Table of Contents
The short answer
If a child, someone who needs help or an animal in danger is on the other side of the door, or something was left on the hob, do not start with a locksmith. Call the emergency services, then tell your building's security. For every other lockout the order is the same: do not force the door, find out who else holds a key, and if nobody does, call a locksmith and have something ready that shows you live there.
Most lockouts end with a spare key, not with tools. A flatmate, the landlord or agent, a relative or the building's management may hold one or know the procedure, and ten minutes on the phone is quicker than any opening. When a locksmith is needed, a careful one will ask who you are and what ties you to the address before touching the lock, will try to open it without damage, and will tell you before drilling anything.
IHR Dream Cleaning lists lockout assistance under its locksmith service, alongside cylinder changes, lock replacement, smart lock installation and latch repairs. Lockouts are treated as urgent and we prioritise those calls, so phone us and do not wait on an online form. Our office hours are 8 AM – 8 PM, every day, and the locksmith also attends lockouts at night. There is no published price: a lockout is quoted by the lock type and the task, and the cost is confirmed before work starts wherever possible.
When it is an emergency and not a locksmith job
A locked door stops being an inconvenience when something behind it can get worse while you wait. In these cases a damaged door does not matter, and you should not wait for a locksmith.
- A baby or young child is alone inside.
- Someone inside is elderly, ill or not answering, and you are worried about them.
- A hob, oven, iron or candle was left on, or you can smell gas or smoke.
- A pet is shut on a balcony, or in a room without cooling, in hot weather.
Who to call, and what to say
The UAE government's portal lists 999 for the police, 998 for an ambulance and 997 for the fire service (Civil Defence) on its page on handling emergencies, as published in October 2026. Say what is happening first: who is inside and what was left on. Then give the building name, floor and flat number, or the villa number and street. Then tell the security desk or the community's gate, so that whoever responds is met and taken straight to your door.
While you wait, talk to a child through the door in a calm voice and ask them to stay near you, away from the kitchen and the balcony. Do not ask a small child to climb to reach a lock. Ask security whether the building's maintenance team can isolate the gas or the power to the flat.
A child locked in a bathroom or bedroom
Most internal locks are privacy locks, not security locks, and are made with a release on the outside face for exactly this: usually a slot that turns with a coin. Look for it before anything else. If there is none, or it does not work, and the child is very young or distressed, treat it as an emergency.
A tap or bath left running
Running water is not a danger to life, but it will reach the flat below. Tell the security desk or the management office at once. The building's maintenance team may be able to shut off the water to one flat from outside it, which buys the time to find a key.
Who may hold a key
Before paying anyone to open a door, spend ten minutes finding out whether it can be opened with a key. Work down this list.
- Everyone who lives in the home, and anyone who has stayed recently. A partner at work is often the shortest route, even if it means a taxi to collect the key.
- Anyone you have given a spare to: a relative, a friend, a neighbour, a drawer at your office.
- The landlord, the agent or the property manager. Many keep a key from the handover, and they should hear about a lockout in a rented home anyway.
- The building's security desk or management office. Some hold spare keys that residents have lodged with them, some hold none, and some have a set procedure for lockouts. Ask what they can do and what they need from you.
- Anyone who works in the home and has been given a key, such as a housekeeper, a nanny or a driver.
- A key you left out for a visit. If one was left at the concierge desk for a cleaning or maintenance team, it may still be there.
In an apartment tower
Start at the security desk whatever the answer on spare keys, for three reasons. They can confirm to a locksmith that you are the resident of that flat. They will normally need to register the locksmith as a visitor before he can come up, and some buildings want a member of staff present while a door is opened. And they know the building's doors: whether the front doors are on a master-key system that the management controls, and whether work on them needs approval. How registration and lift access usually work for visiting teams is covered in the guide to visitor registration, service lifts and parking in Abu Dhabi towers.
A lost access card or fob is a different problem from a lost door key. Cards are issued and cancelled by the building, not by a locksmith, so ask the management office to block the old one and issue another.
