When tenants move out of a rental unit, you’re responsible for cleaning, spraying for pests, repainting and attending to anything else in order to prepare for the next renters. When you have a painter, a fumigator and a cleaning crew bustling in and out of the apartment, it’s difficult to remember who has the keys. A sign out sheet may work most of the time... but if someone forgets to sign out, how are you going to track down the key? The process is time consuming and can leave you, your employees and your tenants frustrated.

In 1995, John Lie-Nielsen founded HandyTrac Systems in response to the industry demand for a better way to safeguard keys and coordinate work orders.

The HandyTrac system consists of an 18 gauge steel cabinet monitored by a computerized system which only unlocks for authorized employees... a wee bit more reliable than a messy sign out sheet and cabinet full of keys. Each key inside is labeled with a bar code (rather than an apartment number) in order to prevent danger if the keys end up in the wrong hands.

So how does it work? When one of your employees needs a key, they will swipe a card through the computerized lock and enter in their assigned pin number. The box will open, and the computer will display the location of the key belonging to the apartment he needs to enter. When the employee shuts the door, the system automatically locks again. If for any reason, you need to know who has the key to a particular apartment, you can find out at the touch of a button. If you can’t get a hold of this person, or if they lose the key, you’re still protected because the HandyTrac system holds two sets of keys for every apartment.

A few months ago, I was looking for a new apartment. I thought I‘d found the ideal place... until I went to check it out for the last time. When I arrived for my viewing appointment, the landlady opened an unlocked cabinet (the key was in the door) to reveal a jungle of keys. She sifted through 20 or 30 keys labeled by apartment number and informed me that she couldn’t find the one for the unit I wanted to see. She told me she was “pretty sure the new painter had it..” but she didn’t know where he was! She got on the phone and tried calling around. Ten minutes later, I decided I couldn’t live in a complex which was so unorganized. If the landlady couldn’t keep up with the keys, what else was unorganized and unsafe? Why didn’t she know who had the keys?

Not only is an unorganized key management system unprofessional, it is also dangerous. If you keep copies of all of the keys in a messy cabinet with a padlock... what’s to prevent a burglar from cutting it off, finding the keys to the apartment s/he wants in to and hurting your tenants and your reputation as a manager? To prevent this possibility, consider investing in HandyTrac - the first computerized key tracking system.

You may find out about HandyTrac by visiting their web site: www.HandyTrac.com

Published: October 31, 2000

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