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A silver-colored deadbolt set in clear packaging with two keys resting on the countertop in front. — Lock Rekeying, Brantford

Change or rekey · Brantford

Lock Rekeying

Your basement tenant has given notice, and a new one arrives on the first. The lock on the separate entrance works perfectly well.

Call now · open 24/7(548) 900-9717

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In plain words

For landlords and tenants, rekeying is the tidy way to handle a change of occupancy. A departing tenant may have copied a key or simply forgotten to return one, and a fresh pinning means the incoming tenant is the only person holding a working key. Tenancy rules in this province expect a landlord who changes locks to give the tenant a replacement key and a tenant to have the landlord's consent before changing them, so a locksmith asks who is requesting the work and makes sure both sides end up with a key. A small record of the doors and key count keeps everyone clear.

Sound familiar?

The whole key ring went missing somewhere between the grocery store and the bus. You got back in with the spare, but a set of keys is out there, and you would sleep better knowing they open nothing.

How the visit goes

Lock Rekeying · Brantford

How the visit goes

Technician in a cap fitting a black mortise lock case into the edge of a wooden door beside an old knob plate.
  1. 1

    Doors that belong to someone else

    A few openings around a home are not the occupant's to change, and sorting them out early avoids awkwardness later. In a condominium, the lobby, the garage, the locker room and the mailroom are the corporation's doors, and the suite door itself may need to remain on a system the building can access in an emergency. In a rental, the landlord has a say and must be given a key. A shared side entrance in a semi-detached or a duplex serves two households. The locksmith asks about each of these, confirms who needs to agree, and keeps them separate from the doors that are plainly yours.

  2. 2

    Reassembly and the shear-line test

    On a pin-tumbler cylinder, the plug goes back into the housing with the new key in it, pushing the follower out ahead of it, and the cam or tailpiece is refitted with its retainer. Before the cylinder goes anywhere near the door, the locksmith turns the new key and checks that the plug rotates freely with no catch, then removes the key and confirms the plug is locked solid. A pin a fraction too long or too short shows up here as a rough turn and is corrected on the bench. Only a cylinder that passes goes back into its lock, where it is tested again with the door open and then closed.

  3. 3

    The old keys are just metal now

    Whatever was out in the world before today, the copy the contractor kept, the key the former roommate never returned, the ring that went missing on the bus, none of it turns a lock on your property any more. That is the whole point of the visit, and it is worth saying plainly because people sometimes keep worrying afterwards. If you still hold old keys, they can go in the metal recycling. There is no need to change the door hardware or your routine, but any keypad code known to someone whose access is ending should be deleted or changed separately, since rekeying the mechanical cylinder does not touch those codes.

In the van

  • Reset tool for user-rekeyable cylinders
  • Plug follower
  • Replacement cylinder for odd keyways
  • Graded bottom pin kit
  • Pinning tweezers and tray

What affects the quote

  1. 1

    Records, tags and labelled key sets

    A homeowner needs a short note. A property manager may want a keying chart, tagged sets for each suite and a key-issuance log, which is more office work and is quoted as such.

  2. 2

    One key group or several

    Keying every door alike is the simplest plan. Setting up separate keys for a basement suite, an office or a shed adds a group to pin and label, and the quote shows that as separate work.

  3. 3

    Mismatched keyways needing a cylinder swap

    Where one door's cylinder cannot take the key the other doors share, a compatible replacement cylinder is fitted and pinned to match, and that hardware appears as its own line in the quote.

Same fees day, night or weekend.

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(548) 900-9717

Lock Rekeying: questions

Advice · (548) 900-9717

Can the entry door of my condo suite be rekeyed?

Often, but check with your property management first. Condominium corporations have a right to enter a unit on reasonable notice, and without notice in an emergency, and many buildings ask that suite doors stay on a system the corporation can open or that a key be lodged with management. Lobby, garage and locker-room doors belong to the corporation and are theirs to manage. A locksmith will ask about your building's rule and work within it.

Should I rekey when I move into a new home?

It is the single most common reason to rekey, and a sensible one. A resale home has typically passed through owners, agents, inspectors, cleaners and trades, any of whom may have had a key cut. A newly built home has been opened by construction crews using a builder's key. Rekeying on move-in means the only working keys are yours, and the same visit can bring every exterior door onto a single key, retiring the assorted keys you inherited.

How long does a rekeying visit take?

It scales with the number of cylinders and how many need attention beyond pinning. A single deadbolt is a short bench job; a whole house with five or six exterior cylinders, a couple of swaps for mismatched keyways and a set of spares to cut and test takes a good deal longer. Tell the locksmith how many doors you want included when you book, and the visit can be planned realistically rather than guessed at.

Brant, Ontario

Brantford information

Town
Brantford, Brant, Ontario
In business
17 years
Hours
Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Visits
On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

What the census means at the door

63%

Older homes. About 63% of homes in Brantford were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.

Where housing is mostly older, many entries still have only a knob lock and no deadbolt at all. Adding one is a straightforward job on a solid wood door, and it is the single upgrade that changes most for a house of this kind.

61%

Mostly houses. Single-detached houses make up about 61% of homes in Brantford (2021 Census).

Detached houses collect hardware from every renovation. A locksmith visiting one often finds three keyways, two finishes and one door that never latched right. Sorting all of that into a consistent, working set is a satisfying afternoon's work.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population

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Open 24/7

Request a visit

Your basement tenant has given notice, and a new one arrives on the first.

Call now · open 24/7(548) 900-9717
  • On-site assessment preferred
  • Same fees day, night or weekend
  • 17 years in business