A safe that refuses to open, in a Dénia home or business
Combinations nobody remembers, keypads that have gone dark, bolts that will not draw back. Most safes open without being destroyed, and the ones that cannot are left repairable.
- Proof of ownership every time
- Least damaging route first
- Homes, lets and businesses
Where the locked safes are
Holiday lets
With more than 5,000 registered in Dénia, the wardrobe safe that a departing guest locked is a regular job. Hosts, see also work for holiday lets.
Restaurant and shop offices
The float safe in the back office, where the code went with a manager who left. More on locks for businesses.
Houses changing hands
A safe that came with the villa or the town house, and a combination nobody passed on.
Opening a safe, step by step
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Identify it
Make, model and lock type, from a photograph of the front and the keypad or dial.
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Prove it is yours
Documents for the property or the business, and ID. No exceptions on a safe.
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The gentlest route
Override, emergency key, external power or work on the lock itself.
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Drilling, only if needed
At a chosen point, so a new lock can be fitted and the safe kept.
Send the photograph through WhatsApp and most safes are identified before anybody comes out.
Safes: the usual questions
A guest set a code on the wardrobe safe and has gone home.
Most room safes have a manufacturer’s override for exactly this. With the make and model, and your authorisation as owner or manager, it can usually be opened and reset without damage.
We inherited a safe with the house and nobody knows the combination.
Proof that the house is yours is asked for first. Then the safe is opened by the gentlest route its lock allows, and set to a combination you choose.
The keypad shows nothing at all.
Batteries, most likely, especially if the house has been shut for months. Many safes can be powered from outside; if the electronics have failed, it is opened another way and the lock replaced.
It accepts the code and still will not open.
The bolts are probably binding against the door, not the lock refusing. Stop pulling on the handle, which can make it worse, and describe what you hear when the code goes in.
Is the safe ruined if it has to be drilled?
No. Drilling is done at a point chosen so the lock can be replaced and the safe used again. You are told beforehand whether yours needs it.
Photograph the front of the safe
The make and model plate if you can see it, and the keypad or dial. That is where every safe job starts.