Rotherham key safe fitting

Need to keep a spare set of keys somewhere?

Finally, summer seems to finally be on the horizon. I may have given the impression previously that summer was on its way back in April, but recent weeks seemed to do their best to disprove that, so I may have been off by a good few weeks.

However, everyone makes mistakes. Whether it’s the UK entering a mediocre song at Eurovision and expecting to garner points, or our Prime Minister trusting his adviser not to spill the beans about the goings-on in his office, mistakes are a part of life. Heck, some of us may have even thought the mullet was an acceptable haircut back in the day. But that’s another story.

A mistake I frequently see in my work is when customers have left their key in a “hiding” place outside their house for a friend, cleaner or workman to be able to let themselves in, only for a burglar to get there first, gain access to the building and ransack the property without even needing to smash a window or force a lock.

Burglars know the ‘safe places’

There may well be circumstances when we need to let someone else have access to our property when we are not there. Or we may even need to keep a spare set of keys somewhere because we have a habit of losing the set we carry about with us. But stashing a set under a door mat, behind a flower pot, or hanging on a thread reachable through the letter box is not the way forward. Burglars know about these places and will check. Worse, if your home is broken into this way, the insurance company may not even pay up, as you have shown neglect in leaving a key in an accessible location.

So what’s the solution? Let me point you towards key safes. These, as you’d expect are safes in which you keep a key – they didn’t spend a lot of time thinking up a name for them, but it does the job.

These are usually metal boxes that are securely attached to the external wall of a property. Inside is placed a set of keys for the home, and on the front of the safe is a panel on which you can enter a numerical code. The safe will only open if the correct code is entered, allowing it to be opened and the key retrieved.

Key safes are very secure

Key safes are a very secure way to store keys. They were originally used by community nurses or carers to get into properties without needing the occupants to get up to answer the door. The carers don’t want to be carrying dozens of sets of keys around but by having a 4 or 6 digit code, they can easily access a house. However, the key safes are useful in other instances too. Primarily they can be used by a house owner to stash a set of spare keys  – this saves a lot of hassle having to get a locksmith like myself out immediately to get you into the house should you lose your main set.

Having said this, you should not delay too long if you find your main set of keys has been permanently lost – 11% of people say they have lost keys to their house and not then changed locks. This is again a very risky scenario, especially if the keys find their way into the hands of someone who can easily find out the address and gain access without your knowledge.

Change code for key safes regularly

Key safes can also be used in order to give one-off access to friends, family or trusted workmen. Simply leave a set of keys in the safe, tell the friend the code, and it’s a much more secure way of doing things than leaving a key hidden around the exterior of the property. Then, when the visit is over, the key can be placed back in the key safe, the door closed, and it’s there for the next person. The code of the key safe can (and should) be regularly changed for extra security, especially if it’s been disclosed to someone you may not trust 100%.

A recent study showed that 30% of people leave keys hidden outside their home and this makes me tear my (non-mullet) hair out. You can have the most secure anti-snap locks, the best alarm system etc, but if you’re leaving a key under a doormat it undoes all that hard work and makes life so easy for a burglar.

So please, if you take away nothing else from this blog, do not hide your keys in places like this, and if you must need to leave your keys for someone, do invest in a key safe. They are convenient, secure and will give you peace of mind that no unwanted visitors will be entering your house uninvited.