What does it mean to rekey locks?
Almost every house lock is a pin tumbler cylinder. Inside it sits a row of small spring-loaded pins, and the lock opens only when the cuts on your key lift each pin to exactly the right height. Rekeying means we take the cylinder apart, replace the pins with a new combination, and cut keys that match. The knob, the deadbolt, the handleset and the finish on your door all stay where they are. What changes is which keys work.
That matters because you can never know how many copies of a key are out there. The previous owner, a former tenant, a roommate who moved out, a contractor, a neighbor who once watered the plants: any of them may still have one. After a proper rekey, every one of those keys is just a piece of brass. Your locks look the same and feel the same, but the old keys no longer turn them.
Rekeying is usually the more economical route compared with buying and installing new hardware, and it lets us put every lock on the property onto a single key, so you are not carrying a separate key for the front door, the back door and the garage entry. If you searched for rekey locks near me because you just moved in, a tenant just left, or keys have gone missing, this is the job we are describing.
People often use rekey and change the locks to mean the same thing, but they are different. Rekeying changes the inside of the lock you already own. Changing locks swaps the hardware itself, which is covered on our change locks page.
When should you rekey your locks?
The honest rule is simple: rekey whenever you cannot account for every key that opens the door. These are the situations we see most often.
On the lost-key question, we will tell you straight. If your keys fell behind the couch cushions and you find them an hour later, you probably do not need a rekey. If they disappeared at the gym, on a hike, or in a parking lot, especially with anything on the ring that points to your address, rekeying is the sensible move.
- Rekey locks after moving: you have no idea who holds copies from the previous occupants.
- Rekey locks after buying a house: the sellers, their agents, relatives and past contractors may all have had keys.
- Rekey locks after a tenant moves out: this is the core of tenant turnover rekey work, and it protects the next tenant and you as the owner.
- Rekey locks after losing keys: a lost or stolen set is an open invitation until the locks are changed over.
- After a breakup, a roommate leaving, or a falling-out with a house sitter, cleaner or contractor.
- For a business, after an employee or manager leaves who held keys to the doors, back office or storage room.
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Call (213) 577-1366How we rekey door locks, step by step
Every rekey is a little different depending on how many cylinders you have and what kind they are, but the process follows the same honest outline.
- You call (213) 577-1366, any hour. Tell us whether it is a house, apartment or business, how many locks there are (front door, back door, patio slider, garage entry, side gate), and whether you still have a working key.
- We work out what each lock is and whether it can be rekeyed. Most standard residential knobs and deadbolts can. A few cannot, and we say so up front rather than after we have started.
- We ask you to show that you live at, own, or manage the property. A locksmith who rekeys a door without asking is a locksmith you should be wary of.
- We explain the cost before we begin, based on what we see in front of us, so there are no surprises at the end.
- We remove each cylinder, replace the pins with the new combination, and reassemble it. If there is dust or grit in the mechanism, this is the moment we clear it out.
- We cut the new keys and test every lock with the new key. We also try an old key to confirm it no longer turns.
- We check that each latch and deadbolt throws smoothly into the strike and that the door closes properly, then hand over your keys. If you want spares, we can cut them on the spot through key duplication.
When rekeying is not the right fix
Rekeying is not always the answer, and we would rather say so than sell you a job you do not need. A rekey changes who can open the lock. It does not repair the lock, upgrade its strength, or fix a door that no longer lines up with its frame.
If the lock is worn, loose, hard to turn, or partly broken, new pins will not cure it. In that case, a straight lock replacement is the better answer, and we can often rekey the new hardware to match the rest of your set while we are there.
There are a few other cases where we would steer you to something else:
- The hardware is the kind of lock that cannot be rekeyed, or its parts are too worn to hold a new combination reliably.
- You want to move to keypad or app-based entry. A smart lock installation is its own job, and it is worth checking your HOA rules first.
- The door sticks or will not latch because the wood has swelled or shifted. That is a door or frame issue, not a keying issue, and no amount of rekeying will fix it.
- You are after a higher level of pick or drill resistance than your current lock offers. That is a hardware upgrade, not a rekey.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366What affects the cost of rekeying?
We do not publish flat rekey numbers, because the real figure depends on the job in front of us. Here is what actually moves the cost, so you can judge any quote you get, ours included.
- How many cylinders need rekeying. A single deadbolt is a smaller job than every exterior lock on a house.
- What kind of locks they are. Standard knobs and deadbolts are straightforward, while some handlesets, higher-security cylinders and older hardware take more time or specialized parts.
- The condition of the locks. If something is worn out, we may recommend replacing that one lock instead of rekeying it.
