Broken Locks

A lock is either keeping the right people out or it is a story. In a ManjeProp house a failed cylinder, a latch that does not catch, or a gate that will not close is an access fault the same day. We would rather recut or replace than explain a night on the pavement.

This is how to report a lock that has already failed. Lost keys are a different note.

What “broken” looks like

Key turns and nothing happens
Key will not go in, or snaps
Barrel spins
Latch does not hold, so the door opens if you push
Security gate will not align
Padlock on a meter box or side gate is seized
Door only closes if you lift it

If you are locked out now, write that in the first line and phone +27 60 313 6961. After dark that is Urgent or Emergency, not Medium. If you believe there was a break-in, or you are unsafe, SAPS on 10111 first, then us. Category Security plus Access if both are true.

What you may check

Look for something obvious jammed in the strike or under the gate. Try the second key if the incoming list gave you two. Do not kick the door. Do not oil a cylinder as a science project. Do not dismantle the furniture. Do not film the inside of the lock.

A remote that has died may be a battery. If the casing is meant to be opened with a thumb, you may try a battery. If the motor itself is dead, stop. That is a contractor.

What to send

Report a fault, category Access / gate / keys. Property, unit, which door (room, front, security gate, bathroom), whether anyone is outside, whether other keys still work, when it started.

Photos: the door in its frame, the latch and strike, the barrel face. Not a photo of the remaining keys laid out with your student card. Not a photo of a written code.

If a housemate has a working key and you do not, say so. That can be a worn copy rather than a dead lock — still a ticket.

Unofficial cylinders

If someone changed a lock during the tenancy without agreement, say so early. We cannot recut a barrel we do not have. Unofficial locks also mean we cannot enter for a genuine emergency without damage. That damage conversation is worse than asking in March.

Do not install your own lock as a personality. Ask.

Staff response

Treat a lock that does not lock as a vacancy and security problem, not as a lifestyle complaint. Log the locksmith as a repair with a photo of the new furniture and an updated key count. Change the labelled hook. Do not leave old keys live “in case.”

If a room is being advertised, a tired lock is turnover hardware. Fix it before the photo, or the first parent will find it.

Do not put alarm codes in the ticket notes. Send access instructions on a channel you can change after the visit.

Deposit and blame

A lock worn out by ordinary years is maintenance. A lock broken by force is damage — incoming and outgoing photos, not a group chat, decide that. Lost keys may justify a recut or a change; that is a cost conversation with receipts, not a surprise deduction with no invoice.

Bathrooms and privacy locks

A shared bathroom lock that will not close is not a joke. It is Access. A bedroom lock that only works from the inside is a problem when you need a contractor to enter for a leak. Say which side fails.

Do not wedge a bathroom door with a chair and call it solved. Send the ticket.

Viewers

Try the door you would live behind. If it only closes on a lift, write that on the enquiry form. Do not accept “you get used to it” as a security plan.

If the security gate is a different key from the wooden door, ask how many of each you will hold. Count them on move-in. That count is how a later “broken lock” stays distinguishable from a lost key.

A broken lock is not a character test. It is a fitting. Report it while you still have a way to describe the door.

Report a fault · +27 60 313 6961