Locked Out of Your House in Auburn, Do These 6 Things First

Rule out danger, try every door, find a spare, and call whoever holds a key. A licensed locksmith comes after that. Most house lockouts end with a key or a picked lock. A broken window is rarely the cheap way in.

Straight Answer

Child, medical trouble or food on the stove inside? Call 911 now.
Pull every door handle, then think about who has a spare.
Dead keypad? Many take a 9-volt battery from the outside.
Renters call the landlord. Campus residents use the Area Office or RA on duty.
A card only works on a spring latch, never on a deadbolt.
Hiring a locksmith? Get the price first and ask for the state badge.

We open house doors for a living. We are still not always your first call. Work down this list, and you may not need us at all.

1. Check for Danger First

Look through the window before you do anything else. Some lockouts are emergencies, and those belong to 911.

A small child is alone inside.
Someone inside has a medical problem.
Food is cooking on the stove.
You smell smoke or gas.

Those examples come from published city policies, covered below. Do not wait on a locksmith for any of them. Tell the dispatcher what is happening and follow what they say.

2. Pull Every Door and Check the Windows

Walk the whole house. Try the back door, the side door and the door from the garage. Try the garage keypad too, if you have one.

Then check the first floor windows. An unlocked one may let you pop the screen and climb in. Stay off ladders and stay away from upstairs windows. A fall costs more than any service call.

3. Find the Spare or Wake the Keypad

Think about who has a key. A spouse, roommate, parent or neighbor may beat any service call. If your phone is inside, borrow one from a neighbor.

Keypad locks fail in a simple way. The batteries die. Many models have a backup for that moment. Kwikset says its 905 Keyless Deadbolt can run from a 9-volt battery held to the terminals below the keypad. It beeps three times when it has power. Keep the battery in place, enter your code and hold on until the door unlocks.

A gas station 9-volt can save the night. Models differ, so check your own manual. Many keypad locks also have a key slot, so that spare still counts.

A black Kwikset keypad deadbolt with ten number buttons and a key slot below them, mounted on a white door — A keypad deadbolt with a key slot under the buttons. Photo by TaurusEmerald, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

4. Call Whoever Holds the Master Key

Auburn is a renter town. The Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey counts 14,161 rented homes out of 30,174 occupied homes here. That is 46.9 percent, per this Census tenure table. So for many readers, a free key may be one call away.

Apartments and Rental Houses

Call the landlord, leasing office or emergency maintenance line first. Ask if there is a fee, and ask how soon they can come. Your lease may answer both.

Tell them before you hire anyone to change a lock. Our post on Alabama landlord and lock rules covers why your lease decides that. It also covers the other kind of lockout, where a landlord shuts you out on purpose. That is a legal problem, not a key problem.

Auburn University Residence Halls

Do not call a locksmith for a campus room. Use University Housing. The rules below are as of November 2026.

Free. Lockout help is complimentary at your Area Office while it is open.
$50. Each request costs that much when the office is closed, including breaks and weekends. Call the RA on duty phone.
Office hours. Area Offices run Monday to Thursday, 8am to 8pm, and Friday, 8am to 5pm.
Questions. University Housing is at (334) 844-4580.

Do the math on a normal week. The office is open 57 hours out of 168. The other 111 hours, about two thirds of the week, cost $50 a request. A forgotten key at 7pm on a Thursday is free. The same key an hour and a half later is not.

Built from the Area Office hours and the lockout rule, both last updated September 2026. Breaks change the hours.

5. Read the Lock Before You Try a Trick

Lockout tips online love a credit card and a paper clip. Those tips skip the first question. Which lock is holding the door?

What You See	What Locked	Card or Clip?
You shut the door and it locked by itself	Usually a spring latch in the knob	May work on a simple latch
Someone turned a thumb knob or used a key	Likely a deadbolt	No
The door has a keypad or smart lock	Often a motor driven deadbolt	No. Try the battery step

Bob Vila's guide says the card and clip method will not work if a deadbolt is engaged. It also says pulling the knob apart will not work on all locks. Cove warns a card can get damaged, and that picking is harder than movies make it look.

Only try this on your own door, and stop if the frame or latch starts to give. A rental's lock belongs to your landlord. A bent latch can turn a simple opening into a lock repair.

6. Call a Licensed Locksmith, and Get the Price First

This is the step where people get burned. A locked out person in a hurry is an easy mark. The Alabama board warns that not every locksmith listed online is in your area, licensed here or true to the quoted price.

Use this script on the phone and at the door.

Ask if they hold a current license from the Alabama board.
Ask where they are located.
Describe the lock, and ask for as firm a quote as you can get.
Ask about a trip charge and any night fee.
At the door, ask to see the board's ID badge. No badge means no entry.
Confirm the price before any work starts.

