Lock Rekeying in Toronto

Inside most house locks is a row of small pins of different lengths. Your key lifts them to exactly the right height so the cylinder can turn. When we rekey, we take the cylinder out, replace those pins with a new set, and cut keys to match. The lock looks and works the same. Only the key changes.

It works on almost every standard pin-tumbler lock in Toronto homes, including Schlage, Kwikset, Weiser and Yale deadbolts, knobs and handlesets. Kwikset SmartKey locks rekey differently, but we handle those too.

High-security cylinders like Medeco, Mul-T-Lock or Abloy use restricted keys. Rekeying them can need the original key card or the dealer who set up the system. Tell us the brand when you call and we'll say if it's something we can do.

Yes. You have no way of knowing who still has a key. Previous owners, their family, a dog walker, a contractor, a neighbour who watered the plants, or a key that sat in a realtor's lockbox for weeks. Rekeying costs less than new locks and closes all of that off on day one.

Don't forget the doors people miss:

• Side and back doors
• The door from the garage into the house
• A separate basement apartment entrance
• The shed or garage side door

In a condo, we rekey your suite door. Your fob, mailbox key and any storage locker key run through management, so ask the property manager about those.

If your locks work well and you like them, rekeying is the cheaper way to cut off old keys. Replace them when the hardware itself is the problem.

Our guide on rekeying vs replacing locks covers the edge cases. If you decide on new hardware, see lock change.

Rekey after the old tenant hands back the keys and before the new one moves in. You can't know how many copies were made during the tenancy, and the new tenant should get the only working keys. Under Ontario's rental rules, a landlord who changes the locks during a tenancy has to give the tenant a new key, so plan any mid-tenancy change carefully.

For houses split into units, think in layers: one key for the shared front door, a different key for each unit, and maybe a key for the landlord that opens everything. That's a small master key setup. Our property manager page explains how we handle multi-unit buildings.

It depends on whether someone could match the keys to your door:

• Rekey right away if the keys were with your ID, mail, a tagged key ring, or in a stolen bag or car. Anyone holding them could find your address.
• Probably fine without if a single key fell into a snowbank or the lake and nothing linked it to your home. Getting a spare cut may be enough.
• Check lost and found first if you lost them on the TTC or in a store. Keys often turn up within a few days.

If you're locked out because of the lost keys, we can open the door and rekey in the same visit.