Rekeying Locks -It's All
About Safety and Security
Do you know who has keys to your home or business? What I mean is are you 100% sure you know where all the keys to your property are and that they are in trusted hands? A burglary that occurs with an unauthorized key shows no signs of a break-in which would raise the suspicion of whoever insures that property. Especially if the loss is significant. Why take the risk if you aren't sure all the keys to your home or business are accounted for. Some reasons for lock rekeying are obvious...
When Moving Into An Existing Home (or Office Space): You can't be sure you are getting all of your home's keys at the closing. One of my customers found that out shortly after moving in when a neighbor lady greeted her with "Na, na na na, na, I've got a key to your house". Not waiting to find out if other neighbors also had her home's keys, she called me and we took care of the problem quickly. She played it safe and so should you to protect your investment.
When Moving Into A Newly Constructed Home: You don't know if the builder or one of the workmen kept a key in case of a callback. Especially important if the builder has/is building other homes in the area. Here's why. It is common for builders of a development to have one or more locks on each home operate with a common key for the convenience of the workmen. Referred to as a Construction Master Key, this "magic" key can be made inoperative with a Construction Breakout Key once the workmen are done. But only if the builder remembers to do this. I have run into all sorts of nasty Master Pins when rekeying locks in new home developments. Better safe (by rekeying all locks) than sorry.
When One Or More "Key" Employees Are Terminated: If you are the terminator in situations like this, you will want to schedule a locksmith to arrive before the terminated party can do harm. One of my customers who owned a good size Heating and Air Conditioning company had a male employee get caught messing with a 13 year old girl. The customer called me prior to the employee being released from jail. This unhappy employee could have done significant damage after hours to the large inventory by not having the locks rekeyed in a timely fashion.
When Hidden Keys Go Missing: It is surprising how many people think it's a good idea to hide a spare key under the mat or flower pot, above the door, in fake dog poo or fake rock, etc. When one goes missing an important decision has to be made - rekey the locks or hope that nothing bad will happen. A customer called when their young son came home from school to retrieve the key hidden above a light by the garage service door. It was gone, nowhere to be found. They had the good sense to eliminate the risk by having me rekey their locks and purchased a combination lock box for the outside of their house.
Somewhat related was the case where a teenager had an after-school activity in the gym, leaving his/her jacket on a bleacher bench. When the activity was done, the jacket was still there but the keys which should have been in a pocket were missing - not to be found anywhere. Whether the keys fell out of a pocket or were carelessly left on top of or beside the jacket was not disclosed. Rather than wait to see if the keys were turned in later, the concerned parents called me to rekey the home's locks. If the keys had been returned a day or two later, there would have been no assurance that a duplicate set hadn't been made. Smart parents.
What about maintaining tight key control when a key has been loaned out. Maybe to a cleaning lady, a a repair person, an occasional house sitter, a regular delivery man (e.g. monthly water softener salt), etc. For those customers of mine somewhat uneasy with this arrangement, I would provide the following solution:
If you are faced with the same dilemma and have not invested in one of the many touchpad locks on the market (which allow temporary codes to be added/deleted) this may a good solution for you also.
I hope you found this article useful, stressing the importance of maintaining strict key control through the use of lock rekeying when events warrant it. Either by reinforcing what you already knew or providing you with a few more situations that you may not have thought of.
Disclaimer: I have made every reasonable effort to
produce an article on the importance of rekeying locks based on
my experiences. However, I make no representation or warranties
of any kind with regard to its completeness or suitability for
any specific situation or purpose. See our Warranty Policy for
more info.