Buzzer access for a subletter or a short stay
A subletter needs to answer the buzzer while they live there and not a day after. If the lobby panel stores a personal number, adding theirs and removing it later are two separate requests to the building, and the second is easy to forget. If the panel stores a number that belongs to the apartment, such as a BuzzMeBro number, you add their phone when they arrive and remove it when they leave.
Live with others? BuzzMeBro puts more than one of you on the buzzer. First month free. Start free
Say somebody has your room from May to August. They will get deliveries, have friends over and may need to let a technician in. All of that runs through a buzzer that currently rings you.
Why the panel is the wrong place for this
A typical lobby panel stores one phone number for each resident entry, and only whoever manages the panel can change it. On a Mircom TX3, for example, the resident record has a single telephone number field, programmed from the panel or the building’s software.
So a four month sublet means two requests: one to put their number in, one to take it out. How long each takes depends on the building. The second request is the one that gets forgotten, and a forgotten entry keeps ringing a phone that no longer belongs in the building. What fixing that looks like later.
What a subletter actually needs
- To answer the buzz while they live there.
- To stop being able to, on the day they leave.
- To not have their personal number filed with a building they have no long-term relationship with.
- To not need you awake and reachable every time somebody is at the door.
The last one matters if you are travelling, which is often why the sublet exists in the first place.
Doing it behind an apartment number
If the panel already holds a number belonging to the apartment, the list of phones behind it is yours to manage. Add their phone when they move in, remove it when they move out, and the building is not involved at either end.
| Their number in the panel | Behind an apartment number | |
|---|---|---|
| Setting it up | A request to the building; timing varies | You add their phone |
| Ending it | A second request to the building | You remove their phone |
| If you forget | Their phone keeps getting buzzes, and can keep opening the door | You see them on your own list |
| Their number stored in the building’s panel | Yes | No |
BuzzMeBro is that list: up to 4 phones on one number for $9.99 a month, and the person you add gets a text saying their phone is now on the buzzer. How access is granted and removed.
The lease part (Ontario)
Buzzer access is a practical question and subletting is a legal one. In Ontario, the Residential Tenancies Act says a tenant may sublet only with the landlord’s consent, and that the landlord must not refuse consent arbitrarily or unreasonably (section 97). The Landlord and Tenant Board’s guide describes a sublet as moving out for a period and returning before the tenancy ends.
This is general information, not legal advice, and other provinces have their own rules. Sorting the buzzer does not sort the lease, so do both. What the building does control.
From our own door
- BuzzMeBro has run on our founder’s own Toronto apartment door since August 2026.
- A buzz rings the people on the apartment who are set to ring, up to 4 phones at the same time, and whoever answers first handles it. A subletter on the list answers their own door.
- Switching the panel to our number means the building updates one stored number for the unit and nothing else, and pointing it back at the old number undoes it the same day.
Questions people ask
Can I just let my subletter use my phone number?
If the panel stores your number, every buzz rings your phone, wherever you are. Forwarding your calls to them would forward all of your calls, not just the door. Putting their own phone behind an apartment number avoids both.
What if I am away and they cannot get in?
That is the case worth setting up for. If their phone is on the apartment list, they answer their own buzzes and you are not part of the chain at all.
Do I have to tell my landlord about the subletter?
In Ontario, subletting needs the landlord’s consent under section 97 of the Residential Tenancies Act, and the Landlord and Tenant Board’s guide says the same. Check your lease too. The buzzer question is separate and does not replace that conversation.
Can I add them for less than a month?
With BuzzMeBro there is no minimum on how long somebody is on the list. A weekend guest, a house sitter and a four month subletter are the same operation.
What happens to their access when they leave?
With BuzzMeBro you remove their phone and the buzzer stops ringing it, and everybody on the apartment gets a text that the list changed. Nothing was stored in the building directory, so there is nothing there to forget.
Sources
- Government of Ontario, Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17
- Tribunals Ontario, Landlord and Tenant Board, Brochure: A Guide to the Residential Tenancies Act
- Mircom, TX3 Telephone Access System User Guide - Keypad Configuration (LT-968)