In a villa
A villa usually has more than one way in that is properly yours: a kitchen or service door, a door from the garage, a patio door you may have left unlocked. Check each one with your feet on the ground. If the garage remote is in the car, the door from the garage into the house may be your way in. In a gated community, tell the security gate that a locksmith is coming, and ask whether the community's management holds anything for your villa. Do not climb to a balcony or an upper window. A fall is a far bigger risk than a night spent elsewhere.
What not to do while you wait
Every item here is something people try in the first ten minutes, and each one makes the eventual opening slower, dearer or more dangerous.
- Do not kick, shoulder or lever the door. Front doors, and above all the heavy doors of apartment towers, are stronger than the people who run at them. If the door does give, the frame splits and the lock case bends, and a job that could have left no trace becomes a new lock, a carpentry repair and a home that cannot be secured tonight.
- Do not try to pick the lock, or slip it with a card or a tool from a video. Modern cylinders are built to resist exactly that. The usual result is a scratched door, a bent latch or a piece of something left inside the keyway, and a lock that has been tampered with is harder for a locksmith to open cleanly afterwards.
- Do not push at a key that has snapped. Poking at the stub drives the broken piece deeper. If enough of it stands out to grip with your fingers, pull it straight out. If not, leave it.
- Do not put glue on a broken key to fish the piece out, and do not flood the lock with oil. Both can leave the cylinder fit only for replacement.
- Do not climb: not to a balcony, a ledge or a window, and not across from a neighbour's balcony.
- Do not break glass. Door and balcony glass is usually toughened or laminated. It is dangerous to break, costly to replace, and it leaves the home open.
- Do not accept help from a stranger with tools, or from anyone who will not say what the job will cost before starting.
What a locksmith will ask for
A locksmith who opens a door without asking whose door it is should worry you. Opening a home for someone with no right to be in it is the worst mistake in the trade, so expect to be asked who you are and what connects you to the address. Treat the question as a good sign. It is the same check that protects your home on the day somebody else claims to be locked out of it.
Proof that you live there
There is no single list. What is accepted is the locksmith's decision and, in a tower, the building's. These are the things commonly asked for.
- Photo identification, such as your Emirates ID.
- Something that ties your name to the address: the tenancy contract, a utility bill, or the title deed if you own the home.
- Confirmation from the building's security desk or management office that you are the resident of that flat.
- For a rented home, confirmation from the landlord or the agent by phone.
If your documents are on the other side of the door
That is the usual situation, and there are ordinary ways round it. Tenancy contracts and utility bills are mostly sent by email, so search your inbox on your phone and have the file open before the locksmith arrives. A security guard who can confirm that you live in the flat does the same job as a document. Where neither is possible, a locksmith may agree to open the door on your identification and see the paperwork inside before he leaves.
Our own preparation notes say the same in fewer words: confirm your identity and address details when you call, and have proof that you live there ready.
What you will be asked on the phone
The answers decide which locksmith and which tools are sent. For a lockout we ask for the lock type and the location, and a photo of the lock from outside answers most of the rest.
- Where you are: the area, the building and floor or the villa number, and how a visitor gets in.
- The door: timber, metal, or glass in an aluminium frame.
- The lock: a key cylinder with a lever handle, a separate deadbolt, a smart lock and its brand, or more than one of these.
- What happened: the key is inside, lost or snapped in the lock, it turns without opening, or the smart lock is dead.
- Whether the door was only pulled shut or was locked with the key, and whether a key is sitting in the inside of the lock.
- Whether anyone is inside.
If the home is rented
Tell the landlord or the agent before the locksmith starts, or as soon as you can. They may have a key, which ends the matter. If the lock has to be drilled and replaced, the landlord will want a key to the new one and may have a view on what is fitted, and your tenancy contract may say something about changing locks. That subject has its own guide: change the locks or just the cylinder.
