# Removing Stake Locks

### What are stake locks?

When a stake is used to [Create a Proposal](/clarity-v1/participating-in-a-dao/creating-a-proposal.md) or [Vote on a Proposal](/clarity-v1/participating-in-a-dao/voting-on-a-proposal.md), a 'create' or 'vote' lock is respectively placed on that stake. A stake lock serves to prevent users from adding to or withdrawing from a stake while it is active. This ensures that while a stake is being used to vote on a proposal, the power that stake represents is fixed.

### What if I want to add or remove funds to my stake?

No problem! You'll just need to remove your stake locks first. This is very simple to do.

### Removing Stake Locks

**Step 0: Navigate to the staking page of your DAO.**

**Step 1: Check if you have any locks on your stake. Your stake will either be Locked or Free.**

<figure><img src="/files/Zwvaiwa8i0PucPE0hx7u" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Step 2: If your stake is locked, click 'View' on your stake**

<figure><img src="/files/TAyXtRjGXAs16BeOt9lP" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Step 3: Click Remove Locks.**&#x20;

<figure><img src="/files/6cQSyvftoEXUqDonbcrJ" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

You'll need to remove locks for every Proposal this stake has a lock for.

#### Removing a Vote Lock

Removing a vote lock can be done at any time, it will just retract any votes on Proposals that are actively voting.

#### Removing a Create Lock

Removing a create lock can be done once the Proposal has reached its Finished state.


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