Learning Hub · Policies
Key Holding & Access Policy
What does this policy do?
This policy writes your key and access terms into section 15, Key Holding & Access, of the Dog Walking Agreement that a walking client signs from their Forms section. The same values are what Gaia quotes when someone asks about keys, and a change made while the policy is on is recorded as a revision your clients are told about. Beyond that it does nothing: it changes no booking, price or invoice, and it sets no deadline or reminder in the Keys register. You choose how you get into a client's home, describe how keys and alarm codes are kept, add a liability clause, and decide whether keys must be returned when the service ends and within how many days. While the policy is switched off, section 15 falls back to one line, that key holding and property access procedures will be communicated separately if applicable. On screen the section still ends with the signing sentence.
What you set, and the words it makes
Primary access method
Physical key, lockbox / key safe, entry code / keypad, or smart lock / app. On screen the section opens with it: "Primary access method: physical key." The PDF copy puts the heading Key Holding & Access Policy in front of that line.
Key storage details
Your own words on where keys and codes are kept, shown as "Key Storage: …". Left blank, the agreement on screen says nothing about storage; the PDF copy adds a standard line that keys are stored securely and labelled only with a reference code.
Alarm / security procedure
How alarm codes are handled, shown as "Alarm & Security: …" only when you fill it in.
Liability clause
Your limits for faulty locks, wrong codes and lockbox failures, shown as "Liability: …". Left blank, the agreement on screen says nothing; the PDF copy adds a standard line that the walker accepts no liability for access problems beyond their control.
Keys must be returned after service ends
On, the section says keys, fobs or access devices must be returned within your number of days of the service ending; a blank or 0 is saved as 7. Off, the sentence is left out. The policy row's one-line summary still reads "Return within 7d" with this switch off; the agreement follows the switch.
Additional notes
Added after the return sentence, word for word. On screen the signing sentence still comes after them.
Save, Update and the Active switch
Save & Activate, and the Update button after that, save the policy and switch it on, even if it was off. To switch it off, use the Active switch at the bottom of the editor; that saves on its own.
Where the words go
The client agreement
A walking client reads section 15 and signs. On screen the section ends: this policy constitutes part of the Dog Walking Agreement, and by signing, you accept these terms. The PDF's section 15 has no closing line. Once signed, the PDF is emailed once to the client and to your business email. Both the on-screen copy and the PDF read the policy as it stands when they are opened or built, so a signed agreement opened or downloaded later carries your wording of that day, not the day they signed.
A change tells your clients
Switch the policy on, or change its wording while it is on, and a revision is recorded on the Dog Walking Agreement. Every active client of the business gets an in-app notification, and the revision is listed under the signed agreement in their Forms section. The notification is titled with the agreement's id, dog-walking-agreement, and both it and the revision show the change in the policy's own summary wording, not section 15's exact words. No email goes out and nobody is asked to sign again.
Two changes tell nobody
Switching the policy off records no revision, though section 15 goes back to the fallback line. A change to Additional notes alone records none either, though the notes are in the agreement.
Your own agreement text
If you have edited the Dog Walking Agreement in Agreements and removed the {{dw_key_holding_policy}} placeholder, changes here record no revision. The client's agreement on screen and the PDF still build section 15 from this policy.
Gaia
When a client, a team member or you ask Gaia about keys, a lockbox, an alarm, a code or a fob, she answers with the values stored here. A switched-off policy she reports as switched off, not as your terms. With Branding, and Website assistant may answer policy questions switched on, the assistant on your website quotes the client wording too.
The Keys register is separate
Clients → Keys holds the actual keys: number, barcode, client and address, who holds it, its status (available, assigned, with staff, lost, returned), the alarm code and access instructions, with a hand-over log and a reminder you can send a team member. A team member picks up and returns keys from their own Keys section. Nothing there reads this policy: the return days are a promise in the contract, not a reminder.
Who sees it
The Dog Walking policies appear for Starter, Walker and Pro, and for a Sitter or Boarder with the Dog Walking add-on. Any signed-in member of the business can read the policy; only an admin can save it.
Tips
A business that signed up with dog walking starts with this policy switched on: physical key, return within 7 days, the other boxes blank. Read section 15 of your agreement once before the first client signs.
Adding the Dog Walking add-on later writes no key policy by itself; the add-on's setup wizard brings one over only if the platform's walking starter template has one switched on. Check this policy before walking clients sign.
Fill in Key storage details and the Liability clause yourself. Left blank, the PDF copy adds standard sentences the agreement on screen does not show, so the two copies read differently.
If you change the Additional notes, or switch the policy off, tell your clients yourself; the app records nothing for either.
Keep the alarm codes themselves in the Keys register, against each key. This policy is for how you handle them, not the codes.
Use the arrow on the policy row to open Agreements and preview the whole agreement.
Learning Hub • Key Holding & Access Policy