Moving out: what to do about the buzzer you are leaving behind
Your phone number stays in the lobby panel after you move out unless somebody removes it, because ending a lease does not edit the entry directory. Until it is removed, visitors to your old unit can reach your phone, and you can still release a door in a building you no longer live in. Email the old building to remove it, and email your new building to add you.
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Everybody thinks about the buzzer when they move in. It is easy to forget on the way out, which is how panels end up ringing people who left long ago.
Why it matters to you
On a dial-out panel, your entry is a record somebody typed in. On a Mircom TX3, for example, a resident record holds a name, a dial code and a telephone number, and it stays until somebody edits or deletes it. So after you leave:
- Visitors for the new tenant can reach your phone, at any hour.
- You can still release that building’s lobby door, which is a responsibility you did not ask to keep.
- A delivery driver may reach you about a parcel for somebody else.
- The longer it sits, the less likely anybody connects it to you at all.
That second one is the reason to send the email rather than shrug. Do not open the door for anyone who buzzes you there. You cannot know who they are. What it looks like from the other side.
The two emails
Send them to whoever runs the building. In a Toronto apartment building, the owner must post a sign in the lobby or entrance with the current name, address and phone number of the owner or manager, so start there.
- Email the old building before you leave Example: "I am moving out of unit 1203 on 31 March. Please remove my phone number from the entry directory for that unit on that date, and confirm by email when it is done."
- Email the new building before you arrive Give the unit, the name to list and the number to store, and ask which digit opens the door. Ask whether they can make the change for your move-in date.
- Test the new one from the lobby Once the confirmation arrives, press your code, answer, and open the door once.
- Check the old one has stopped If you are back in the area, press the old code. If your phone rings, follow up in the same email thread.
What to put in the new building email.
If the number was not yours to begin with
If the apartment used a number belonging to the household rather than your own mobile, your personal number was never in the old panel. The household number still is, so the old building still needs the same removal email, or the next tenant’s visitors will ring whoever is on that number.
With BuzzMeBro, the apartment has its own local number that rings up to 4 phones for $9.99 a month, month to month. If the whole household is moving, a number only works at the new building if it is a local call from there, because many panels only dial local numbers. Check with BuzzMeBro before you move. How that works when a household changes.
From our own door
- BuzzMeBro has run on our founder’s own Toronto apartment door since August 2026.
- Switching a panel to a BuzzMeBro number means the building updates one stored number for your unit and nothing else. Pointing it back at the old number undoes it the same day.
- We only give an apartment a number local to the building’s calling area, because many panels only dial local numbers. We check this from the postal code before any card is taken.
Questions people ask
Will the building remove my number automatically when I leave?
Do not count on it. The entry directory is a separate record from your lease, and on many panels somebody has to edit it by hand. Ask, in writing, and ask for confirmation.
Someone still buzzes me from my old building. What do I do?
Do not open the door. Email that building with the address and unit, and ask them to remove your number from the entry system. Mention that you are able to release their lobby door.
Can I get the buzzer working on day one at the new place?
Often, if you ask before you move. Many property managers can schedule the change for your move-in date, so it works the day you arrive.
Do I have to tell my old roommates?
If the panel held your number, yes, because removing it leaves the apartment with no working buzzer until they store a new one. Give them notice rather than leaving them to find out.
Does the number I use follow me?
A personal mobile does, and it stays in the old panel until removed. A BuzzMeBro number belongs to the apartment, so whoever still lives there keeps getting the buzz, and your own mobile never sat in the panel.