Letting someone into a house you are not in
The aim here is not to do away with keys but to keep control of arrivals. Tenants turning up late after several hours on the road, the person who cleans between stays, a tradesman who has to call in February, a relative coming to collect the boat: each of them needs to get in once, on a known date. A dated code opens the door and then expires on its own, without an extra set of keys going into circulation and, as so often, never coming back.
It also solves a habit that is very visible on the Bassin: the key safe hanging on the gate or the downpipe. It tells anyone passing that the property is let, and therefore probably empty between stays, and its code rarely changes from one season to the next. The access log, for its part, is valuable when several different people come and go at your property — provided you tell them clearly that their visits are recorded.
A house with no network and no heating for six months a year
Many second homes have their router switched off or their subscription suspended out of season. Remote control, though, depends on a working gateway: with no network, all that is left is what works on the spot, a standalone keypad or Bluetooth control from a few metres away. So decide in advance how a neighbour, a tradesman or a manager will get in on a Tuesday in February, and keep a mechanical back-up as well as a set of keys with someone who is here all year round.
The environment plays its part too. A keypad or reader fitted on the frontage takes salt, sand and damp all year round; better to place it under a porch or choose a housing genuinely designed for outdoor use. The cold in an unheated house also shortens battery life: check the batteries before the season opens rather than at the moment someone is waiting at the door. Electronic access improves how the door is used; it changes nothing about the mechanical strength of the leaf.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our smart lock page. This page focuses on what the service involves in La Teste-de-Buch.