SMART HOMES
Millennials Want Electronic Locks
Are You Smart About How You Manage Them?
BY CARL HANLY, KEYTRAK
R
oughly 25 percent of millennials
are apartment dwellers according
to the National Multifamily
Housing Council, and a study by
SmartAsset revealed that Denver is one of
the top 10 cities to which they’re moving.
Some properties are attracting these
millennial renters by getting smart —
literally. Research by Schlage showed that
86 percent of millennials are willing to pay
more for an apartment equipped with smart
features, and 61 percent would rent an
apartment specifically for electronic access
control capabilities such as keyless entry
doors. If an apartment lacked security, 63
percent would move out for that reason.
If you’ve implemented smart locks at
your property or are thinking about doing
so in the future, make sure it provides the
level of security millennials expect.
PREPARE FOR THE EXTRA
ADMINISTRATIVE TIME REQUIRED
Millennial renters love electronic
locks, but leasing offices have a love-hate
relationship with them. They love them
because they can easily grant access
to units for maintenance requests or
resident lockouts, but the maintenance
required presents a challenge. Security
tokens such as fobs, cards, access codes or
biometric fingerprints frequently need to
be reprogrammed, such as when a tenant
moves in or out or when the locks have
been compromised (e.g., when a smart lock
is hacked or a tenant loses a fob).
Have a process for managing the
additional administrative tasks. Know
who will be authorized to program new
fobs or cards and who will be responsible
for ensuring temporarily issued security
tokens — such as for a unit showing or
maintenance request — are returned.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT KEY
CONTROL
There’s a misconception that keyless
entry systems do away with the need for
key control. However, many electronic
locks still have a slot for traditional keys as a
backup option, in which case your property