Be careful if someone says up front that your lock must be drilled. Wisconsin's consumer office flags that as a warning sign, since a skilled locksmith can open almost any door. It also says never to sign a blank form, and to get an itemized invoice.

The same office says to expect a locksmith to ask for your ID too. That protects you. Have proof you live there ready if you can. If it is inside, say so on the call.

Price varies. Cove puts locksmiths at $50 to $100 an hour during business hours, and more after hours. Treat that as a ballpark, not our price. We quote your price on the phone before a technician rolls, and that quote is what you pay.

Mobile locksmith kneeling at the front door of a red brick ranch house working on the deadbolt — A picked lock still works when the door opens. A kicked door does not.

We try to open locks without damage first. If a lock has to be drilled, we replace it on the same visit. If you lost the key, not just left it inside, ask about a rekey while we are there. That makes the missing key useless. See how our house lockout service works.

Will Police or Fire Open Your House Door?

Only count on it in an emergency. We could not find a published lockout policy for Auburn. So we read what other departments put in writing. They draw nearly the same line.

Anna, Texas Fire. Its lockout policy covers immediate danger, like a medical condition, food on the stove or small children inside. Everything else gets sent to a locksmith.
Alexandria, Virginia Police. Its Directive 11.12 limits help to emergencies. Dispatchers cite liability and refer other callers to private help.
Escambia County, Florida Fire. Its forcible entry guideline says to use a locksmith in non-emergencies, so the department is not liable for damage.

Those are not Auburn's rules, so ask. The City of Auburn lists (334) 501-3100 as its non-emergency number. Keep 911 for real danger.

Who Can Get You Back In

Details are as of November 2026. Check your own lease or membership, since terms change.

Who	Your Cost	When	The Catch
911	Do not wait to ask	Any time	Real emergencies only
Someone with a spare	Free	When they answer	You had to plan ahead
Landlord or leasing office	Per your lease	Per your lease	Nights and weekends can be slow
Auburn University Housing	Free or $50	Area Office or RA on duty	Campus residents only
AAA Premier	Up to $100 covered	Once a membership year	Alabama primary home, ID and proof of residence
Licensed locksmith	Quoted before work starts	Ours runs 24 hours	You pay unless a plan reimburses you

The AAA line surprises people. The AAA Alabama Member Guide gives Premier members up to $100 in locksmith services for a home lockout, per its May 2026 edition. The member must be there, and the benefit starts seven days after the upgrade is processed. A rental may need the owner's approval.

Do Not Break In Unless Someone Is in Danger

Some guides list breaking in as a real option. We would not. Cove's guide lists it, and even Cove warns against climbing through broken glass. A forced door can also bend the frame and tear the strike plate.

Then you have a repair and a house that will not lock tonight. If someone is in danger, call 911 and follow the dispatcher. If it has already happened, we repair or replace forced locks and reinforce strike plates.

Set This Up Before Next Time

Give a spare to someone close by whom you trust.
Skip the doormat and the planter. Thieves know those spots. Use a lock box instead.
Put new batteries in your keypad before they run down.
Keep a 9-volt in the car if your keypad takes one.
Save a licensed locksmith in your phone. The Alabama board tells people to do this too.
Check your lease or AAA plan, so you know your first call.

If too many spares are floating around, our post on rekeying a house shows how to reset who holds a key.

What to Ask Next

Can you call the fire department to unlock your house?

In a real emergency, call 911. For a plain lockout, the published policies we read send people to a locksmith. Auburn's non-emergency number is (334) 501-3100 if you want to ask.

Can a locksmith open a locked house door without damage?

Usually, yes. We pick or bypass the lock whenever we can. Drilling is a last resort for failed or high security locks, and we replace anything we drill.

Will a locksmith ask for proof I live there?

Expect it. Wisconsin's consumer office tells people to expect an ID request. AAA Alabama requires ID and proof of residence for its home lockout benefit.

How much does a locksmith charge to open a house door?

It depends on the company, the hour and the lock. Cove's ballpark is $50 to $100 an hour in business hours. Get a firm quote and ask about a trip charge.

Will AAA pay for a house lockout in Alabama?

On Premier, up to $100, once per household each membership year. It covers your primary home in Alabama. Any charges over $100 are yours.

What if I am locked out of my dorm at Auburn?

Go to your Area Office while it is open, and the help is free. When it is closed, call the RA on duty phone. That costs $50 each time, as of November 2026.

Need Us at the Door Now?

Call (334) 655-1300. You talk to a locksmith, and you get the price before a technician rolls. Typical response is 15 to 30 minutes, fastest in Auburn and Opelika. The emergency line runs 24 hours.