Where to Keep a Spare Key Safely

What a good spare key plan has to do

A spare key has two jobs that pull in opposite directions. It must be easy for you or someone you trust to get at on a bad day, and it must be hard for anyone else to find on any day. Most mistakes come from favoring one job and forgetting the other.

Think of it as a short list of requirements. The key should be reachable even if you are far from home. It should not be obvious to a stranger watching your door. It should not rely on a single person being available. And it should not leave you worse off if the spare is lost, because a lost spare means someone else may now have access.

With those requirements in mind, the common options sort themselves into better and worse choices. None is perfect, and the right one depends on your door, your household and where you live. Read the rest of this guide with your own situation in mind rather than looking for a universal answer.

A trusted person: often the strongest option

Giving a spare to a relative, close friend or trusted neighbor is often the most dependable approach. A person can answer a phone, decide whether a request makes sense and bring the key to you. Unlike a hiding place, a person does not reveal the key to anyone who looks.

The weak point is the human one. People move, lose keys, go on holiday and change phone numbers. Choose someone who lives nearby, who you speak to regularly and who understands that the key is for emergencies only. Tell them how to store it, ideally not on a labeled ring that shows your address, and ask them to tell you if they lose it.

Consider having two such people, so that if one is away the other can help. Look over the arrangement now and then. Our guide on hiding a key or trusting a neighbor weighs the points in more detail.

Lockboxes: a controlled hiding place

A lockbox holds a key behind a code or a key of its own. It can be attached to a railing, a pipe or a wall, and can give access to people who know the code without the need to hand over a key. This is a popular choice for families, caregivers and rental hosts.

Lockboxes vary in quality, and where you put one matters. A box that is placed in plain sight, fastened loosely or opened with a simple code is a weak point. Choose a sturdy box, mount it securely and change the code when people who knew it no longer need it. Heat, humidity and rain affect outdoor hardware in Central Florida, so look for weather resistant construction and check it often. Our guide on lockboxes explained covers how they work.

A lockbox is a good fit when several people may need access at different times. It is a poor fit if you cannot keep the code private or if the box would sit where it can be tampered with. Treat the code like a password and avoid birth dates or other guessable numbers.

• Choose a sturdy, weather resistant box and mount it firmly.
• Pick a code nobody could guess from your life.
• Change the code when someone no longer needs access.
• Check it regularly for wear, rust and sticking buttons.

Your own bag, car or workplace

A spare key can live with you rather than at home. A small key in a bag, a wallet pocket or a locker at work is easy to reach, and no one else knows about it. This works well for people who spend most days away from home and who are most often locked out while out and about.

The risk is that the spare shares a fate with the original. If a bag is stolen, both sets of keys may go together. Avoid keeping the spare on the same ring or in the same pocket as the main keys, and avoid labeling it with your address. If you keep a spare in a car, never leave it inside the vehicle where a break in could reveal it.

For a car, think carefully about what kind of key it is. A modern vehicle key may be a transponder or smart key, and a spare is more than a simple cut piece of metal. Our guide on why a second car key matters before the first one is lost explains why planning ahead is wise.

Hiding spots to avoid

Most people have heard the standard advice: do not hide a key under the doormat, in a flowerpot, above the door frame or inside a fake rock. The reasons are not mysterious. Anyone who has ever thought about where a key might be will look in these places first, and anyone who has watched you leave a key there knows exactly where it is.

Less obvious spots can be just as risky. A key taped under a railing, tucked behind a meter box or hung on a nail by the garage is only hidden until someone looks or sees you using it. Hidden keys depend on secrecy, and secrecy is hard to maintain when you are visible every time you use the spot. Neighbors, delivery drivers and passersby may notice more than you think.

If you have used a hiding place in the past, consider that others may have noticed it. Moving a key now and then helps, and so does rekeying the lock after a long period of uncertainty. For related thinking, see is rekeying enough after a break in and what to do with old keys after a move.

Matching the plan to your home

A house with a garage may offer a keypad on the garage door, which can serve as a controlled alternative to a hidden key, provided the inner door is also locked properly. Our page on garage door keypads and entry door locks explains how those two pieces fit together.

An apartment or condo often has different options. The property office may keep a spare, a neighbor may hold one, or the building may use a key box or fob system. Check your lease and the building rules before you place a lockbox or give a key to someone else, because requirements vary. See apartment lockout information and condo entry and building access for context.

A smart lock or keypad deadbolt removes the physical key from some of the equation. You can set codes for family and remove them later. These locks bring their own concerns, such as batteries and software, so keep a backup. Our guide on when digital locks fail: keep a backup plan covers this.

Households with children, older relatives or caregivers

When more than one person needs to get in, the plan becomes about people as well as keys. A teenager coming home from school, a grandparent who lives alone, a caregiver who visits a few times a week and a neighbor who checks in all have different needs. A single hidden key rarely serves them well.

