What does lock rekeying actually do?
Rekeying changes the inside of a lock so that it works with a different key. The lock stays on your door. The deadbolt, the knob, the handle set and the finish all stay put. What changes is the set of small pins in the cylinder, which are cut to match one specific key. We swap those pins for a new combination, cut new keys to match, and from that moment every old key is just a piece of brass that no longer turns anything.
That is the whole idea, and it is why rekeying is the right answer to a very common question: someone else may have a key to my house, so how do I deal with that without paying to replace every lock? If the hardware is sound and you only need to cut off old access, rekeying is usually the more economical route compared with buying and fitting new locks.
People also search for this as house rekey, home lock rekey or rekey door locks. It is all the same job. We can rekey every lock on a property so that one key runs the front door, back door, garage side door and anything else you want, which is what most people mean by wanting to rekey all house locks.
When should you rekey your locks?
You cannot see who holds a copy of your key. Over the years a front door key goes to cleaners, relatives, contractors, dog walkers, previous owners and tenants. Rekeying is how you reset that list to the people you actually intend. The situations we see most often are these:
- Rekey locks after moving in or after buying a house: you do not know how many copies the previous owner, their agent, a contractor or a neighbor made over the years.
- Rekey locks after a tenant moves out: the next tenant should be the only person with access, and a rekey between tenants is the clean way to make sure of that.
- Rekey locks after losing keys: if the keys were lost with an address attached, or went missing somewhere you cannot trace, changing the lock closes the question.
- After a breakup, a falling out with a roommate, or a former employee leaving with keys.
- After a break-in or attempted break-in where keys, a garage opener or a wallet were taken.
- When you are tired of carrying five different keys and want every door on one key.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366How do we rekey your locks, step by step?
A rekey is a hands-on job, and the order matters. Here is how it goes when we come out to a house or apartment:
- You call (213) 577-1366 and tell us what you have: how many doors, whether there are deadbolts in addition to knobs, and whether you are locked out or just planning ahead. A person answers, at any hour, any day.
- A technician from our mobile service arrives and looks at the locks first. We check the brand, the condition and whether the cylinders can be rekeyed cleanly.
- We take each cylinder out of its lock, open it up and remove the old pins. We then fit a new pin combination and cut keys that match it.
- Each lock goes back on the door and is tested with the new key several times, in both directions, with the door open and closed. A lock that feels stiff or catches gets looked at before we leave.
- We confirm that the old keys no longer work. This is the part that matters, so we test it rather than assume it.
- You get the new keys. If you want more copies, we can cut them. See our page on key duplication for the options, including restricted keys that cannot be copied at a hardware store.
Should you rekey or replace the lock?
Rekeying is not always the right call, and we will tell you when it is not. The question is not about keys but about the condition of the hardware.
Rekey when the lock is working properly, the finish and the style are fine, and your only concern is who has a key. Replace when the lock is worn, loose, sticking, damaged by a forced entry attempt, or built so cheaply that it will not hold up. Also replace when you want a different grade of security, such as a higher-rated deadbolt, a different style, or an electronic lock.
Older locks can be a special case. A cylinder that has been in service for decades may have worn internals, and some very old or discontinued models do not have easy parts for a clean rekey. We look at each one. If a lock can be rekeyed well, we rekey it. If it cannot, we explain why and show you the alternatives, such as lock replacement or a full change of locks at the doors that need it, while still rekeying the ones that are fine.
How much does lock rekeying cost in Ladera Heights?
We do not quote numbers on a web page, because the real price depends on your actual doors. What we can do is tell you exactly what moves the cost up or down, so that the number you hear on the phone makes sense.
Here is what affects the cost of a rekey:
- How many cylinders: a single deadbolt is a smaller job than a whole house with knobs, deadbolts, a garage side door and a gate lock.
- Brand and condition: common residential brands are usually straightforward, while older, worn or unusual locks may take more time or may not rekey well at all.
- Whether you want everything keyed alike: putting every lock on one key is a normal request, but it takes planning when the locks are from different makers.
- Number of keys: more copies means more cutting. Restricted or high-security key blanks cost more than standard ones.
- Hours and timing: a scheduled daytime rekey is different from an urgent late-night call.
- Travel: our storefront is on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, and Ladera Heights is roughly 10 miles away, so distance is a small factor.
- Whether a lockout is involved: if you are locked out and need a door opened first, that is a separate piece of work. See our house lockout page.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366Rekeying homes in Ladera Heights: mid-century locksets, view lots and the Fox Hills edge
Ladera Heights is mostly single-family homes, built out mainly in the 1940s through the 1960s. You find mid-century ranch houses, traditional homes and newer contemporary builds on well-kept lots. That mix is why rekeying works so well here. Many homes in the 90056 ZIP code still carry original-era locksets, and the hardware often looks too good to throw away. If you have a mid-century ranch in Upper Ladera Heights or Lower Ladera Heights with its original front door set, rekeying keeps the look and changes the access. When you buy a house like that, you inherit decades of unknown key history, so rekeying all the locks right after closing is a very sound habit.
The catch with original-era hardware is condition. A lock that has turned every day for sixty years may still be rekeyed cleanly, or it may be too worn. We open it, look, and tell you honestly which it is. If a lock can be saved, it is usually the better choice for a house with period character. If it cannot, we can replace just that lock and match the rest to one key.
