House Lockout in Virginia Beach, VA

Which door you are locked out of

Census estimates (ACS 2024 1-year) put about 52 percent of Virginia Beach's roughly 192,200 homes in detached houses and about 19 percent in attached single-family homes such as townhouses. The building type decides who controls each door between you and your own home:

• Detached house. Every entry is yours: front, side, back slider and garage entry door. Say which ones you have and whether any key still works.
• Townhouse. The unit door is yours, but in an association community a gate or shared entry may stand before it. Green Run is a planned community of 36 neighborhoods with a homes association, so say whether a gate stands before your door.
• Condominium or apartment. In a managed building, management may run the lobby and shared entry doors even though the unit door itself is yours. Give the unit number and say which door is locked.
• Short-term rental. A guest in Sandbridge or at the Oceanfront is not the owner. Reach the host or manager first, because entry needs the owner's approval, not only the guest's.

If a landlord locked you out

A locksmith cannot settle a dispute with a landlord. If a landlord willfully and without court authority removes or excludes a tenant, Va. Code § 55.1-1243.1 lets the tenant petition the general district court, which holds an initial hearing within five calendar days of filing. This is general information, not legal advice.

Waiting outside

NOAA puts precipitation on Virginia's tidewater coast at about 50 inches a year, so an exposed step can be a wet place to wait. Stay under cover, at a neighbor's or in your car. If someone inside cannot open the door themselves, such as a young child, call 911 at once.

What to have ready

• Photo ID showing the address, or a lease or deed in your name
• Your neighborhood, such as Kempsville or Green Run, and the nearest cross streets
• Whether the door has a knob lock, a deadbolt or both
• For a managed building, the unit number and whether management has been called

If keys were lost rather than left inside, lock rekeying afterward stops the missing set from working. More on house lockout service and the Virginia Beach page.