Locked out of a holiday flat
It is the most common callout of the summer along this coast, and the only one where the lock is not the first problem. The first question is who can authorise that door being opened — and it is not you.
The door is not yours, and that changes everything
When somebody is locked out of their own home it is simple: it is their home. In a holiday flat it is not. You have every right to be inside this week, but the property answers to somebody else, and the person who can ask for a lock to be manipulated is the person who answers for it: the owner, or the agency managing it.
This is not the trade being awkward. A locksmith who opens a door for somebody with no claim over it is in serious trouble, and puts you there too. No locksmith working legally does it, and if one tells you otherwise, that is precisely the one you do not want at your door.
What solves nine cases out of ten, and usually takes one message
Most holiday flats are run by an agency or a manager rather than the owner directly. Those people answer fast, because the lock is theirs and so is the problem: they have a guest on the stairs and a review at stake.
The practical move: send us on WhatsApp the contact of whoever rented it to you, or the booking confirmation showing them. We deal with them directly, professional to professional. It is usually one message and a few minutes, and it saves you explaining the situation at eleven at night in a language that may not be yours.
And one thing many people never try: a good share of these flats have a key safe with a code in the entrance hall. Before anything else, check your booking email. More than once the code was there the whole time.
What not to do
Do not force the door and do not try the card trick. On a modern lock it does not work, and what it does achieve is scratching the faceplate or knocking the latch out of line, which turns a €69 opening into a new lock that you will be paying for because you broke it.
And do not ring the first advert offering "from €30". High season on this coast is where the classic scam shows up most: a bait price on the phone and a three-figure invoice at the door, by which point you are tired with your suitcase on the landing. There is a whole guide on this site about exactly that.
Who pays for it
It depends on why you are locked out, and it is worth knowing before you argue about it. If the lock failed, it is the owner: that is a defect in the property they rented you. If you lost the keys or the door shut behind you, it is normally yours.
In practice many agencies pay it and take it off the deposit. Having it in writing before anyone starts work is what stops the argument afterwards, and it is why the price here always goes into the WhatsApp conversation before anyone sets off.
Common questions
- Can you open it if I cannot reach the owner?
- Not while there is nobody answering for the property to authorise it. We can try to reach them ourselves if you send us the contact or the booking, and that is usually what unblocks it. If it proves impossible, the way through is not forcing the door: it is the agency, the property insurance or, in extreme cases, the police.
- It is the middle of the night and I am outside with children.
- Say so in the first message, because it changes the order of things. We head over while somebody with authority is being located, instead of sitting and waiting for a reply. What does not change is that the door is not touched without that authorisation.
- How much does it cost?
- The same rate as any other opening, and the whole list is published: there is no surcharge for being a visitor or for it being August. What moves the price is the hour and the type of lock, and you have it in writing before anyone sets off.
What we do about this
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