What To Do With Old Locks When Moving Into a New Home?

Are you moving to a new home? This is a very exciting time! While there are many things on your “to do” list, you shouldn’t forget to change the locks to your new home, or at least rekey them, as you never know who else might have a set of keys to your new home.  There could be previous tenants, landlords, real estate agents or contractors who worked on the property and still have keys to the house. The safe thing to do is to make sure that you are the only one who has a copy of your keys. That’s why I recommend to replace or rekey all property locks.

I asked a professional locksmith about the difference between changing locks and rekeying, which is more secure, what is the difference in cost, and when to choose which option. Here was his reply:

In general, it really depends on your goal and budget. The advantage of rekeying is that you don’t need to buy new hardware and can save a lot of money. Rekeying means to change the configuration of your locks, so the old keys won’t work anymore and then we provide a new set of keys. We can also do the same configuration for other doors in the property so you end up with one key that can unlock multiple doors. However, if you would like to increase the level of security to your house, then you might consider replacing your locks. New and advanced technologies offer stronger locks and in some cases, you’re better off investing a few hundreds dollars more, and get solid locks to your property that will last a long time.

In both of these options, it’s worth consulting with a locksmith about upgrading your home’s security. In many cases however, changing the locks to the entire property is not necessary so don’t take everything you hear for granted and use your own common sense before making a decision. Professional locksmiths are able to provide locks and security systems to suit all budgets and offer a full rekeying service to customers who want peace of mind when relocating to new properties. Also, if you do consider to change your locks, I recommend asking the locksmith to use Medeco or Mul-t-locks brand products. These two manufacturers are considered security leaders when it come to locks.