ASSA ABLOY ReKey lock security chosen to secure housing co-operative associations in Sweden

The ASSA ReKey easily restores security, should someone lose a key

ASSA ReKey solves problems with lost, stolen, or unreturned apartment keys, without having to replace the cylinder.

Housing company Kommunfastigheter Eskilstuna and the housing co-operative association Stockrosen in Eskilstuna, Sweden have chosen ASSA ABLOY ReKey for lock security for their residents. Now ASSA ReKey easily restores security, should someone lose a key. A new key is made and when it is turned in the cylinder, the lost key is mechanically blocked. The lock remains secure.

“It allows the locking system to live longer,” says Kenneth Halonen, team leader in the Centrum real estate team at Kommunfastigheter Eskilstuna.

In autumn 2011 tenants moved in to the 45 apartments in one of the company’s residential buildings in central Eskilstuna. One way to offer tenants improved security involves locked entrances with entry phones where residents can see visitors through a camera; ASSA ReKey cylinders in the apartment doors is yet another.

The apartment doors are fitted with two locks and the landlord’s master key can only open one. To provide janitorial staff or trades people with access the tenant must leave the other in the open position, which means that residents have full control over access to their own apartments. The tenant uses the same key in both locks, which together provide stronger perimeter security.

Although housing companies, such as Kommunfastigheter Eskilstuna, have a strict key policy and are very careful about requiring keys to be returned when people move, some keys still get lost. The policy entails many cylinder replacements, adding costs and complicating locking systems.

“In buildings with high tenant turnover, the easy conversion of locks in ReKey offer a major advantage,” says Kenneth Halonen.

The cylinder can be reset twice in apartment doors. For master keys, the cylinders can be reset once. Resetting is easy and requires no technical expertise. Master keys are commonly used in rental properties. ASSA ReKey is good insurance if anything should happen to one of them. Then, simply block the master key and replace it.