Should I Change the Locks When I Move Into a New House?
Yes, you should. Not because the people who sold you the house are dishonest, but because neither you nor they can tell you how many keys to your front door are out there. That is the whole of it. It is not a trust problem, it is a counting problem, and nobody has the number.
The neighbour with the cat key
I was in Harrow Weald a while back, fitting a decent lock on a garage side door for a couple who had moved in about six weeks earlier. Nice house, nice people, halfway through unpacking and still finding boxes they had no memory of packing.
While I was working, the neighbour came round to say hello properly, and she had something in her hand. A front door key. The previous owners had given it to her years ago so she could feed the cat when they were away, and she had only just remembered she still had it. She was slightly embarrassed. She had nothing to be embarrassed about. She was being straight with them, which is more than most people would bother with.
So that is one key accounted for. The couple had been given two by the estate agent. That made three, on a house they had been sleeping in for six weeks.
Then I asked the question I always ask, which is whether the previous owners had ever had a cleaner, a dog walker, builders in, or grown up children who had moved out. The answer was yes to at least two of those, and the wife’s face changed as she worked out what that meant.
That is the point of this post. Not the neighbour. The neighbour was the honest one. The point is the keys nobody remembers, held by people who have no reason to think about them, on a door that is now yours.
Nobody is required to hand you every key
Here is the bit that surprises people. Your solicitor transfers the property. Nothing in that process transfers the keys, counts them, or asks the seller to swear that the set they handed over is complete.
A seller is not being dishonest when they give you two keys and say that is all of them. They genuinely believe it. People lose track. Keys get cut for a lodger in 2014 and never come back, and by 2026 nobody remembers the lodger’s surname, let alone his key.
And if the house was rented out before you bought it, take the same thought and multiply it. Letting agents cut keys. Tenants cut keys. Contractors get given keys and post them back through the door, or do not.
So when somebody tells me they were given all the keys, my honest answer is that they were given all the keys anybody knows about. Those are two very different things.
How soon should you change the locks after moving in?
Ideally on day one, before the boxes come off the van. In practice, within the first month is fine, and the single most important thing is that it happens before the first time the house sits empty for more than a day.
I know day one is unrealistic for most people. Moving day is chaos, and a locksmith is not top of the list when the sofa will not go up the stairs. So here is the honest order of priority.
Do it before your first night away. A weekend at the in laws, a holiday, a work trip. An empty house is when an old key is worth something to somebody. Until then you are in it, and the risk is low.
Do it before you fit the expensive stuff. New telly, new laptop, the good bike in the garage. There is no sense in filling a house with things worth taking while the key situation is still an unknown.
Do it before you give keys out yourself. Once you have handed a set to a family member and cut a spare for the school run, changing the lock means recutting all of them. Cheaper to do it in the right order.
If you have already been in six months and none of that applies, do not panic and do not let anybody tell you the sky is falling. Get it done at a time that suits you. Just get it done.
You probably do not need to change every lock
This is where I part company with a fair few people in my trade, so let me show you rather than tell you.
Last week I quoted a family for four locks. I fitted two.
They had just moved into a house in Eastcote and wanted the place made properly theirs, which is exactly the right instinct. Four locks, quoted on the phone, price agreed, all straightforward. Then I turned up and had a proper look at what I was actually being asked to change.
Two of them were on a four panel bi-fold door at the back. The first and third sections had a lock and a handle on the inside face, and nothing whatsoever on the outside. No handle, no keyhole, nothing to put a key into.
So there is no key anywhere in the world that opens those two panels from the garden. Not the previous owner’s, not the builder’s, not one cut in 2009 for somebody nobody remembers now. Anything I fitted to them would have changed precisely nothing, apart from the invoice.
I said so, and the job halved. Two locks instead of four, on a price they had already agreed to pay.
This is the part worth sitting with. A lock seller changes all four. He does not have to lie to do it, or even say anything at all. He fits what was on the quote, hands over a set of shiny new keys, and the family are delighted, because how on earth would they know any different? Nothing has been stolen from them. They have simply paid twice what they needed to for a result they would have had anyway.
So when I walk into a house somebody has just bought, the question I am answering is which locks the outside world actually has keys to. Those are the ones that matter, and the rest can usually stay exactly where they are.
On a uPVC or composite door, the part your key operates is the euro cylinder, and that comes out and a new one goes in. You are not buying a new door mechanism, and you should not be sold one unless the mechanism itself has actually failed. If you want the detail on how those doors work, I have written about uPVC doors and windows separately. Worth doing it properly at the same time, because a cheap cylinder is the thing burglars snap, and if that is new to you, read what lock snapping is before you buy anything.
On a timber door with a mortice lock, have a look at the edge of the door before you assume it needs replacing. If it already carries the BS3621 stamp and the kitemark, the lock is a good one and the question is only whether the keys to it are accounted for. Here is what a BS3621 lock actually is and how to spot the mark. If it has no stamp at all, that is a different conversation, and one your insurer would be interested in.
Internal doors, bathroom and bedroom locks, do not need touching at all in this situation. Nobody outside the house has ever had a key to your bathroom. If you are not sure which of your locks is which, the guide to the types of door locks will sort that out in a few minutes.
