Entrusting and tracking the keys of a property held from abroad: who holds what, the log, lock changes

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 concierge service knows its 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 concierge service, if it coordinates interventions, also keeps a dedicated set. Everything else goes through the key box.

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: the Home Select concierge service provides that presence.

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.