There are plenty of reasons why you may need to have your locks changed. While you may have experienced many of these situations and not considered a change of locks, you may want to think again. You may leave yourself more vulnerable to criminals and thieves if you fail to get your locks changed for these reasons.
Employee Termination
Whether it’s your home or business- you may have had an employee leave. Whether it’s a keyholder at your business, or a babysitter, gardener or house cleaner for your home. You can’t be sure that this person didn’t make copies of your key in order to return to take advantage of your trust.
Lost Keys
Like losing your keys isn’t stressful enough, imagine someone else getting their hands on them and using them to gain entry to your private space. If you lose your keys, even if they are somehow returned to you- the best bet is to replace the locks.
House Remodel
If you’ve just had work done on your home and provided a key to the contractor, then it’s time to change your locks. It doesn’t matter how reputable or reliable you believe your contract is. You don’t know whether a copy was made for other employees or contractors that were working on your home. Once the renovations are complete- call the locksmith.
A New Home
This should be a no brainer, whenever you move into a new home you should always change the locks. You don’t know who had keys previous to you taking ownership of the home. There’s no guarantee that everyone who had a copy handed their copy in, or that they didn’t make a copy. It isn’t worth worrying about other people having a key to your home. One of the first calls you should make after your move, is to a reputable locksmith company. Without that, it doesn’t matter what high tech security system you install. Not to mention that moving vans are a blatant indication that a move is taking place.
Breakup or Divorce
When you go through a break up, changing the locks might be the last thing on your mind. Break ups are fraught with emotional distress and anger, and sadly many result in one spouse gaining entry to their former home to steal documents, possessions, or pets. It is a sad and unfortunate situation, but the safest bet is to call a locksmith and have the locks changed.
Break Ins
The best way to prevent a break-in is to have your locks changed after you do experience a break in. Whether someone broke into your home forcefully, or they had a spare key- it’s a necessary preventative step.
Tenant Change
If you’re a landlord, you know that keys exchange hands. Despite tenants being given strict rules about not making copies, they still do. So, while they may offer the agreed sets back- you don’t know what copies were made. As soon as your tenant moves out, protect the next tenant by changing the locks.