@Angela_L Phew that was lucky!
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Once - ages ago when I was early in housesitting - I locked myself of a sit and had to go next door to the neighbor’s. They didn’t have a key, but I was able to use their phone to call the homeowners and they got someone with a key to come let me in. I felt so terrible. (Though this did give me the opportunity to see inside the neighbor’s showplace of a home - I still housesit for them and I think of it every time I take the dogs on a walk.)
For over 15 years I’d never locked myself out of any house sit and thought I was golden. Then last fall, I had two sits in Massachusetts, both in older homes. Some fluke in these older MA door locks means you can’t tell when they are locked or unlocked from the inside, the doorknobs turn regardless, and I managed to lock myself out of BOTH homes. The first one was easy to break back into - the HO directed me to a window that was easy to slide open from the outside. The second, however - I was stranded outside for hours because the keys the HO normally left in a particular spot for times such as these was the set they had given me to use and were now inside the house! I met the lovely neighbors, but they didn’t have keys, so I had to wait for a family member to answer their phone and drive an hour to the house. Luckily, the dog (and my phone) was outside with me! But you’d think I’d have learned at the first house…
Fun topic.
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Yes, I did! It was early morning around Thanksgiving. I was only wearing pj’s and it was cold. Luckily, the door was from inside the garage to the house so at least we were sheltered. After I tried all the windows on the first floor and was thinking about which one I may have to break, I thought to look in the car that was in the garage. There was a set of keys in the console between the seats. Yay!
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Hello, @pamgardner Welcome to the community and thank you for your contribution to this topic.
What a great reminder to check the owners car. Phew that must have been a relief!
If you want to add your THS sitter profile to your forum profile for others to view and connect here is how:
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/how-to-add-a-listing-or-profile-link-to-your-forum-profile
If you need any help please let me know 
Relief? Huge understatement! It was Thanksgiving morning. I was seriously trying to decide which window I could break with the least amount of debris and cost.
Thank you!!!
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I feel like every time there is a little blip (new keys that don’t work properly, locked doors, missing parking pass), it’s a learning moment for us. We were leaving a sit and had packed the car. Went back in to say our goodbyes to the dogs, then popped out the garage, using the automatic door closer. As soon as we closed the car door, Roger realized he didn’t have his phone 
. He’d set it down to hug the dog, and never retrieved it. No problem, just use the garage door code to get back in….not that easy!!! It’s a sit that had run over an extra day, and our access to the Welcome Guide was gone, along with the code. We hadn’t used the code the entire time we were there, because the front door keys were sufficient. Luckily, the HO replied to my text message immediately with the code. We were heading out of town on some icy roads, and trying to beat the next storm forecasted for our travel day. Lesson learned…always screen shot all important info from a Welcome Guide.
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Oh gosh, I did that last summer on a sit in spain, chasing the cat indoors late at night in dress and underpants only (no shoes/leggings) the door flipped shut. Due to the nerves, travel tired and stress I’d not heard anything from the owners about a spare key, so no phone, pitch black, in a rural area with only a few houses at 11pm I had to climb over the electric gate, and bare foot walk down the road to over gravel bits and raise a neighbour who had their light on. They were drunk and not much help, but in the end I was able to use one of their’s phone to try with my 2 Spanish words, to not get help from the police, but eventually got a locksmith who also knew no English. Approx €230 euros later, very sore feet, frozen and exhausted at 1am I was back in the house!! Turns out there was a spare key hidden in a cupboard outdoors. Never felt so stupid in all my life, in fact 95% of the grey hairs on my head came from that night!! The owners were really lovely and shared half the locksmith cost with me, and best of all, did not laugh at my disaster!!! Now, on every single housesit I insist on a spare key or knowing where one is!!!
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Yes, turned out the Neighbour did not have a key. I got a locksmith to get me in and made sure I had proof that I was meant to be at the house and when the door was open the dog confirmed it.
I let the homeowner know as soon as I was able. Did 2 more housesits for them after that.
Janet
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Here it goes. I had a sit this past winter during which I accidentally grabbed my own house keys instead of the homeowners’ that was provided for me. It was about 9 PM. It was the very second that I had closed the door and electronically locked it when I realized what I had done. I stood out there in the cold in front of their outdoor security cameras, probably looking frozen and deep in thought.
The owners were vacationing in their home country, England. I was in the U.S. The time difference meant that they were still sleeping and wouldn’t be checking their phones until at least another 6 hours or so based on previous days we were in contact.
Luckily, I had my phone on me. After some hesitation, I called their emergency contact and left a voicemail asking for a key and later texted her.
She texted back saying they didn’t give her a key. She then said that she might know someone else who had an extra key and that she’d get back to me. The other person would not respond for an hour before she went to bed. Also, I couldn’t use the HOs’ door keypad to get back in because I was never given a code. She asked me if I had somewhere I could go for the night. I somewhat lied and said yes to not have her feel guilty or worried.
I left the HOs a text message.
I had left dinner for the cat inside already, so that wasn’t a concern.
After contemplating ways to gently break in but chickening out because of their security system, I decided to hop around the shops downtown until they closed. I walked around parking lots and sidewalks aimlessly. All this just to kill time and not my phones’s battery.
