When you move to a new home, the second most important thing after signing the papers is to have new locks installed. If you don’t have the budget for new locks, you can also consider getting them rekeyed.
In this article, we will see the reasons why.
Someone lived here before you
This may be your new apartment but you are not its first occupant and won’t be its last. Who is to say that the former resident gave up all keys at the time of surrendering the apartment? Can you really feel safe knowing that someone else may have access to your home? This is why it is advisable to get the locks changed or rekeyed for your own safety.
Don’t think you are being paranoid because even if the previous tenant returned the key, you don’t really know if they made any copies of it. The only way of having full control over your own security is to think ahead and get new locks installed/rekeyed. However, before you do anything with your locks, just make sure to abides by the terms of your lease.
If you are the landlord
Viewing this from the landlord’s perspective, it is always a good idea to insert the clause about lock change in the lease. You can define the guidelines and situations under which you can change the locks. According to a professional Locksmith in Broken Arrow, some of those scenarios include abandonment or an unpleasant/defiant tenant.
- Abandonment happens when a tenant pays the full rent till the end of the month but leaves the apartment before the month is over. He may also fail to return the keys to the landlord and may have also changed the locks during their stay. The landlord, in this case, may not have the new set of keys that they can use to access the property or give it to the new tenants. In this case, the landlord can notify the existing tenant that they will be changing the locks at the tenant’s expense or wait until the lease has expired. If the lease is yet to be expired, the landlord cannot tamper with the locks without the tenant’s knowledge, even if they have abandoned the apartment.
- In case of a defiant or an unpleasant tenant who has broken the terms of the lease by not paying his rent and also destroyed the property, the landlord is allowed to change the locks to keep the tenant out. However, this is not legal unless you file the eviction notice and go through proper procedure of evicting the tenant before tampering with the locks.
If the landlord allows the tenant to change their own locks, it is important for the lease to state that, ensuring that the tenant gives a key to the landlord so that they can access the apartment when necessary.