A keypad code or a lockbox lets you give each person what they need and take it away later. Some households use a code for the cleaner that is changed regularly. Others keep a spare with one adult and teach children what to do if they cannot get in. The practical article senior safe home lock choices and the guide to child safety and door locks include points worth considering.

Whatever you choose, make sure everyone who might need it knows how it works, and that no key is so well hidden that only one person can find it. The aim is access for the right people, not a treasure hunt.

Teach children the plan in simple words. Tell them who to call and where to wait if they cannot get in, and be clear that they should not go inside with anyone they do not know. If a child has their own key, put it on a lanyard or inside a pocket rather than a bag that could be left on a bus, and talk about what to do if it is lost. A short talk now saves you a frightened phone call later.

Spare keys for rentals, short stays and businesses

If you rent, check your lease before making copies or leaving keys with others. Some leases forbid copies without permission, and the property may want to know who has access. If you host guests, remember that a lockbox or keypad lets you change access between stays, which a hidden key cannot. See short term rental lock management basics.

For a business, a spare key is an access control question. Who has authority to hold it? Where is it kept? How is its use recorded? A spare in an unlocked drawer is not a plan. Our guide on office key control basics explains how small offices organize keys.

In any shared or managed setting, the person who owns or manages the property should know about spare keys. Surprises tend to create trouble, and clear agreements prevent it.

For a small business with several staff, keep a simple log: who holds a spare, when it was issued and when it was returned. When someone leaves the job, collect the key when they finish and think about whether the lock should be changed, particularly if the key opens an outside door or an area with stock, money or records. A log takes minutes to keep, and it answers the question that otherwise comes up at the worst moment: who has a key to this door right now?

Landlords with several units should keep spares in a locked cabinet, label them with codes rather than addresses and limit who can sign them out. A key board that anyone can reach is a risk for tenants and for the owner. Treat spares as part of the building's security, because that is what they are.

Thinking like someone who might want your key

It helps to picture who could end up with a spare and what they would do. A passerby looking for an easy chance checks the obvious spots. A person who has watched your door for a few days learns your routine and notices where you reach. A former tenant, a contractor or a guest may remember where a key used to live.

None of this means you should feel watched. It means a sound hiding place is one that does not depend on nobody paying attention. A key held by a person, or secured with a code that changes, does not give anything away to someone standing in your yard. A key in a clever spot gives away its secret every time you use it.

Weather and seasons also play a part in Central Florida. Summer storms can drench a hiding place, heat can warp plastic cases, and humidity can corrode steel and brass over time. A spare that has been left outdoors for a year may not turn smoothly when you finally need it. Check any outdoor spare on a regular schedule, and replace it if it looks worn.

You can also think about what a found key would open. If the key opens only a back door that has a second lock, the risk is lower. If it opens the front door with no other barrier, the risk is higher. Doors with extra protection give you a margin for error that a single lock does not.

Finally, consider whether a spare is truly needed. Some households replace the spare with a keypad or a trusted person and have fewer keys in circulation. Fewer keys means fewer things to lose, and fewer copies to track after a move, a breakup or a change of tenants.

What to do when a spare goes missing

Sooner or later, a spare key will be misplaced. A neighbor may move away, a relative may lose a ring, or a lockbox may fail. Do not wait to see whether it turns up. Think about who could have found it and whether your address could be linked to it.

If the risk seems real, rekeying is a practical response. Rekeying changes the inside of the lock so that old keys no longer work, without replacing the lock itself. Our guides on how rekeying changes who can enter and lock replacement or rekeying explain the idea. Ask a locksmith to explain what is included before the work begins.

If the spare was for a car, the answer is different, because the car may need its key programming reviewed. Ask about options for the exact vehicle, and have the make, model, year and VIN ready.

Making the plan stick

A plan only works if it is remembered. Write down where each spare is, who holds it and when you last checked. Keep the note somewhere safe, not taped to the door. Once a year, check that each spare still works, since keys can wear and locks can change.

Test your lockbox code, ask your neighbor whether the key is still in a safe place and make sure family members remember the plan. A key you cannot find is no better than a key you do not have. A short, regular check keeps your plan alive.

When you next get new keys cut, consider the quality of the copy. A poor copy of a worn key can fail at the worst moment. Our guide on key blank types and why copies fail explains why, and spare keys and key copies describes the service.

Whatever plan you settle on, keep it simple enough that every adult in the household can explain it in a sentence. If nobody can say where the spare is or who holds it, the plan has already failed. Clear, boring and well remembered beats clever and secret almost every time.

It also pays to treat a move, a breakup, a new roommate or a change of tenants as a trigger to revisit your spares. Those are the moments when old arrangements quietly stop making sense, and a few minutes of checking can close gaps that would otherwise stay open for years without anyone noticing.

Questions people ask