LOCKSMITH SERVICE

Airbnb, HMO & Short Let Guidance

If you own an Airbnb, a House in Multiple Occupation or a short-term holiday let, three different sets of rules get lumped together and they are not the same thing: fire escape, licensing, and simply keeping control of who holds a key. We can look at your specific property and tell you where you stand, free of charge and with no obligation to have anything fitted.

Getting out without a key. This is the one that catches people, and it is not negotiable. Anyone inside must be able to leave through a final exit door in a fire without hunting for a key. A key-operated mortice deadlock on that door fails that test however good the lock is. The usual answer is a thumb-turn on the inside, so the door still locks securely from outside but opens from within by hand. In an HMO, let bedrooms are normally expected to have a lock that works by thumb-turn from inside the room as well.

The standards are national, not local. HMO lock requirements apply across Scotland rather than varying by town, so what is expected in Dundee is what is expected in Stirling. Licensing is the part your council handles, and short-term lets in Scotland have needed a licence since the Scotland-wide scheme came in. The paperwork is between you and the council; the locks are the part we can settle.

Keys between guests. This is the recurring practical problem and it has very little to do with regulation. Keys do not come back. Keys were copied at some point in the past by somebody nobody remembers. There is no record of how many exist. Three things deal with most of it: a key safe fitted somewhere sensible, a cylinder that can be changed quickly when a set goes missing, and a written note of who holds what.

Where a key safe should go. Not beside the door it opens, and not in view of the street. Fixed into something solid rather than soft render. It sounds obvious and it is the thing most often got wrong, usually because it was fitted wherever was easiest to drill. We will advise on the position as well as fitting it.

One thing we do not do. We do not cut keys. If what you need is a stack of spare keys for guests, that is a key-cutting shop rather than us. What we can do is supply cylinders keyed alike, so a changeover means handing over one key instead of four, and change a cylinder quickly when a set goes astray.

Between bookings. Changing a cylinder is quick and inexpensive, and it is the only way to be certain how many keys exist. If you run several properties it is worth planning those changes rather than discovering in a busy week that four of them need attention at once.