MOVING HOUSE • NEW KEYS
Should you change the locks when you move house?
Yes, on the doors that matter, and it is cheaper than most people expect. You have no way of knowing how many keys exist or who holds them: previous owners, tenants, cleaners, builders, estate agents and neighbours. Changing the cylinder rather than the whole lock starts at £120 and keeps the existing door hardware.
Who might still have a key
Nobody hands over every key, because nobody knows where they all are. In a typical house that has changed hands two or three times, keys have plausibly gone to the previous owners and theirs, a relative who watered the plants, a cleaner, a dog walker, a builder or decorator who kept one during works, the estate agent, and at least one neighbour.
None of that implies bad intent. It simply means the honest answer to "who can open my front door?" is that you do not know, and the only way to know is to change the lock.
The same applies, more strongly, to a rental between tenancies.
Which doors actually need it
Not all of them, and this is where the cost comes down.
Final-exit doors first. The front door and whichever back or side door is in normal use. These are the ones that keys exist for.
Then anything giving access to the rest. A garage with an internal door into the house is effectively a second front door. A side gate that lets someone reach the back unseen matters more than most people think.
Windows and outbuildings are a different question. Worth checking that they lock at all, but keys held by a previous owner are rarely the issue there.
Leave the rest. An internal door or a shed at the end of the garden is not where the risk is, and you can come back to it.
What it costs
| Work | From |
|---|---|
| Euro cylinder replacement, uPVC or composite door | £120 |
| Mortice lock or deadlock, timber door | £156 |
| Window lock or handle | £92 |
| Garage or shed lock | £120 |
Those are from-prices including VAT, with call-out and labour charged separately. Booked as planned daytime work rather than an emergency, this is one of the cheaper things on a moving-in list.
Two front-door cylinders keyed alike, so one key covers front and back, is the usual sensible setup and costs little more than two separate ones.
Do it before you move in, if you can
The practical window is the day you get the keys, before the furniture arrives. The house is empty, access is easy, and it is daytime work. Trying to arrange it in the week after moving in, around boxes and a van, is how it ends up not happening.
Worth doing in the same visit, since someone is already there:
- Check every window actually locks, and that you have the handle keys
- Check the back door bolts throw fully rather than part way
- Check whether the front cylinder projects beyond the handle, and change it for anti-snap if so
- Check the side gate
- Decide where the spare lives, and who holds it
Renting rather than buying?
The lock belongs to the landlord, so it is their decision and their cost, not something a tenant should arrange alone. It is entirely reasonable to ask: a responsible landlord changes cylinders between tenancies anyway, because they have the same problem with the outgoing tenant's keys that you have with the previous owner's.
If a landlord declines, ask in writing and keep the reply. If keys have actually been lost or stolen rather than merely unaccounted for, that is a different conversation and a more urgent one.
Common questions
Do I have to change the locks when I move house?
There is no legal requirement and no insurance condition in most policies. It is a judgement about who might hold a key, and since you cannot know, most people conclude it is worth the cost on the doors in normal use.
Is it cheaper to change the barrel or the whole lock?
The barrel, substantially, and it is usually all that is needed. A euro cylinder replacement from £120 gives you new keys and keeps the existing handles and mechanism. Replacing the whole mechanism is only necessary if it has actually failed.
Can I just have the locks rekeyed?
Some lock types can be rekeyed so existing keys stop working, and for a standard euro cylinder it is rarely cheaper than fitting a new one. Ask when you call and describe the lock.
Should a landlord change the locks between tenants?
It is good practice and many do, for the same reason a buyer does: the outgoing tenant's keys cannot be accounted for. It is the landlord's decision, but it is a fair thing for an incoming tenant to ask about.
What if I lose my keys after I have moved in?
That depends on whether they could be linked to your address. Our page on lost house keys sets out when a lock change is genuinely needed and when it is not.
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