Single-family lots here also tend to have more than one entry point. There is the front door, a back or patio door, the garage side door, sometimes a side gate. Rekeying them all to one key is the point of a whole-house job, and it saves you the ring of mismatched keys. Gate hardware has its own quirks, and if the gate lock itself is failing rather than just needing new keys, our gate lock repair page covers that.
Closer to the Fox Hills border, some condominium and townhome stock changes the picture. Those units often have fewer doors but more turnover, and an owner or renter who has just moved in has the same concern: who else has a key? A rekey answers it. If you are also thinking about keyless entry, such as for one of the view homes above Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, we can rekey the existing deadbolts you plan to keep and talk about smart lock installation for the front door. People often do both: an electronic lock on the main door and rekeyed mechanical locks on the others.
On climate, the elevated ground near the Baldwin Hills brings steady breezes and some marine-layer mornings, but the weather is mild and its effect on door hardware is modest. Most lock problems in Ladera Heights come from age and use, not from weather. That is one more reason rekeying older hardware is often practical here.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366Tenant turnover and apartment lock rekey
If you own a rental near Ladera Heights, whether it is a house or a condo or townhome near Fox Hills, rekeying between tenants is basic housekeeping. A tenant who has moved out may have made copies, handed keys to friends, or simply lost track of them. A rekey after a tenant moves out means the new tenant has the only working key on day one, and you can show that you took reasonable care of the lock.
For an apartment lock rekey, the job is usually small: one entry deadbolt, maybe a knob, maybe a patio door. For a landlord with several units, the savings come from scheduling. We can do a group of units in one visit instead of several separate calls, and we can key them in whatever pattern you need. If you want a master key so you and a manager can access every unit while tenants get only their own, that is a different setup, and our master key system page explains it.
We also work directly with property owners and managers. If you handle turnover regularly, see our page for landlords for how that works.
Commercial and business lock rekey
Businesses need rekeying for the same reasons homes do, with higher stakes. An employee leaves, a manager changes, a key goes missing, or you take over a space and have no idea who holds keys. A commercial rekey changes the cylinders on your doors without replacing the door hardware.
Along the La Cienega Boulevard and Slauson Avenue commercial corridor and around Ladera Center, small businesses often have a front door, a back door and perhaps a storage or office door. Each can be rekeyed, and we can arrange them on a master key system so the owner has one key to everything while staff carry keys only to the doors they need.
For a business lock rekey, tell us how many doors you have, what kind of hardware is on them, and who currently holds keys. Commercial hardware is a different category from residential, and a rekey works on many standard commercial cylinders. When a door needs more than a rekey, such as a panic device or a failing closer, we will say so and quote that work separately.
Why call Wilshire Lock & Key for a rekey?
We have been in business since 1987, and we serve 140 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, including Ladera Heights. We run from a real storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, with mobile service vans that come to you. When you call, you reach our company, not a call center that sells your job to whoever picks it up. There is no dispatch middleman between you and the person at your door.
David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work. That matters for a rekey, because it is a job where small mistakes show up later as a stiff key or a lock that fails in the cold of a Tuesday morning.
One more point, and it applies to every locksmith you consider: California requires locksmith companies to hold a license from the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, called a BSIS LCO license. Ask any locksmith for it before they touch your door, and ask us as well. A real company will not mind being asked.
Call (213) 577-1366 any time of day or night. If you are not sure whether you need a rekey, a new lock or something else, tell us what happened and we will help you decide, even if the answer turns out to be that you do not need us.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between rekeying and changing the locks?
Rekeying changes the pins inside the lock you already have, so it takes a new key and the old key stops working. Changing the lock means removing it and putting in a different lock. If your hardware is in good shape, rekeying gets you the same security result for less work and usually less cost.
Can you rekey all the locks in my house to one key?
Yes. Rekeying every lock to a single key is one of the most common requests. It works best when the locks are from compatible brands, and when one is not, we can swap just that lock so the whole house ends up on one key.
Do I need to rekey after buying a house in Ladera Heights?
We recommend it. You have no way to know how many copies of the old keys exist, who holds them, or whether a contractor or agent kept one. Doing it right after closing is the cleanest point to reset access, especially on older homes with original locks.
Can older mid-century locks be rekeyed?
Often yes, but it depends on condition and the make. Some original-era locks rekey cleanly. Others are too worn, or have parts that are hard to find. We inspect each one and tell you plainly whether to rekey it or replace it.
How do I rekey after a tenant moves out?
Call us after the tenant has returned the keys and left. We rekey the entry locks and any other doors you want covered, and cut new keys for you and the next tenant. Old keys, including any copies the previous tenant made, stop working.
I lost my keys. Do I need to rekey or can I just get copies?
Copies of the lost key would still leave the lost key working for whoever finds it. If the keys could be tied to your address or you have no idea where they went, rekeying is the safer choice. If you are locked out in the meantime, we can open the door first.
Do you rekey commercial doors and business locks?
Yes. We rekey standard commercial cylinders, and we can set up a master key arrangement so that the owner and staff carry different levels of access. If your hardware needs repair or replacement rather than a rekey, we will say so.
How do I know the old keys no longer work?
We test it before we leave. After the new pins are in, we confirm that the new key works smoothly and that an old key will not turn the lock. You are welcome to try an old key yourself.
More locksmith help in Ladera Heights
Lock Rekey near Ladera Heights
Reviewed by David, Owner & Lead Technician, Wilshire Lock & Key — in the locksmith trade since 1987.
Last updated 2026-10-11.