No joke an army of squirrels trained to do this would probably prevent a lot of blackouts in heavy snows

Because this was 8 years ago and I didn't know about tenancy authorities

What makes you think that you shouldn't read and abide by your lease. Obviously this is dependent on being able to do so.

You are better than 99% of the maintenance managers I've encountered. I always made sure that I abided by the contract I signed, which (in my case) always stipulated that you may change the locks but you must give notice and provide (usually two) keys to the management.

In my state, by law a landlord must give at least 12 hours notice to tenants before making a non-emergency entry, but multiple times I came home to muddy boot prints on my floor (one time it was paint, which was fun). No notice was given, and no note was left explaining the reason for entry.

It's good that you have high standards and trust yourself to stick to them, but even if I'm your tenant, I don't know you from Adam and I would rather trust myself to give you a key that is impossible for you to copy. No offense, but you're not looking at this from the perspective of a tenant.

Some people don't have a choice of where they can live, and sometimes management changes during your contract period. Control what you can.