Residential Locksmith in Toronto

Find your situation below. If it isn't here, or you're not sure, call and describe the door. We'd rather tell you that a two-minute fix will do than sell you a new lock.

Rekey when the lock works fine and you only want the old keys to stop working. That's the usual move after buying a home or when a tenant leaves. Change the lock when it's broken, worn loose, was damaged in a break-in, or you want something different, like a heavier deadbolt or a keypad.

A quick way to decide: if you like the hardware, rekey it. If you don't, replace it. Our guide on rekeying vs replacing locks goes through the trade-offs in more detail.

Yes. Toronto has condo towers everywhere, from downtown and the waterfront to the long row of buildings along Yonge Street in North York, and we work on suite doors in all of them. If you're looking for a condo locksmith in North York, Etobicoke or Scarborough, it's the same service.

What matters in a condo is who controls what:

• Your suite door lock is usually yours to rekey, repair or upgrade, as long as you follow the building's rules.
• Lobby doors, elevators, garage gates and fobs belong to the condo corporation. Only the property manager can add, cancel or replace fobs. We can't copy or reprogram them.
• Mailbox locks are usually handled through management too. Ask the front desk before you call us.
• Suite entry doors in most towers are fire-rated and must close and latch on their own. Any new hardware has to keep that working.

Many condo rules also ask owners to give management a key or code for emergencies like a water leak. Check before you rekey so you don't end up with a door the building can't open.

Under Ontario's rental rules, a tenant shouldn't change or add a lock on their unit without the landlord's consent. A landlord who changes the locks during a tenancy has to give the tenant a new key. So in a rental, both sides need to be on the same page before anything changes.

For landlords, the clean way to handle a changeover is to rekey after the old tenant hands back the keys and before the new one moves in. For tenants, get the landlord's okay in writing first. A text or email is fine.

If you're locked out of a rental, we'll ask for ID with the address, or a copy of your lease, before we open the door. That protects you as much as anyone.

It depends on the job, so we don't post one flat price. There's no call-out fee, and we confirm the price with you before any work starts. If anything changes once we see the door, you hear about it first.

What moves the price:

• How many locks or cylinders are involved
• Whether you're rekeying existing hardware or buying new
• The type of lock: a standard Kwikset deadbolt is a different job from a high-security Medeco or Mul-T-Lock cylinder
• Drilling a new door or fixing a damaged frame
• Time of day, since late-night calls can cost more

Be careful with ads that promise a very low price on the phone and then charge much more at the door. Our guide on avoiding locksmith scams in Toronto shows what to look out for.

The whole City of Toronto: Downtown, Midtown, West Toronto, York, East York, North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke. Toronto's housing changes a lot from one area to the next, and so do the locks:

• Older semi-detached and row houses in the west end and East York often still have original wood doors, and some have old mortise locks worth repairing rather than replacing.
• Post-war bungalows in Scarborough, Etobicoke and North York usually have a side door and a basement entrance as well as the front door.
• Condo towers have fire-rated suite doors and building-controlled fob systems.

See all neighbourhoods on our service areas page. We don't cover cities outside Toronto, like Mississauga, Vaughan or Markham.