Entrusting and tracking keys: custody, copies, handovers

A property run from abroad is protected first through a strict key regime: labelled sets, a limited number of holders, a dated log of every handover and every return, and a coded key box for occasional interventions. Entrusting and tracking keys comes down to three profiles: the trusted neighbour, the regular contact and the partner manager, nobody else. Every movement of a key leaves a written record, and any incident or change of contact triggers a rotation of codes, or even of locks. This article complements our guide to fitting out a home from afar, in the Furnishing & installation category.

Why the key regime decides everything else

Keys are the first access to the property, and poorly controlled circulation undermines the rest of the organisation. A key lent without a record, a copy forgotten with a departed contact, a code passed on by word of mouth: from abroad, you lose track of who can enter your home, and that ignorance has very concrete consequences. After a burglary with no sign of forced entry, the insurer will examine who held an access; after a botched intervention, liability will be discussed on the basis of handovers; day to day, a home that anyone can open is no longer a watched home.

The key discipline rests on four simple principles:

• Labelled sets: each set carries a discreet mark, and you know at all times how many sets exist and where they are.
• A limited number of holders: countable on the fingers of one hand, since each extra set divides your control.
• A dated handover log: who, when, why, which set, and when it came back.
• A coded key box: for occasional interventions, without multiplying holders.

Over the seasons, the key regime also becomes a shared language: the neighbour knows what is expected of them, the regular contact knows that one set is dedicated to them and nothing more, the partner manager knows their log will be read. This clarity avoids case-by-case bargaining, the natural ground of vagueness, and informal requests to borrow the bunch no longer arise once the regime is written down. In a block of flats, the caretaker may feature among useful contacts, but their role remains watching the common parts: unless a long-standing relationship exists, they hold none of your keys.

Who should hold what?

Legitimacy is reasoned profile by profile. You hold the full reference set, kept away from the property, never left on site. The trusted neighbour receives one set for external alerts and immediate emergencies. The regular contact, the one who attends for inspections and upkeep, holds a dedicated set. The partner manager, if they coordinate interventions, also keeps a dedicated set. Everything else goes through the key box.

Holder	Legitimacy	Record to keep
You	Owner: full reference set	Set kept away from the property, never left on site
The trusted neighbour	External alert, immediate emergency	Labelled set, logged handover, return at every trip back
The regular contact	Scheduled visits and inspections	Dedicated set, dated handover and return on each assignment
The partner manager	Coordination of interventions	Dedicated set, log kept and shared
The coded key box	Occasional technicians, surveys	Code noted in the file, changed after every external visit

The list stops there. No other profile holds a key: no spare under the doormat, no set left with someone met once, no bunch kept inside the property itself. If an occasional technician must enter, they go through the key box, whose code is changed after their visit, or through a delegated presence who welcomes them and locks up behind: this is the purpose of the presence during interventions service, on quotation, coordinated by your dedicated contact.

How should each handover and return be logged?

The log comes down to a few columns and lives in the property file:

• The date and time of the handover, and those of the return.
• The holder’s name and the reason: inspection, emergency, intervention, viewing.
• The set concerned, identified by its discreet mark.
• The condition noted on return, with a photo if the visit involved work.

Every handover can be closed with a simple written message, however brief, fixing the date and the purpose. That record stands as proof in a dispute, and above all it maintains, in each holder, the sense of a framed trust rather than a bunch of keys doing the rounds. An up-to-date log is read in two minutes before any decision: you know who has what, since when, and why.

When should codes and locks be changed?

Rotation is not excessive wariness: it is hygiene, applied at precise moments:

• On taking possession of the property: the locks of a sold home have a history, have them changed or recoded before the first absence.
• After the loss or theft of a key, even only suspected.
• After the departure of a contact or a manager, without waiting for an incident.
• After a troubling event: signs of attempted entry, a moved object, a door found open.
• When changing the key-box code, systematically after every external technician’s visit.

Rotation covers everything that opens: locks, but also the gate code, the building entry code, the alarm code and the key-box code. A lock change without an alarm-code change leaves open what the other one closed.

What should be done in the event of loss, theft or doubt?

The scenario is a classic: the regular contact writes that they cannot find the set entrusted to them, or you discover the mark of an attempted break-in on a door. From abroad, the temptation is to wait for the next trip; that is almost always a mistake. The sequence to follow is short:

• Establish the facts in writing: who lost what, when, in what circumstances, with photos if the doubt concerns an attempted break-in.
• Report the theft or the attempt to the relevant services if the facts justify it, and keep the receipt for the insurer.
• Have the locks concerned changed or recoded straight away, by an insured locksmith partner, with a quote you have approved.
• Update the log: the missing set is recorded as such, the new sets enter the register, the codes change.

A lingering doubt always weighs more than a lock change: a key unaccounted for with a departed contact is an unknown access that may still be circulating. In the event of mere suspicion, changing the key-box code and the entry-code panel sometimes suffices; in the event of a certain loss of a full set, the lock is changed. In between, it is the established facts that decide, and your insurer will tell you what level of proof they expect.

This key regime prepares the next step: as soon as the property welcomes travellers, the question changes scale, between handovers in person, key boxes and inventories at every arrival. We cover it in our article on furnishing for seasonal lets.

A key regime is built in an hour and protects for years. If you would like to lay out the exact organisation for your property, between holders, key box and rotations, the personal study offered by French Realty lets you define it with your dedicated contact.