Tenant Lost Mail Key, We have a spare, but isn't that a liability?

[Katie Southard]

I will preface by saying that we have tenants who are annoying as all get out. They ask us to step in for everything from a lightbulb to grass seed to whatever. They also bother our HVAC guy to do general handyman tasks when he is there and I am paying him hourly for HVAC services only. Personally when I rented I never wanted my landlord bugging me but they don't care if my husband ("the handyman") is there all the time. When he is there, they always opportunistically find something to bug him about (slow draining drain, changing a filter on the stove).

I have asked tenants repeatedly to email requests and they continue to text them, so I reply with email. Anywhoo, just setting the stage. 

Most recent issue (there are lots): Tenant lost their mail key and wants us to replace it. This is my prior home so I know what happens when you lose the mail key. It is the large community mailbox and you usually have to pay to rekey the whole thing for security issues. Also in the meantime they recommend stopping mail to the mailbox, holding at post office, and manually picking it up (all of which I had to do once when I lost the mail key). It's a pain but the post office has a sytem set up for it.

I told the tenant I couldn't do anything for him until AFTER Memorial Day and after that I would figure out if we had a spare and get back to him, , but I told him to in the meantime, call the post office, hold the mail, and manually pick it up, and keep looking for the key. Luckily its only a mile away and a short drive with no street lights or traffic. Monday (Memorial day) Tenant texts me at 8am asking what the plan is for the mailbox key saying he has a prescription coming and he really needs it. He indicated he would call the post office soon but had not yet. I have not yet answered his text (it's now Tuesday).

My question is...we do have one spare. But, I have read about liability issues with lost keys. Do I really think they will find the mail key and keep it and come back after their tenancy to check the mail? Meh, I am about 75% no, I think they are fairly honest just green tenants, young, and annoying. But in the grand scheme of things, if they WERE bad people and did that, or if someone else found the key and was checking the mail, that could certainly come back to bite me (say future tenants suspect someone is ruffling through their mail only to find prior tenants are coming back because they found the mail key when they moved or had it all along, etc). 

There is nothing in the lease about keys. I thought I hit everything this time, but I regretfully did not.  Do we just make them a key and get it to them? We are super busy, and aren't really in the business of running errands for tenants and then bringing keys to them like their own personal assistants. The whole process will take 2 hours start to finish and I am not even interested in billing them for the time, time is more valuable to me than money, and I just dont want us to have to take the time. We work very busy jobs and though we do our very best to be good landlords, ensure health and safety are always addressed quickly etc...these tenants are just too much. 

I thought maybe we could make the copy next time we are at the hardware store and have the Tenant pick it up, but husband doesn't want them knowing our address and I see the point and I don't either. Husband is more inclined to just do all the favors and avoid conflict which is why he is not the main contact. I have a legal background and am more assertive and the Tenants go through me for requests. I believe that you need to teach people how to treat you and I already made the mistake of texting with them initially and now am paying the price by having to respond to texts via email. But I'd rather handle the issue now before it gets even futher out of hand, if you know what I mean. And I feel the same about the key. Teach them that this IS a big deal and it's not just No-Big-Deal-Let-Me-Do-Whatever-You-Need.