Buy a flat or a bungalow in one of the newer residential blocks of Pilar de la Horadada and the deeds may list more than the home itself: a trastero (a storeroom, often in the basement) and a plaza de garaje (a parking space, open or closed). Each comes with keys, and sooner or later one of them gives trouble.
Three kinds of lock, three owners
Yours alone. The door of your storeroom, and the door of a closed garage space that serves only you. You decide what happens to those locks, and you pay for them.
The community’s. The street door of the block, the pool gate, the door from the garage to the stairs, the barrier or gate at the top of the ramp. Every owner has a key, so none of them can be changed without the community agreeing, through the administrator or the president.
In between. A door that two or three owners share, such as a corridor of storerooms with its own door. Agree with the neighbours before anyone touches it.
When the storeroom will not open
Storerooms are often in basements, which are cool and sometimes damp. New doors there can swell and drag, and cheap locks seize.
- Try the key gently, pulling the door towards you and then pushing it, in case the latch is binding on the keep.
- Do not force it. A key snapped in a storeroom lock is a nuisance you do not need.
- Find something that shows the storeroom is yours: the deeds, the purchase contract or the list of owners and storerooms the administrator keeps. You will be asked for it before anything is opened.
In the first weeks
If the block is new, any storeroom or garage door that rubs or will not lock goes on your snagging list for the builder. What to test on handover day. The developer’s specification may also say which locks were fitted; how to read those lines.
If you would rather have your own storeroom and garage locks replaced along with the front door cylinder, that is a single visit. Everything a new home’s locks usually need.