An electronic lock looks like the answer for a house that is empty half the year: no keys to post to a neighbour, codes that can be changed from another country, a log of who came in. In l’Alfàs, where the town hall estimates thousands of Norwegian residents alone live here without appearing on the register, plenty of houses wait months for their owners.
The same lock can also keep you out of your own house. Almost every failure comes from one of three things.
Flat batteries
Most electronic locks run on AA or AAA batteries and warn you when they are low, with a beep or a notification. That is no use if nobody is there to hear it.
- Fit new batteries the week you leave, not the day. Good-quality alkaline cells, never mixed with old ones.
- Know where the emergency contact is. Many locks have two terminals or a USB socket on the outside, so a power bank or a 9 V battery can wake the keypad long enough to enter the code.
- Keep that power bank somewhere other than the house: in the car, or with a neighbour.
A code nobody remembers
- Write the master code down and keep it with your passport, not on your phone alone. Phones get lost on holiday.
- Delete old user codes: cleaners, builders, last year’s guests.
- If the lock works through an app, check it still logs in from abroad before you rely on it.
The backup key that is inside
Nearly every electronic lock has a mechanical cylinder behind a cover, for when the electronics fail. The key for it is the one most often found, later, in a kitchen drawer.
- Keep the backup key away from the house: with a trusted neighbour, a friend in the town or your agency.
- Turn it in the cylinder once a season. A cylinder that has never been used stiffens like any other; this guide explains what to do if it will not turn.
If it fails anyway
Ring. The emergency contact and the override cylinder are tried first. If neither works, the door is opened like any other, the least damaging way it allows, and you are told what that means for the lock before anything is done. How each kind of door is opened.
If you would rather swap the electronic lock for a good mechanical cylinder, that is an ordinary lock change. For holiday lets, compare it with a key box at the door.