Imagine you are renting a house, and one day the landlord comes in and tells you that from next month, you will not be able to enter your house with a key anymore. They have found something much more innovative. You will (only) be able to enter your house with your smarthone, where you must have their app installed. Oh yes, and the digital locks will also be logging when you enter and leave your house.

That's the message that all ~2400 residents on the campus of the University of Twente received on 4 December 2025. Oh yes, and because the locks didn't require electricity themselves, these new locks were not only more secure than mechanical locks, but also highly eco-friendly. Here is a quote from the first e-mail:

“Our current lock system is outdated and needs replacement to meet modern safety and management standards. We are introducing a digital lock system, integrating your house key into your phone via the Veste Wonen app. Step by step, we’ll guide you through the process, and you’ll be well-informed in advance about when you’ll switch to a digital key.

The new locks don’t require electricity or batteries, making them low-maintenance and highly eco-friendly. Thanks to the smartphone-based locking mechanism, the system is safer than a physical key. And no more need for spare keys! The rollout of the new lock system will start in February 2025, and you’ll receive more details soon about how it works.”

The students were not amused. They made a petition, got media attention, and at some point they all met at a meeting of the Central Tenants Council Drienerlo to discuss these plans of the housing corporation. Volt city councillor Erik Kemp was invited to give some background information on the pros and cons of these digital locks, based on his expertise in privacy and cyber security and his role in local politics. After the meeting, all attendees supported Erik's initiative to also start a discussion on digital locks in his role as a city councillor.

Our main arguments against these digital locks

We identify two main arguments against these digital locks: 1. It should not be compulsory for anyone renting a house that you can only enter your house with a smartphone. 2. Entering or leaving your house should not be not be turned into a data point, and you should be able to know that that is not happening.

Timeline

2024-12-04: Veste Wonen sends their first e-mail announcing digital locks.

2024-12-18: – UToday – 'Key gate on campus: residents don't want digital locks'. – Security.nl – 'De woningstichting wil de voordeursloten vervangen door een app, mag dat?'.

2025-01-14: Meeting of the Central Tenants Council Drienerlo, mainly about the digital locks. See also: – Tubantia.

2025-01-20: Erik asked questions about the digital locks in the council meeting. See also: – UToday. And the day after. – 1Twente. More elaborate but in Dutch. – Tubantia.

2025-01-27: Our resolution 'Privacy starts at your own house' is approved by the majority of the city council. The announcement of the motion, the short debate, the reply for the city's executive board and the vote can be seen in the city council video archive. See also: – UToday. – Tubantia.

2025-02-04: Member of Parliament Marieke Koekkoek asks parliamentary questions about digital locks. See also: – UToday. – Security.nl.

2025-02-13: Veste Wonen sends a new e-mail: > 1. Tenants will have the choice of a key tag, the digital key in the Veste Wonen app, or both. > 2. Due to concerns from a group of tenants regarding privacy and data, we have asked the supplier not to log information regarding the opening and closing of the lock. None of that data will be stored. > 3. We will introduce the new locking system step by step. We will start this summer with the new buildings on the Boulevard and the short-stay rooms on campus. Based on an interim evaluation, the future steps will be determined. The Central Tenants' Council will remain closely involved.

2025-..–..: Feel free to let us know about any more recent updates on this file!

More on digital locks

Where are digital locks already implemented?

For the Netherlands, our MP Marieke Koekkoek has asked our minister whether they have a full or partial overview of houses or buildings in the Netherlands where digital keys are necessary to enter houses or where entering or leaving a house is digitally registered, and if yes, whether this list can be shared with Parliament.

From our own sources, we have heard that this system might be in use in Nijmegen, Groningen, Utrecht and Amsterdam.

Things individuals can do

The most important thing you can do to make an impact is to become part of a movement. Go to the CBR meetings, join a political movement, let your voice be heard and work together with others. But of course you can also do certain things on an individual level.

In Germany, it's highly encouraged that the first thing you do when moving into a place is changing the lock to your own – and to change it back before moving out. In the Netherlands, this is not very usual, but this is something you might want to consider if for any reason you really don't want the digital lock.

If you think your privacy is still violated, you can start a legal procedure. For more information, see the next chapter.

Legal procedures and existing jurisdiction

As far as we know, there has not been a legal procedure against digital locks in the Netherlands. We did find this legal procedure from Finland (see also this article on that Finnish legal procedure on Security.nl), where the Finnish Data Protection Supervisor ruled in favour of Dutch privacy-activist Michiel Jonker that started the legal procedure. Some points from that procedure: 1. The proposed system in Finland would violate the GDPR. 2. A landlord cannot consent to the processing of personal data on behalf of a tenant. 3. A given consent to process personal data must be revocable at any time. 4. The association of owners had wrongly failed to examine alternatives that do not infringe privacy or do so to a lesser extent. 5. No single digital lock can prevent burglary if the intruder is not entering the house with a key.