How the door is opened: without damage first, drilling last
A locksmith has two routes. Non-destructive entry means opening the lock by skill, without harming the lock or the door, so that the same keys work afterwards. Destructive entry means drilling the cylinder. Done properly, that ruins the cylinder and nothing else: the door, the handle and the lock case stay, and a new cylinder with new keys is fitted on the spot. Our published practice is that non-destructive methods are used wherever the lock type allows, and that if a lock must be drilled as a last resort, this is explained to you before it happens.
Which route is possible depends on things you cannot change by now: how the door was left, what kind of cylinder it has and what condition the lock is in. A door that was only pulled shut is held by its latch, and is usually the simplest opening. A door locked with the key, a high-security cylinder made to resist both picking and drilling, or a mechanism that has failed inside all make it harder. This guide does not describe opening methods, and a good locksmith will not teach them at your door either.
| Situation | Usual outcome | What you are left with |
|---|---|---|
| Door pulled shut, key inside | Opened without damage in most cases | The same lock and keys |
| Key lost | Opened, then the cylinder is changed | A new cylinder and new keys |
| Key snapped in the lock | Broken piece extracted; lock tested | The same lock, or a new cylinder if it is damaged |
| Key turns but nothing moves | Opened as the fault allows; may need drilling | A new cylinder or lock case |
| Smart lock dead | Backup key or emergency power first | The same lock with fresh batteries |
Before the work starts
Three things should be settled on the doorstep before any tool touches the lock: how the locksmith intends to open it, what happens if that does not work, and the price of a new cylinder if one turns out to be needed. We quote a lockout by the lock type and by whether non-destructive entry is possible. As a guide from our service page, a standard lockout is usually resolved within 30 to 60 minutes of the locksmith arriving, depending on the lock.
When the door is open
The visit should not end the moment the door swings in. The lock is tested with the door open, locking, unlocking and latching, and then again closed, from both sides. Any new key is tried in front of you. If the lockout was caused by a fault, such as a stiff cylinder, a latch that sticks or a handle that droops, ask what it needs now, because a lock that has failed once will do it again. And if your keys are lost and not just locked in, have the cylinder changed in the same visit.
Smart locks: flat batteries and other ways to be locked out
A smart lock rarely dies without warning. Most beep, flash or send a notice to the app well before the batteries are empty, and a flat-battery lockout usually follows a warning that was put off. If yours is dead, there are normally two ways in that the maker intended.
- The backup key. Most models have a keyhole, often behind a small cover, and came with mechanical keys. The catch is where those keys are. In a drawer inside the home they are no use, so keep one at work or with someone you trust.
- Emergency power. Many models have a pair of contacts or a small USB port on the outside face, so that a battery or a power bank can wake the lock for long enough to enter your code. Find your model's manual on your phone and follow it exactly.
When the lock has power but will not open
After several wrong codes many models pause for a few minutes: wait, and do not keep pressing. A wet or very dry finger may not read, so use the code. If the phone that holds the app is flat, the phone is the problem and a charger from the security desk solves it. And if the motor runs but the bolt does not withdraw, the door may have dropped or swollen so that the bolt is pinched in the frame. Pull or push the door firmly towards its closed position while the lock operates, which takes the load off the bolt.
If none of that works, a locksmith needs the brand and the model before setting out. Our service page lists battery, alignment and app-pairing checks for a smart lock that is not responding. Where the lock on your door belongs to the building, as in some serviced apartments where the door opens with a card, the management office deals with it, not a locksmith.
If it happens late at night
Our office hours are 8 AM – 8 PM, every day, but the locksmith also attends lockouts at night: phone us on +971 52 723 5299 and say where you are and what kind of lock it is. If nobody is at risk inside, the same list still comes first at any hour, because it may cost you nothing: the security desk, the landlord or agent, anyone with a key.
While you wait, at any hour, stay where the locksmith can find you, borrow a charger if your phone is low, and tell security who is coming so that he is not held up in the lobby.
Afterwards: making the next lockout unlikely
A lockout tends to happen again for the same reason as the first. These habits remove most of the causes.
