Your roommate moved out and the buzzer still rings them
A buzzer that still rings a former roommate means the lobby panel holds their number and nobody has changed it. Nothing about them moving out updates the panel, because the building has no way of knowing. Until it is changed they can release the lobby door for anybody who presses your unit, which is the part worth saying when you report it.
They moved out in April. Somebody pressed your unit last week and got them. They were polite about it and said the person does not live here any more, which is exactly what a stranger being handed your building access sounds like.
Why it did not update itself
The number in the lobby panel was typed in by a person and it changes when a person types in a different one. There is no system anywhere connecting a tenancy to an entry directory.
In a building with a few hundred units, updating a panel entry is a task that happens when somebody asks. So ask. The same problem with a previous tenant.
Say the access part out loud
This is the sentence that gets it done in days rather than weeks. Somebody with no connection to the building can currently grant entry to anyone who presses your unit number.
They almost certainly will not. That is not the point, and it is not your call to make on the building behalf. Property managers act on building access much faster than on a resident inconvenience, and this genuinely is the former.
What to send
- Your unit number, and the building address if the company runs several.
- One sentence: the buzzer currently rings a former resident, who can release the lobby door for any visitor.
- The number you want stored instead.
- A request that they confirm by email once it is changed.
Two to five business days is normal. The full version of that request.
Decide what goes in before you send it
You are about to spend your one easy request. Putting another individual mobile number in the field sets up the identical problem for whenever that person leaves.
A number belonging to the apartment does not have that failure mode. Phones behind it are added and removed in seconds, by you, without the building being involved. BuzzMeBro rings up to 4 phones for $11.99 a month. Why a shared number survives turnover.
Then test it from the lobby yourself once the confirmation arrives. Buildings send those before the work as often as after it. What to check.
Questions people ask
Can my old roommate really let people into the building?
Yes, if the panel still dials their number. Whoever answers a buzzer call can press the door digit and release the lobby door, and nothing in that chain checks who is on the other end.
They would never do that. Is it still worth reporting?
Yes, and not because of them. It is a building access control that is pointing at somebody outside the building, which is a fact about the system rather than a judgement about a person.
How fast should the building act?
A few days. If a week passes with no confirmation, follow up and use the building access wording again rather than the delivery wording.
Do I need my old roommate to agree to anything?
No. The number stored against your unit is the building record for your apartment, and you live there. Telling them is a courtesy rather than a permission.
How do I stop this happening with the next roommate?
Have the building store a number that belongs to the apartment rather than to a person. With BuzzMeBro you add and remove phones yourself, so a move-out never means another email to property management.