Owners and hosts · 10 September 2026 · 5 min read
Returning to an Empty Flat in Playa de San Juan: A Lock Checklist
A lock checklist for owners returning to a second home in Playa de San Juan, and what to sort out before you leave again.
Playa de San Juan was planned from 1959, with avenida Costa Blanca and avenida de las Naciones running parallel to the sea, and it has been a place people come back to ever since. Many of them come back only part of the year: according to the city’s own housing study, about 21 per cent of the homes in the area are classed as empty.
If yours is one of them, the first key turn after months away is the one to be careful with.
What months of disuse do to a lock
A cylinder that is not used does not rest. In a humid, salty climate the pins and springs slowly corrode, dust settles in the keyway, and grease that was fine in autumn has hardened by spring. On sliding terrace doors, the rollers sit in one spot and the track fills with grit.
The result is familiar: the key goes in but will not turn, turns but does not retract the bolt, or turns with so much force that it snaps.
On arrival: five checks
- Before forcing anything, try the key gently both ways. If it resists, stop. A dry lubricant (graphite or PTFE) in the keyway and a few minutes’ patience often free it.
- Street door and garage first. The communal locks get used by everyone else while you are away, so they are rarely the problem, but check your key still fits: communities change them.
- Terrace and balcony doors. Slide them fully open and closed, and check the latch catches. A door that shut in October may miss its keeper after a summer of heat.
- Look at the cylinder face. Scratches, drill marks or a loose escutcheon mean someone has tried it. Do not touch anything; call the police.
- Count the keys. Cleaners, neighbours, agencies: if you cannot say who still has one, change the cylinder.
Before you leave again
- Service visit. Locks and sliding doors checked and adjusted in the week before you go costs little and saves a call from a neighbour in February.
- Lock with the key, not just on the latch, and close the shutters.
- Leave one key with someone local you trust, and tell us who that is if you want us able to reach your door in an emergency.
- Upgrade basic cylinders. An empty flat is exactly where an anti-bump, anti-snap cylinder earns its price.
If the terrace door is the one giving trouble, the aluminium and uPVC door page covers what can be repaired.