Moving out: what to do about the buzzer you are leaving behind
Your number stays in the lobby panel after you move out unless somebody removes it, because nothing about a lease ending updates an entry directory. That means strangers keep buzzing you and you can still release a door in a building you no longer live in. Email the building to remove it on your way out, and email your new building to add you.
Everybody thinks about the buzzer when they move in. Almost nobody thinks about it on the way out, which is why so many Toronto panels are ringing people who left years ago.
Why it matters to you
The obvious version is the next tenant getting a stranger when their friends visit. The version that affects you is less obvious and more uncomfortable.
- People will buzz your phone from a building you do not live in, at any hour.
- You can still release that building lobby door, which is a responsibility you did not ask to keep.
- A delivery driver will eventually 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. What it looks like from the other side.
The two emails
- Email the old building before you leave Give your unit number and ask that your phone number be removed from the entry directory on your move-out date. Ask for confirmation.
- Email the new building before you arrive Give the unit number and the number to store, and ask which digit opens the door. They will often schedule it for your move-in date.
- Test the new one from the lobby Once the confirmation arrives. Press your unit code, answer, and open the door once.
- Check the old one has stopped If you are ever back in the area, press the old unit code. If your phone rings, follow up.
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 unit rather than to a person, moving out is simpler at both ends. Nothing of yours is in the old panel, and there is nothing to ask them to remove.
The number moves to your new building instead: they store it, and the phones behind it are whoever lives with you now. BuzzMeBro is month to month and rings up to 4 phones for $11.99 a month. How that works when a household changes.
Questions people ask
Will the building remove my number automatically when I leave?
No. Nothing connects a tenancy ending to an entry directory, which is why panels across the city still dial people who moved out years ago. It happens when somebody asks.
Someone still buzzes me from my old building. What do I do?
Email that building with the address and ask them to remove your number from the entry system for that unit. Mention that you are able to release their lobby door, which usually gets it actioned quickly.
Can I get the buzzer working on day one at the new place?
Often yes. Ask before you move and property managers will usually schedule the change for your move-in date, which means it works the day you arrive rather than a week later.
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. With BuzzMeBro the apartment number moves to the new building and the old panel never held anything of yours.