A strange (but harmless) man out of nowhere in one of the parking lots decided to chat me up about religion and philosophy. We ended up sitting outside of a closed shop to chat for 2 hours about such subjects. Great, more time used.
Then past midnight, we were both sleepy and he went back to sleep in his van, but he kindly directed me to a condo complex nearby for me to use their lounge for the night. Once inside there, I sat around, fidgeted, and looked through books on a shelf, all so I could stay up all night.
3 AM. I checked my phone to see if the HOs read my message yet. Nada.
4 AM. Nada.
5 AM. Nope.
5:30 AM… Finally! A phone call from one of the HOs. It was the wife, who was very understanding and even apologetic about
not checking her phone earlier. She gave me the code to get back in.
After rushing my way back through the break of dawn, I punched in the code, got in, and then I collapsed in bed.
———-
I ended up doing two more sits with this couple with more in the future, and I still have an ongoing good relationship with them.
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I’m currently accidentally locked out of the house on my first international sit and waiting for the H/Os to give me access to the spare keys. I’ve had to sleep in my car while waiting for them to respond with the information going on 8 hours . I noticed there wasn’t any emergency information in the welcome guide but I honestly never thought I’d need it … until now . I went out for a quick grocery run around 9pm and locked the door while driving I had to brake suddenly which sent the keys under the car seat and I can’t get them out. My fault 
for losing the keys but I don’t really appreciate that the hosts didn’t leave any emergency or security information in the welcome guide . They didn’t even share the lockbox code with me (the box has the spare keys) . Is this normal? I noticed every other home that I’ve sat had emergency information, but I never used it . The irony is now I need that same info and don’t have it 
. Anyone else ever got locked out ? How did it go ?
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I’m sorry to hear about that and it must be really frustrating not to have heard back yet. If you notice important information left out of the guide ,or not discussed during the handover, it is really important to ask for it directly.
I’m sure they would have wanted you to know the code so the fact they didn’t provide it was almost certainly an oversight and not info left out intentionally.
I got locked out of an apartment one time and I just called a locksmith with a neighbor’s phone, not realizing how much it would cost! It was in NYC and it was over 400 dollars.
If I had realized how expensive it would be, I may have attempted to get the info for the landlord who perhaps could have helped me. Another factor for just doing that right away is that the whole thing happened because the cat had run out of the apartment, so I wanted to get him back in as soon as possible.
Definitely a learning experience! I hope it gets resolved soon
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Hi @Akila-Kiki. I’m so sorry to hear about your predicament. Have you heard back from the pet parents yet? I hope you have.
We moved your question here, to an existing conversation about getting locked out, so you can see what others have done in the past in this situation. I hope this helps.
The keys fell under your car seat? That can be a very difficult place to get things out of. I know, as I’ve lost lots of things under there. Have you tried asking the neighbors if they have a youngster who might be able to reach into spaces you can’t reach? That’s worked for me in the past.
I hope you get back in the home soon if you’re not there already.
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On my last sit I didn’t know the front door of the house automatically locks when it shuts. The first morning I woke up and went outside to get something out of my car, but when I tried to go back inside the house the door was locked. Thank goodness I had my phone with me to ring the owner. Luckily she had a hidden spare key that I was able to use. Lesson learned, I now make sure I have the house key with me before I walk out of the house, even if I’m just stepping out to the car or to grab the mail.
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@Julie-Moderator I also have to remember this. Had something similar happen to me when I stepped out for a brief moment to get something on their lawn, but I knew the door lock code, so I wasn’t locked out. If I hadn’t been given the code as backup, I would’ve had the same issue because I was given a key as my primary way of unlocking the door, which I didn’t have on me.
Also, a few HOs have laundry machines in a separate room from their homes, that require a key to get in. This is where some of us can easily lock ourselves out as our brains may not be used to needing a key just to wash our clothes and so we leave it behind when we lock the room again.
Lesson: Just keep the keys on us at all times when we’re outside of the home for any reason.
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@Julie_A Oh no it’s that awful moment when you realise exactly what has happened! 
I’m just so relieved the owner had a hidden spare key for you 
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Haven’t locked ourselves out yet, but on a recent sit the HOs locked us out !!!
It had been arranged that they would leave a key for us in a safe place so that we could access the property on arrival . However they realised on route to their holiday that they had forgotten to leave the key !! Fortunately we were able to get the keys from a neighbour had a spare set .
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@Akila-Kiki
Are you still locked out ? I do hope you have managed to get back into the property and pets. Please tell us how your story ended ?
Getting locked out is one of my nightmares. I haven’t had it happen but on my last sit I lost the key fob for my car so could not drive it. It was safe in a parking garage but it took two days for the locksmith to get a replacement for $325. I was very fortunate that I did not need to drive to another sit during that time!
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@FreeSpiritManette absolutely lesson learned! I will always make sure I have the key with me, even if I am just stepping out to the front yard. Luckily the owner had a hidden spare. but If she didn’t, I’m not sure what I would have done. She had already left the state, the pup was locked inside the house, and I don’t believe she had a code option to get inside. So glad it worked out for both you and I in the end haha!
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