When you buy a home you have no idea how many keys exist or who holds them: previous owners, relatives, cleaners, tradespeople, estate agents. Changing the locks, or at least the cylinders, on day one is the only way to know for certain that you control access. It is quick, affordable, and a good moment to upgrade security at the same time.
Moving day is chaos, and "change the locks" rarely makes the top of the list. But it should, because the day you get the keys is the one day you genuinely do not know who else can get in.
The keys you cannot account for
The previous owner hands over a set of keys, but those are just the ones they remembered. Over years of living there, keys get cut and handed out to:
- Family members, neighbours and friends holding a "spare"
- Cleaners, dog walkers and babysitters
- Tradespeople who were given a key for access
- Estate agents and previous tenants
None of those people are necessarily a threat, but you have no way to know how many keys are out there, and no way to get them all back. The only way to be certain is to change what the keys fit.
You usually do not need whole new locks
This is where people overspend. On most modern doors, the security is in the cylinder, the part the key turns, not the whole handle assembly or the door furniture. A locksmith can simply replace the cylinders, which is faster and cheaper than swapping complete locks, and instantly makes every old key useless.
Changing the cylinder is the moving-in equivalent of changing your passwords. Cheap, quick, and it draws a clean line under everyone who had access before you.
Do it once, do it right
Because you are changing the cylinders anyway, it costs little extra to upgrade to high-security anti-snap cylinders at the same time, rather than fitting like-for-like and paying again later. You can also have the new cylinders keyed alike, so one key opens the front and back doors, which is a small luxury that makes daily life easier.
Which doors to prioritise
Do every external door, but start with the ones a stranger could try unseen: the back door, side gate door and any door not overlooked by the street. Burglars prefer the doors they can work on without an audience, which are often the ones owners think about last. For the full service, see lock changes.
Doctor Locks changes locks for new homeowners across the West Midlands, including Halesowen, Solihull and Bromsgrove, usually on the same day.
Need a locksmith now?
Doctor Locks aims to reach you within the hour across Birmingham and the West Midlands. Read more about Lock Changes.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need to change the locks when I move in?+
It is strongly recommended. You cannot know how many keys exist or who holds them, and changing the cylinders is the only way to be certain you control access from day one.
Is it cheaper to change the cylinder or the whole lock?+
On most modern doors, changing just the cylinder is cheaper and quicker than replacing the entire lock, and it achieves the same thing: every old key stops working.
Can one key work for all my doors?+
Yes. We can supply keyed-alike cylinders so a single key operates your front and back doors, which is convenient without reducing security.
Jason has been a locksmith since 1999 and runs Doctor Locks personally, attending jobs across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. Every article here is written from real work on real doors, not theory.
