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What to do when you’re locked out of home

By Jamie Richardson | June 4, 2020

We’ve all had that fear when standing outside our front door after a long, hard day at work, rooting for our keys: we don’t have them. We must have left them inside the house this morning, or left them at work, which is now shut up for the evening. Luckily for most of us, we then go on to discover our keys at the very bottom of our bags, or we have a spare one stored in a safe place that we can use. 

But if you ever are unfortunate enough to lock yourself out of home with seemingly no solution, here’s what you should do:

  1. Have a think

Many people give out a spare key to a trusted friend, neighbour or family member when they move into a new home. Now is your time to consider whether you actually did this or not (and if you didn’t, maybe put it on your future to-do list!). If you can remember giving your key to someone you know, you can simply pop by and borrow it from them. 

  1. Take a walk

If you’re the first one to admit that your security awareness isn’t the best, it may be that your forgetfulness has actually worked in your favour this time around. Walk the perimeter of your home and check for open doors or windows. It may give you a bit of a suspicious presence in your neighbourhood, but if it’s your own home, there’s nothing you can get in trouble for!

  1. Call a locksmith

The most probable solution in this case is to call a locksmith who may use a residential key blank to fashion a new key for your home. If you don’t have any spare keys that can be used, now’s your chance to ask for one while you’re on such good terms with your residential locksmith. You’ll need to pay per key, of course. 

  1. Visit a friend

Being locked out of home is no fun, but the way you respond to the situation will affect your mood going forward. You could choose to mope outside in the cold until your out of hours locksmith provides you with a key, or you could accept that you may as well wait it out somewhere comfortable, and ask a friend or a family member if you can crash at theirs for the night. 

Hopefully, if you have a supportive person in your life, they’ll be more than happy to let you stay at their place as a guest. 

  1. Learn for the future

We’re only human, which means that making mistakes is all part of life. But if this experience has taught you anything, see how you can adapt and take better prevention steps in the future. 

This doesn’t mean putting a spare key under an obvious rock by your doormat or another of the worst places around your home, but giving your trusted neighbour a copy of your key is a good idea. You might also want to attach your keys to a chain on your belt loop or bag strap to avoid leaving them lying around in the future. 

Jamie is a 5-year freelance writer who enjoys real estate. He is currently a Realty Biz News Contributor.
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