Granting access, then taking it back, with no keys left in circulation
The real gain is not doing away with keys, it is being able to open and then close a right of access remotely. For a landlord in the 7th whose studio changes tenant every academic year, that replaces handing out copies and guessing how many are still in the neighbourhood. A tradesman due on the montée Saint-Sébastien gets a code that opens in the morning and closes at night.
Traceability comes next. Every opening is stamped with a time and tied to the credential that triggered it. In a business unit near the Part-Dieu, or a practice on the cours Lafayette where several practitioners and their staff arrive within the same half hour, that list earns its keep far more often than the security does. It settles who came in and when, with nobody having to remember.
Then there is the question of copies gone astray. A digital credential is withdrawn remotely, and there is nothing to collect back from anyone. A mechanical key dropped between two trains at Bellecour does the opposite: the cylinder has to be recut and every set in the household reissued. On a landing in the 7th where four studios change tenant each September, that difference tells quickly.
What your door will take, and what it will not
Start by separating two locks. In the buildings at Confluence, in Gerland or on the Duchère, the lobby opens with a shared badge run by the managing agent and cannot be replaced on your own initiative. The smart lock only concerns your own door, downstream, and one never removes the need for the other on the way home.
In a rented flat — and the 7th is full of them — a motor over the existing cylinder stays the sensible option: it screws on from the inside, the key still opens from the landing, and removing it at the end of the lease leaves no mark. A smart cylinder takes the barrel's place without the case moving. A fully motorised lock alters the door, which a landlord will not always allow.
Two cautions matter especially here. The doors of the converted workshops in the 4th are thick and non-standard, and will not always accept a manufacturer's stock mounting plate. And an unheated stairwell on the Pentes in January shortens battery life, so keep the mechanical override rather than relying on the electronics alone. Leaf thickness and cylinder projection are measured before any housing is ordered.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our smart lock page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Lyon.