The safest way to let cleaners in when you’re not home is a smart lock with a code created for the visit. A lockbox is second, the garage keypad third, and a loose key last. The ranking measures exactly one thing: how fast you can undo the access you granted.
This is the practical half of a two-part question. If what worries you is whether handing over access is safe at all — who holds a key, what stands behind it — that lives in is it safe to give your house cleaner a key?. And if you’re still deciding whether to stay for the visit, that decision has its own article. Here we assume you’ve decided: the crew comes, you don’t stay. What follows is how to set up each option so the decision always has a reverse gear.
First choice: a smart lock with a per-visit code
It wins on three properties no cut key can have: the code is per-person, it revokes from your phone in under a minute, and the lock’s app keeps a time-stamped record of every entry. The setup that actually cashes in on all three:
- Create a code that belongs to the company, not the shared family code. The entry log only means something if each code has exactly one holder.
- Schedule it if your lock supports it. Many locks take scheduled or one-time codes: the code exists during the arrival window and opens nothing outside it.
- Turn on auto-lock so the door locks itself after the crew leaves — the common failure isn’t the code, it’s the unlocked door afterward.
- Delete the code when staff changes or the relationship ends. One tap, and the access stops existing.
Second: the lockbox
The lockbox’s trick is that it converts an unrotatable object — the key — into a rotatable code, and the physical key never leaves your property. Buy your own box and set your own code; rotate it between visits whenever you like. Mount it on something solid — a side gate, a railing — rather than on the front doorknob in view of the street, and put only the door key inside, never anything labeled with the address. Its honest limit: it’s one code for anyone who knows it, and it keeps no log of uses — which is why it ranks below the smart lock, not because it fails. Real estate has run on lockboxes for decades.
Third: the garage keypad
It feels safe — the PIN changes whenever you want and there’s no object to copy — and it still ranks third, because of what it opens. The garage is the largest door on the house, and in many South Florida homes the door from the garage into the kitchen stays unlocked: in practice that PIN is a whole-house key, shared, with no per-person accounting and, on most openers, no record of uses. If you use it: change the PIN when the service relationship ends, keep the interior door locked — and put the lockbox or smart-lock code on that door — and if your opener has an app, use its closed-door confirmation. Newer openers with temporary PINs and open/close alerts move this option up the list considerably.
Last: the loose key
Sometimes it’s the only option — old locks, gate doors, condo hardware you can’t change. A key isn’t dangerous in the hands of a serious operation; it’s simply the one method on this list that can’t be undone without changing the lock. If it must be a key, the safety lives in written answers to the custody questions — who holds it between visits, how it’s labeled (never with your address), what happens when staff changes — which we treat in full in the key article. And behind the key there should be something published, not promised: in JAS’s case the Terms say it in one sentence — “Every cleaner is background-checked, and we carry at least $2,000,000 in general liability coverage.”
“The right question isn’t ‘who do I trust?’ but ‘how long does undoing this take?’ — a scheduled code undoes itself, a key takes a locksmith.”
Questions about your place specifically? No need to finish the article — call, text, WhatsApp, or email us and we’ll take it from here.
What about the alarm code?
The door is half the problem; in plenty of Miami homes the panel is the other half. The rules are the ones above, applied to your own equipment. Never share your master code: nearly every panel supports additional user codes, so create one that belongs to the cleaning service — the panel’s history logs arm and disarm events by code, the same per-person accounting the smart lock gives you at the door. Many systems disarm remotely from the app, so you can also open the window yourself and re-arm when the visit is over; and if your panel takes temporary codes, treat them like the lock’s: create, then delete. One last operational point: tell the company the alarm exists and what to do about it — an alarm nobody warned the crew about produces a scare and a patrol visit, not security.
What JAS publishes about access when you’re away
Every rung of this ranking appears by name in the Terms: “You agree to provide reasonable access to the property (a code, key, smart-lock invite, or someone home).” And the residential cleaning page — starting at $189, a 2–3 hour visit with a 2-person team — publishes what it looks like in practice: most recurring customers aren’t home during the visit; you can leave a door code, a lockbox key, or a smart-lock invite, and in condo buildings you can register us with the front desk — the option where access never touches your keyring at all.
Two published consequences close the loop. The visit you weren’t there to see still reaches your phone: eligible completed visits include a CleanCheck report with customer-safe photo proof, so you see the result before you’re back. And the only arrangement that costs money is making none: per the Terms, if the team arrives and cannot access the property, the visit may be treated as a late cancellation — inside 24 hours a $25 cancellation fee applies; further out, cancelling or rescheduling is free. If this decision sits inside a bigger one — whether hiring a service is safe, full stop — that question has its own full answer.
FAQ
Should I give the cleaning company my alarm code?
Not your master code — that one stays yours. Nearly every panel supports additional user codes: create one that belongs to the cleaning service, and the panel’s own history then shows arm and disarm events under that code. Many systems also disarm remotely from the app, so you can open the window yourself and re-arm when the visit is over.
What happens if the crew arrives and can’t get in?
The JAS Terms publish it plainly: if the team arrives and cannot access the property (lockout, no arranged entry), the visit may be treated as a late cancellation — and inside 24 hours a $25 cancellation fee applies. More than 24 hours out, cancelling or rescheduling is free. Whatever method you pick, test it once before the first visit.
I rent and can’t change the locks — what’s my best option?
The lockbox: it changes nothing about the door, the physical key never leaves the property, and you still get a code you can rotate between visits. In a condo building, registering the crew with the front desk moves the whole question to the building. And someone home during the visit always counts as arranged access.
How do I know how the visit went if I wasn’t there?
That part is published on the residential page: eligible completed visits include a CleanCheck report with customer-safe photo proof, so you can see the result before you’re back. The access method gets the crew in; the report closes the loop from the other side.
The short version
A smart lock with a per-visit code, scheduled, with auto-lock on. Failing that, your own lockbox with a code you rotate. The garage keypad only with the interior door locked and the PIN rotated. The loose key last, and only with the custody questions answered in writing. For the alarm: a user code that belongs to the service, never your master. And whichever method you pick, write it into the booking and test it before the first visit — the safest access is the one you can undo in a minute.