekeying
Same hardware, new key, old keys dead. The usual answer after a move or a staff change.
Lock Change & Replacement
A move, a handover or a set of keys you cannot account for. Cylinders and locksets replaced on site.
Residential Locksmith
Estate homes, clusters and townhouses — locks, security gates and gate motors that have stopped cooperating.
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