- Keep a spare key somewhere that is not at the home: with a relative, a trusted neighbour or at work. Never under a mat, in a plant pot or in the meter cupboard.
- If the door latches by itself when it closes, the key goes in your pocket before you step out, even to the rubbish chute.
- Do not leave a key in the inside of the lock. On many cylinders it stops a key from working on the outside, which locks out the next person home. When the cylinder is next changed, ask for one that works with a key in both sides.
- Act on the warnings. A key that needs wiggling, a lock that wants the door lifted or pushed before it will turn, a handle that droops, a latch that does not spring back: each one is a lockout on its way.
- Retire bent and cracked keys, and never use a key as a handle to pull the door shut. That is how keys snap.
- Have copies cut from an original key, not from a copy of a copy.
- Change smart-lock batteries at the first warning, all of them together.
The small repairs behind many lockouts
Several of those warnings are repairs waiting to be booked. A worn cylinder, a failing latch or a key that no longer turns cleanly is locksmith work. A loose handle is a job for our handyman service. A door that has dropped on its hinges, so that the bolt no longer lines up with the frame, is carpentry, and the causes are explained in the guide to sticking doors and loose hinges. Any of them is easier to deal with on a quiet afternoon than at the door with the shopping.
What a lockout costs, and how you pay
We do not publish a price for lockouts, because the lock decides the work. The quote depends on the type of job, the lock type and brand, whether the door can be opened without damage and whether a new cylinder is needed. You are told the cost before work starts wherever possible. Payment is by card, online: once the price is confirmed you pay from My bookings on this website. Every price includes VAT, and a tax invoice is available on request.
Whoever you call, ask for the price of the opening and the price of a replacement cylinder separately, before work begins, and ask for an invoice. A locksmith who will not give a figure until the door is open is one to avoid.
Common questions
Will the locksmith damage my door?
The aim is no damage at all, and non-destructive entry is used wherever the lock type allows it. If the lock has to be drilled, you are told first. Drilling destroys the cylinder, which is then replaced. The door and its frame should be untouched either way, which is the difference between a locksmith's opening and a forced one.
Can building security or my landlord let me in?
Sometimes. It depends on whether a key was ever lodged with them. Many buildings hold no keys to private flats at all. A landlord or agent often has one from the handover. Either can still help by confirming to a locksmith that you live there.
I have a spare, but a key was left in the inside of the lock. Will it work?
It depends on the cylinder. On a standard double cylinder, a key turned in the inside blocks the outside key from going fully in or from turning. Some cylinders are made to work with a key in both sides. Try the spare gently, and if it stops, do not force it: a bent or snapped key makes the opening harder. If someone is inside, ask them to pull their key out.
My key snapped in the lock. Can I get the piece out myself?
Only if enough of it stands out to grip with your fingers, and then by pulling it straight out without turning. Anything pushed into the keyway to hook the piece usually drives it further in. A locksmith extracts the broken piece and tests the lock. If the cylinder was damaged inside, which is often what made the key snap, it may need replacing.
Do I need to change the lock afterwards?
Not if the door was opened without damage and every key is accounted for. Change the cylinder if a key is lost or stolen, most of all if it went missing with anything that shows your address, or if the lock itself was the cause. In most cases the cylinder is all that needs changing, not the whole lock.
I rent. Who pays for the locksmith?
Your tenancy contract and your landlord decide that, and we cannot answer it for you. Whatever the contract says, tell the landlord if the cylinder was changed, and agree who holds a key to the new one.
If you are locked out now
If nobody is at risk and nobody has a key, phone us on +971 52 723 5299 during our hours. Urgent calls are prioritised, and a phone call is quicker than an online form. Tell us the area, the building or villa, the type of door and lock and what happened, and have your identification and something showing your address ready.
For work that can wait, such as a cylinder change after a lost key, a lock that has started to stick or a smart lock to fit, the scope is on the locksmith service page, and you can book online for a time that suits you.
