Partner Or Housemate Moved Out? Sorting The Keys
When a partner or housemate moves out, rekey the doors they had keys to. Whether you can do it depends on whose name is on the deed or lease, not on who moved out. If there is any safety concern, that changes the priority and there are people better placed than a locksmith to advise on the rest of it.
Most of these calls are undramatic. Somebody moved out, it ended reasonably, and the keys came back — but a spare was cut at some point and nobody remembers where it went.
Some of them are not undramatic, and those are handled differently. Both versions are below.
First: whose property is it?
This decides what you are allowed to do, and it catches people out.
| Situation | Can you rekey? |
|---|---|
| You own it, sole name on the deed | Yes |
| You rent it, sole name on the lease | Ask the landlord — usually fine |
| Both names on the deed | Not unilaterally — take advice |
| Both names on the lease | Not unilaterally — landlord and advice |
| Their name only | No |
Where both names are on a deed or lease, a locksmith is not the right first call. Both parties normally retain a legal right of access until that changes formally, and changing the locks can create a problem rather than solve one. That is a question for a lawyer, and worth an hour of one.
If you rent alone, changing locks after moving covers how to ask the landlord.
The straightforward version
Sole name, amicable split, keys mostly accounted for. Rekey the exterior cylinders and get them keyed alike while somebody is there. Fifteen to twenty-five minutes a door.
Do the doors they had access to, which is usually all of them, plus anything people forget:
- The garage-to-house door
- Shed, gate, and any padlocks
- Mailbox, if it takes a key
- Any lockbox or key safe — change the code, not just the key
- Smart lock codes and app access, which is the one people genuinely forget
That last one matters more each year. A rekeyed cylinder does nothing if the other person still has the app on their phone. Remove the user, do not just change your own PIN.
If you have any safety concern
Say so when you ring. It changes what gets prioritised, and it changes the order things happen in.
We will be straight about the limits here: a locksmith can change a cylinder. A locksmith cannot advise you on protective orders, tenancy rights in a domestic violence situation, or what to do about somebody who should not be turning up. Those are real questions with real answers and there are organisations whose entire job is helping with them.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, available at any hour. Louisiana has state and parish-level services too. Speaking to them first often changes what you should do about the locks, which is why it is worth doing in that order.
Rekey or replace here?
Rekey, in almost every case. The lock is fine — the key situation is not, and that is exactly what rekeying is for. Replacement only if the hardware is already worn out, and rekey vs replace locks covers how to tell.
One exception worth knowing: if you want to move from a Grade 3 builder deadbolt to something more substantial, this is a sensible moment to do it, since somebody is already at the door. Lock grades explained.
The thirty dollar thing, again
We’ll say the bit that costs us money: if you are worried about the door itself rather than the keys, three-inch screws through the strike into the wall stud plus a reinforcement plate does more than any cylinder change. Rekeying handles keys. Screws handle force. Different problems, and people often buy the wrong one.
Booking it
Tell us how many exterior doors and whether the property is in your name alone. If there is a safety element, say that too — it changes how we schedule it. Ranges are on the prices page, and the service detail is on rekey locks in Kenner.