House Lockout in Columbia, SC

Which door you are locked out of

In 2024 Census Bureau estimates, 38.5 percent of Columbia homes sit in buildings of five or more units, so a lockout can involve two doors instead of one. The University neighborhood near USC contains some of the city's earliest apartment buildings. If you live in one and it is the shared street entrance that is shut, that door belongs to the building rather than to you, so start with the landlord or property manager.

A house has no shared entrance but varies more in hardware. A saltbox in Granby Mill Village, built in the late 1890s, or an Elmwood Park house from the early twentieth century may carry an older mortise lock, or a deadbolt added long after the door was hung.

When a rental complicates it

Guests in a short-term rental should check the house manual first. City Code Sec. 5-402 requires it to give emergency contact numbers and the owner's or representative's contact information, so the host may be able to send a new code or arrange a spare.

Renters occupy 57.6 percent of Columbia's occupied homes. If you rent and cannot get in because of something your landlord did, not because a key went missing, that is a legal question rather than a lockout. Section 27-40-760 of the South Carolina Code bars a landlord from taking possession except after abandonment, surrender, termination or as the Act permits, and section 27-40-660 lets a tenant who is unlawfully removed or excluded recover possession or end the lease, plus three months' rent or twice actual damages, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney's fees. This is general information, not legal advice.

What to have ready

• Photo ID showing the address, or a lease or deed if your ID lists another address.
• For a rental, the landlord's or manager's name, in case the building entry needs their approval.
• Which door is locked, what kind of lock it is, and whether the key is inside, lost or broken off.
• The neighborhood or nearest cross streets, and whether it is a house, an apartment or a whole building.

If keys were lost outright, rekeying afterward makes the missing set stop working. See house lockout for the service and Columbia for local notes.