So on a normal Harrow semi, this is usually a short list rather than a long one. Front door, back door, and then a proper look at everything else.
The ones people forget
Window locks. Almost every set of window locks in a house takes the same key, and that key has usually been in a kitchen drawer since 1998. If it is missing, or if there are three of them and you do not know why, that is worth sorting. I do window lock repairs and replacements regularly, and it is a small job.
The side gate. People spend properly on the front door and then leave a gate that opens with a shove, which puts a stranger in the back garden, out of sight of the street, with all the time in the world.
The garage, especially if it connects to the house. An internal door from garage to kitchen is an outside door in every way that matters, and it is very often the weakest lock on the property. Same goes for sheds and gates if there is anything in them worth having.
Any keys you found in the house. Drawer keys, keys on a hook, keys taped inside a cupboard. People treat those as a bonus. They are not a bonus. They are proof that more keys were cut than anybody has told you about.
And if you are renting
Do not change the locks. Ask first.
If you are a tenant, the locks are not yours to change without the landlord’s or the agent’s agreement, and doing it anyway can put you in breach of your tenancy and leave you paying to put it back. Ask, in writing, and most reasonable landlords will say yes, particularly if you offer to give them a key.
If you are the landlord and the last tenant has just handed the keys back, that is a different matter, and changing the cylinder between tenancies is one of the cheapest bits of protection you will ever buy.
Will your insurance care?
Some policies say something about it and most do not, so read your own rather than trusting a blog, mine included.
The part that actually bites is not a clause, it is a claim. If somebody lets themselves in with a key and walks out with your things, there is no broken glass, no damaged frame and no forced entry, and the first thing an insurer wants to understand is how they got in. That is a harder claim than one with a splintered doorframe attached to it.
While you are thinking about it, that is also the moment to check whether the locks you have got are the ones your policy asks for, because a lot of people find out the answer at the worst possible time. A security check covers the whole house rather than one door, and if you are having the locks done anyway it is the sensible time to do it.
What I would actually do in your position
Walk round the outside of the house and count the doors that lead in from the street or the garden. That is your list. Not the internal doors, not the cupboards, the ways in.
Then work out which of those you would be comfortable with a stranger having a key to. That is usually the front door and one other. Do those first, properly, and do the rest when it suits you. My rates are published if you want to know what a lock change costs before you ring anybody.
A lock seller wants the list to be as long as possible. I would rather you spent the money on two good locks than five cheap ones, because five cheap locks on a house is not five times the security, it is just five cheap locks. Fix the way in that matters, and you have fixed the problem. That is the whole job.
Common questions about changing the locks in a new house
Should I change the locks when I move into a new house?
Yes. Not because the previous owners are untrustworthy, but because nobody can tell you how many copies of the key exist. Estate agents, letting agents, cleaners, dog walkers, builders, family members and neighbours all end up with keys over the years, and no part of buying a house counts them or gets them back.
How soon should I change the locks after moving in?
Ideally in the first week, and certainly before the first time the house is left empty overnight. Moving day itself is rarely realistic. If you have already been in longer than that, there is no need to panic, just get it booked at a time that suits you.
Do I have to change every lock in the house?
Almost never. What matters is the doors the outside world has keys to, which usually means the front door and one other. Internal doors, bathroom locks and bedroom locks do not need touching, and neither do locks that can only be operated from inside. I have arrived to change four locks and fitted two, because two of them were on a bi-fold door with no handle and no keyhole on the outside at all. Anyone who quotes you for every lock in the house on day one is selling locks, not solving a problem.
Does the previous owner have to give me all the keys?
No. Conveyancing transfers the property, not the keys. There is no legal requirement for a seller to hand over every key that exists, no register of how many were cut, and usually no way for the seller to know either. Most sellers hand over everything they can find and believe that is all of them.
Can I change the locks myself?
On some doors, yes. Changing a euro cylinder on a uPVC door is one screw and the right measurement, and plenty of people manage it. The two things that go wrong are buying the wrong size, which leaves the cylinder sticking out and easy to snap, and buying a cheap cylinder with no attack rating. Measure it properly, and do not buy on price alone.
Can I change the locks in a rented property?
Not without asking. As a tenant you need the landlord’s or the agent’s permission first, and doing it anyway can breach your tenancy. Put the request in writing and offer them a key. As a landlord, changing the cylinder between tenancies is quick and worth doing every time.
Do I need to change the locks on a new build?
Usually not, if the handover was done properly. Many new builds use a system where the builder’s key stops working as soon as the homeowner key is first used. It is still worth checking that every door on the plot was included, because garages and back gates are the ones that get missed.
Will my insurance be affected if I do not change the locks when I move in?
Most policies do not require it, so read your own wording. The bigger issue is at claim time. A break-in with no damage and no forced entry raises the obvious question of how they got in, and that is a harder claim to make than one with a broken door attached to it.
Just moved in and not sure where to start?
Tell me what doors you have got and I will tell you which ones actually need doing and which ones are fine as they are. No charge for the conversation, and I would rather talk you out of work than sell you five locks you do not need.
Call Andrew: 073 7617 6366 Or contact me at: andrewthelocksmith.com/contact-andrew-the-locksmith