How to replace physical keys with smart locks in a condo

Guide · Published November 4, 2026 · Vega Access team

Step 1: Inventory every door and every key

Start with a list, not a product. Walk the building and write down every door that is locked today: main entrance, side doors, garage door and gate, bike room, storage lockers, gym, pool, roof, garbage room, mechanical rooms, and the unit doors if they are in scope. For each one, note:

• who needs to open it (owners, tenants, staff, contractors, emergency services);
• how it opens today (key, fob, code, remote);
• whether it has power and network nearby, or would need a battery lock;
• the door type and hardware (mortise, cylindrical, glass door, gate).

Then count what is in circulation: how many keys and fobs were issued, to whom, and which ones the syndicate can still identify. In most buildings that last column is the reason for the project.

Step 2: Decide what the syndicate controls

In a divided co-ownership, the syndicate manages the common portions and each owner owns their unit. Common doors are clearly the board’s decision. Unit doors are the owner’s property: some syndicates leave them out, some offer owners a common lock model on a voluntary basis, and some include them where the declaration of co-ownership or a meeting decision allows it. Settle this early, with your manager and, if needed, your legal adviser, because it changes the number of locks, the budget and the communication to owners.

A practical approach many boards take is to start with the common doors only. Owners see the benefit at the entrance and the garage first, and unit doors can follow later.

Step 3: Choose the hardware for each kind of door

Two families cover most condo doors:

• Battery smart locks for doors without power: unit doors, storage, gym, roof. Locks built on the SMLock platform (set up with the SMLock app, TTLock) are sold under many brand names, and a gateway on each floor or corridor connects them to the internet for remote management.
• Wired readers and controllers for main entrances and garages, where a door is used hundreds of times a day. Many buildings use WLock (UniFi Access) for these.

Check whether existing fobs can be reused: it depends on the card technology and the readers you pick, so test before you buy. Vega Access manages both families in one panel; see SMLock (TTLock) and WLock (UniFi Access).

Step 4: Plan the network and power

Gateways and controllers need outgoing internet. A separate network (VLAN) for building devices keeps them apart from the office or residents’ Wi-Fi, and a UPS on the switch that powers the gateways keeps them online through short power cuts. Wired gateways powered over Ethernet (PoE) avoid Wi-Fi dropouts in concrete buildings. Placement is checked during a site survey.

Step 5: Build the register before cut-over day

Before any lock changes, enter the building in your management software: floors, units, common doors, door groups such as "Amenities" or "Garage", and the list of owners and tenants per unit. Issue the new fobs in advance with a start date on cut-over day. Owners can collect them a week early; they only start working on the date set.

Step 6: Cut over one zone at a time

Large buildings switch door by door or zone by zone so nobody is left without access. A common order is: install and pair locks and gateways, import them, test with staff fobs, then switch the public doors on the announced day. Keep a person on site for the first morning and an emergency procedure for anyone who did not collect their fob.

Step 7: Retire the old keys properly

Once the new system runs, old keys and fobs should be dead, not just unwanted. Re-key or replace cylinders that stay mechanical, deactivate the old fob system, and record what was retired. In the new system, nothing should ever be deleted: when a unit is sold, end the seller’s fobs and issue new ones to the buyer, so the history stays readable.

Step 8: Tell owners what is recorded

An access system records entries. Under Quebec’s Law 25 the syndicate should tell owners and tenants what is collected, why, who can see it and how long it is kept. Limit access to the records by role. See our guide on Law 25 and access logs.

What it costs

The budget has three parts: hardware (locks, readers, gateways, network), installation, and the software subscription. Vega Access plans are quoted on buildings, doors and support level; you can size your building with the door calculator and compare plans. For how syndicates run it day to day, see condo access control.

Questions boards ask

Related pages

• Condo access control
• Key fob, phone or card?
• Compatible locks
• Plans