Lost your house keys?

Should you change the locks?

Change the locks today if:

• The keys were lost with anything showing your address — a wallet, a bag, post, a parcel, a delivery note, a car registration document
• They were lost with a phone that has your home address saved, or a keyring with a fob or tag
• They were stolen rather than mislaid
• They went missing at or near your home, or in a place you visit regularly
• A former tenant, housemate, ex-partner, builder or cleaner may still hold a copy
• You have just moved in and do not know who else has a key
• There has been a burglary, an attempted break-in, or anything that felt wrong

You can reasonably wait if:

• The keys were lost somewhere unconnected to your address with nothing identifying on them
• They were lost abroad or well away from home
• You are confident they went into a bin, a river, or somewhere nobody is recovering them

If you are genuinely unsure, change them. The cost of a cylinder is small compared to the cost of being wrong, and most home insurance policies will not pay out for a theft with no sign of forced entry.

What to do right now

1. Retrace the obvious places — coat pockets, the car, yesterday's bag, the door of the house you visited. Most lost keys are found within an hour.
2. Check whether anything identifying was attached. This is the single question that decides everything else.
3. If anything was, treat it as urgent and arrange a lock change rather than a key cut.
4. Report it if the keys were stolen, or lost with a wallet or phone. A crime reference number is often required by insurers.
5. Tell your landlord or letting agent if you rent. Most tenancies require it, and many make the tenant responsible for the cost.
6. Check your home insurance. A number of policies include lost-key cover that pays for the lock change. It is worth two minutes to find out before you pay.
7. Get back in first if you are also locked out — see locked out of your house.

What it costs

You usually do not need a whole new lock. On most modern doors, only the euro cylinder — the barrel the key goes into — is changed, and the rest of the mechanism stays. That is from £120, including new keys.

Call-out and labour at the applicable rate on top; all rates are on the pricing page. If you have several doors, changing them together is cheaper than booking separately, and they can usually be keyed alike so one key works all of them.

Worth doing at the same time

A lock change is the natural moment to upgrade, because the labour is already being paid for:

• Anti-snap cylinders. Lock snapping is the most common method of forced entry through a uPVC door in the UK. A standard cylinder offers very little resistance to it; a 3-star rated anti-snap cylinder is designed specifically to defeat it, and the price difference is modest.
• British Standard locks. Many home insurance policies require a BS3621 five-lever mortice deadlock on timber final-exit doors. Check your policy wording — people discover this at the point of a claim far too often.
• Keyed-alike cylinders, so the front, back and garage door share one key.
• Window locks, from £92, if they are missing or broken.

Common questions

Should I change the locks if I lost my keys?

If anything attached to or lost alongside the keys could identify your address, yes, the same day. If the keys were lost somewhere unconnected with nothing identifying on them, the risk is much lower and it is a judgement call. When in doubt, change them — a cylinder costs far less than a break-in, and insurers rarely pay out where there is no sign of forced entry.

Do I need to replace the whole lock, or just the barrel?

On most modern uPVC, composite and aluminium doors, only the euro cylinder is replaced. The multipoint mechanism, handles and hinges all stay. On a timber door with a mortice lock, the whole lock case is usually replaced.

Will my home insurance pay for a lock change?

Many policies include lost-key cover, and some include it as standard without the policyholder knowing. Check your policy documents or call the insurer before paying. If the keys were stolen, you will probably need a crime reference number.

I have just moved house — should I change the locks?

Yes, as a matter of routine. You have no way of knowing how many keys exist or who holds them — previous owners, their family, builders, cleaners, estate agents. It is the one predictable, non-urgent lock job, and it costs the least because it can be booked at daytime rates.

Can you make all my doors use the same key?

Yes. Cylinders can be supplied keyed alike so one key opens the front, back and garage doors. It is simpler to live with and costs little more than separate cylinders when done at the same visit.

Lost your house keys — help across Lancashire

• lost house keys in Preston
• lost house keys in Chorley
• lost house keys in Leyland
• lost house keys in Blackburn
• lost house keys in Accrington
• lost house keys in Burnley
• lost house keys in Blackpool
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• lost house keys in Darwen
• lost house keys in Fleetwood
• lost house keys in Lytham St Annes
• lost house keys in Morecambe
• lost house keys in Nelson
• lost house keys in Ormskirk

Related help

• Lock replacement
• Mortice locks and deadlocks
• Snapped key extraction
• Emergency locksmith
• Locked out of your home? Don't panic

Locked out of your house · Locked out at night · Key snapped in the lock · uPVC door won't lock