Free Keys Access Log

No. We are not aware of any state that requires a landlord to maintain a keys or access log, and we will not invent authority for one. This is an operational record, kept because it is useful, not because a statute commands it. Adjacent record-keeping duties do exist for other things — Colorado’s C.R.S. § 38-12-503(5)(a) requires a landlord to “maintain accurate and complete records of all written notices and correspondence” relating to an uninhabitable condition and the remedial action taken. That is a habitability record, not an access log. Keep the log as good practice, and do not describe it to a tenant as a legal requirement.

This is practice rather than law: the date, the time in and the time out, the name of the person who entered, their role, the purpose, how the key was obtained and returned, and anything noticed inside. Write the entry at the time. A line that reads only “maintenance” against a date is close to worthless if someone later disputes what happened. Where a statute prescribes notice content you can mirror it in the log — California’s Civ. Code § 1954(d)(1) requires an entry notice to “include the date, approximate time, and purpose of the entry,” and those three fields make a sound minimum for a log line too.

It supplies a contemporaneous record made before anyone was arguing. If a tenant says you entered on a day you did not, a log kept continuously — showing the entries you did make, with times and names — is far more persuasive than a reconstruction written after the complaint arrives. It cuts the other way as well: if the log shows an entry with no matching notice, you learn your exposure early rather than at a hearing. Because the underlying duty is statutory and varies by state, pair each log line with the notice you served for that entry. The log evidences compliance; it does not create it.

Long enough to cover the period in which someone could still bring a claim about an entry — that is your state’s limitations period for the relevant cause of action, which differs by state and by claim type. Check yours rather than adopting a number from a template; we will not publish a national figure in years, because there is not one. Some statutes do fix a figure for particular records: Colorado’s C.R.S. § 38-12-503(5)(b) requires habitability records to be kept “for the entire period of the tenant’s occupancy of the dwelling unit and for at least three years thereafter.” That is a specific Colorado habitability duty, not a retention rule for access logs.

Practice, not statute: count keys out and keys back against a written inventory taken at move-in — unit key, mail key, building fob, garage remote, storage. Record the count on the log with the date, and have the outgoing tenant sign the return line where you can. Unreturned keys are a common source of a disputed turnover charge, and a signed count is what makes such a charge defensible. What you may actually withhold is governed by your state’s security-deposit deduction rules, which are separate from the log and vary considerably. The log proves the fact; the deposit statute decides the money.

Common practice is to re-key or change the cylinder at turnover, because you cannot know how many copies were cut during the tenancy. Some states impose lock-change duties in specific circumstances, so check your own statute rather than assuming re-keying is purely discretionary — we are not going to state a national rule here, because lock provisions are state law and are not uniform. Record the re-key on the log: the date, who performed it, how many keys were cut, and who received each one. That entry is also what lets you distinguish an old key from a current one if a tenant later reports that someone had access.

Everyone who can open the door. Property manager, maintenance staff, contractors, cleaners, landscapers holding gate access, and every master or spare key holder. Name one person as custodian of the master key and record each time it leaves their control. This is practice rather than statute, but it matters because state entry rules commonly bind the landlord’s agents as well as the landlord: Oregon’s ORS § 90.322(1) is drafted throughout as “a landlord or landlord’s agent,” so a contractor entering on your behalf is your compliance problem. The log should show clearly whose entry it was.

No. They are different instruments. The log is your record of what happened; the notice is the legal step that authorises the entry, and its timing, delivery and content come from state law plus the lease. Serving no notice and then logging the entry carefully still leaves you in breach where notice was required. Keep the two together: file the served notice alongside the log line for the same entry. Requirements vary sharply — Washington’s RCW § 59.18.150(6) prescribes specific notice content and a minimum period, while Connecticut’s § 47a-16(c) requires only “reasonable written or oral notice” with no hour figure.