

They know that it costs money to re-key a lock, and so if we, as the landlord, can keep the number of keys we have down to a minimum, that saves everyone money, and keeps security as tight as it can be at the complex. My family and I have used the same locksmith for over 30 years, and all I have to do is pick up the phone and they will get me a duplicate of any key on the property.Īnd even though it isn’t ILLEGAL to duplicate one of our apartment keys, the locksmith will ALWAYS call me up if someone is trying to copy one of our keys without asking us first. If someone ends up breaking into their property or place of business, they know that they have only given out so many keys and can have a better time at tracking down what happened.īut long story short, the locksmith may or may not choose to make you a new key without the permission of the landlord if you just bring it in. Usually, the owner has these keys made for extra security on the physical side, and they also want to have a bit of control over who is making keys. The reason that these keys are made is that the owner, usually of some type of business or commercial property, doesn’t want a million keys floating out.įirstly, because they want some control over who has a key and who doesn’t, and secondly because the lock and key are usually a bit higher in quality, which means they are more expensive to the owner. There are no laws saying that you cannot copy a key that has “Do Not Copy” or “Do Not Duplicate” on it. This is one of the bigger myths of the locksmithing world. Do Not Copy and Do Not Duplicate Keysįirst off, one of the misconceptions is that it is illegal to copy “Do Not Copy” or “Do Not Duplicate” keys if you aren’t the owner of the property. So, how do you prevent this problem from happening again? Can you copy your apartment key and not get in trouble by your landlord for it? Let’s go over the different kinds of keys that are used for apartments and how you can, or can’t, go about making copies for each of them. If your key doesn’t say “Do Not Copy” or “Do Not Duplicate”, you can make a copy of your apartment key.

Life would be SO much easier if you just had another copy you could hide somewhere.
