House Lockout in Baltimore, MD

Which door you are locked out of

Half of Baltimore's homes are single-family attached houses, by Census Bureau estimates for 2024, so the locked door is often a rowhouse front door. City preservation guidelines describe tiled vestibule walls as typical in many rowhouses, and a vestibule puts a second door behind the street door. Say which one is locked. Being shut out of the inner door with the street door unlocked is a different problem from standing on the front steps.

Canton shows how mixed one neighborhood can be. It has two- and three-story rowhouses from around 1900, new townhouses, and condominiums in rehabilitated waterfront industrial buildings. In a condo, the building entrance and the unit door may take different keys and answer to different people, such as an association or management. About 8.7 percent of the city's homes sit in buildings of two to four units, where the same split between a shared street door and each unit door can apply.

Safety before the request

If a child, an older relative or someone who needs medication is inside and cannot reach the door, call 911 first, then send the request. If someone outside with you should not wait on the steps, move to a neighbor's house or a shop first.

Tenants locked out by a landlord

More than half of Baltimore households rent, 51.6 percent by the same estimates. Maryland Real Property § 8-216 bars a landlord from taking possession of a dwelling unit by locking the tenant out. Possession comes through a court's warrant of restitution executed by a sheriff or constable, or after the tenant abandons or surrenders the unit. A landlord may change locks temporarily to secure an unsecured property, with good-faith attempts at reasonable notice so the tenant can promptly get back in. This is general information, not legal advice.

What to have ready

• Photo ID, plus a lease or deed if the ID shows an older address.
• Which door is locked (street door, vestibule door or unit door), and whether a deadbolt is thrown or only the knob lock.
• For a condo or apartment, whether the building entrance is locked too.

The house lockout page describes the service. If keys were lost rather than locked inside, lock rekeying afterward retires them. The Baltimore page has more on local housing.