Access handed out all year round
On a property looked after while the owner is away, the entries add up quickly: caretaker, gardener, pool technician, cleaner, an expected delivery, a tradesman. A code opened for one visit and closed behind it avoids the key that gets lent and never comes back. That is the real gain, rather than doing away with the everyday key. On the Mougins estates the list grows longer again through the garden season.
Traceability comes next. A time-stamped log shows who came in and at what hour, which genuinely matters to an owner based abroad, or for a Mougins house let for a few weeks each season. A code is deleted, a fob deactivated; a key handed over in person stays out there until somebody asks for it.
Many families come to Mougins for Sophia Antipolis or for the schools and move on after two or three years, leaving copies behind that nobody is counting any more. Access that can be revoked from an app settles that better than changing a cylinder every time someone leaves.
Batteries, signal range and personal data
Start with the batteries. These locks run on cells, and serious models keep a fallback: a mechanical barrel retained, an emergency supply from an external cell or a socket on the escutcheon. On a Mougins house closed for the winter, ask above all how the low-battery warning reaches you when nobody is there to hear it.
Range comes next. Bluetooth means being close by; remote control means a gateway and a connection that stays up. Where the pedestrian gate stands fifty metres from the house, deep in the grounds, the signal does not always carry; in the village houses, thick stone weakens it sharply. Check coverage at the exact spot where the unit will go. A trial with the app, gate closed behind you, tells you more than a datasheet.
Two last points. Mechanical resistance does not change: a motor fitted to an ordinary cylinder adds nothing against forced entry. And the access log is personal data — if it records the comings and goings of the caretaker and the gardener who keep a Mougins property up, they must be told about it plainly. A written notice, given once, is enough to frame how the log is used.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our smart lock page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Mougins.