Denver guide
Locked out of a Denver apartment
In the Denver ZIPs we chart, 52% of households rent, and in Belcaro edge, Glendale (80246) it's 80% (Census ACS 2020-2024). For every one of them, the lock on the door is the owner's property, which often means the cheapest way back in is a phone call to management.
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Renter households as a share of all households, Denver ZIPs
The order of calls
- Leasing office or management company. Most hold a master or a copy. Big complexes often run an emergency line after hours, and your lease may name a lockout charge.
- Whoever has your spare. Roommate, partner, the friend in Baker you gave a key to last year.
- A locksmith, once management says it can't help tonight. Have the lease or an ID with the unit address ready.
Getting in is fine. Changing the lock is a lease question.
Standard Denver leases often bar tenants from swapping or adding locks without written consent, and the owner keeps a key for emergencies and repairs. Lost a key, or an ex still has one? Put a rekey request in writing. Most landlords will do it, or let you pay a locksmith to.
Towers and garages downtown
In 80202, 96% of homes sit in buildings with 10 or more units (Census ACS). Lobby doors, elevators and garage gates there answer to the building's fob system, and only the building can issue or cancel a fob. A locksmith can open your unit door; the fob is management's job.
What Denver callers ask about this
Can a locksmith open my apartment without the landlord?
Generally, if you can show it's your unit. Swapping or rekeying the lock afterward is a separate decision that runs through your lease and your landlord.
Who pays for a lockout in a rental?
Most of the time the tenant does, unless the lock itself failed. Look in the lease for a lockout fee.