- How many keys you need cut, and whether you want every lock keyed alike or separate.
- Whether it is a home or a commercial job. Doors with multiple users, restricted keys or a master key arrangement add planning.
- The time of day. Evenings, weekends and holidays are handled by the same team, but after-hours calls are priced differently from a scheduled daytime visit.
- Travel distance. Our storefront is in Westwood and we come to you in a mobile van, so location plays a part.
Rekeying rentals, apartments and commercial doors
Rental work is where rekeying earns its keep. When a tenant moves out, the owner or property manager has no way of knowing how many copies of the key exist. Rekeying between tenants closes that gap at a fraction of the work of a full hardware swap, and it can be done door by door across a whole unit in a single visit. If you manage more than one property, our page for landlord locksmith services covers how we handle turnover schedules and repeat work.
An apartment lock rekey is the same process as a house rekey, but the details differ. We confirm you have authority to have the locks changed, and we match any building requirements, such as a lock your management needs a key to. Tenants should check their lease before changing locks on their own.
Commercial rekey and business lock rekey work follows the same logic, with more at stake. When an employee leaves or a key goes missing, rekeying the front door, back door and any interior offices or storage rooms is much faster and lighter on the budget than replacing every lock. For larger businesses, it can make sense to step up from individual keys to a coordinated system, which is what a master key system is for. For other business doors and hardware, see our commercial locksmith page.
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We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366Rekeying homes and businesses in Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita is mostly post-1965 master-planned development, with big waves of single-family building from the 1980s through the 2000s across Saugus, Canyon Country and Valencia. That is exactly why rekeying is such a common call here. New homeowners in the Saugus and Canyon Country tract developments are buying houses that have been through at least one owner, and often several, and the standard first step after getting the keys is to rekey every exterior lock so the only keys that matter are the ones in your hand. We work across the city's ZIP codes, including 91321, 91350, 91351, 91354, 91355, 91387 and 91390.
Much of the tract housing still carries the builder-standard hardware from when it was built. For rekeying, that is mostly good news, because standard hardware is usually rekeyable. Since the cylinder is out of the door anyway, it is also a chance to see whether a lock is worn enough that replacing it would make more sense than another round of rekeying.
Valencia has a lot of townhomes and condos near Valencia Town Center, and HOA-managed communities are the norm across the city. If you live in one, check your HOA's rules about exterior hardware before making any changes beyond rekeying. A rekey leaves the lock exactly as it looks now, which is usually the simplest thing to get approved. For residents of communities like Fair Oaks Ranch who are thinking about going keyless, we can talk through a smart lock after the rekey is done.
Old Town Newhall holds the oldest homes in the city, including early-20th-century bungalows, and older doors and hardware can be a mixed bag. Some can be rekeyed without a problem. Others are better replaced. We look at each one before promising anything. Along Main Street in Old Town Newhall, storefronts that change tenants or staff often need their locks rekeyed, which we handle as commercial rekey work.
The climate plays a part too. Santa Clarita is an inland valley with hot, dry summers that regularly top 95°F, and Santa Ana wind events push dust into exterior lock mechanisms. A cylinder that has been working in that grit for years can turn stiffly, so a rekey is a good time to clean it out. We also see wood doors and frames swell and stick with the wide day-to-night temperature swings. If a key is hard to turn, we check whether the lock is the problem or whether the door is binding against its frame.
Out in Sand Canyon and Placerita Canyon, ranch and equestrian properties often have more locks to deal with: the house, outbuildings, gates and barns. Rekeying lets you put the whole set of keyed locks on a single key instead of a ring that keeps getting heavier. Tell us when you call which doors and gates have keyed cylinders, and we will plan the visit around them.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366How mobile rekey service reaches Santa Clarita
Our storefront is at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, about 34 miles from Santa Clarita, so rekey calls here are handled by our mobile vans, which carry the pinning kits, key-cutting equipment and replacement cylinders to do the job at your door. You do not have to bring anything to us. You can read more on how that works on our mobile locksmith page.
Because of the distance, we will be straightforward about timing when you call instead of throwing out a number we cannot stand behind. Give us your cross streets or neighborhood, and we will tell you what to expect. The phone is answered around the clock, every day of the year, so you can call at 2 a.m. after finding your keys gone and still reach a person.
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, Santa Clarita among them. In that time, rekeying has stayed the same sort of careful, hands-on work: take the cylinder apart, do it right, test it.
You are dealing with one company. There is no dispatch middleman, no call center that sells your job to whoever picks it up. The people who answer are with the company that sends the van, and David, our owner and lead technician, oversees the work.
One more thing: California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license, and you should ask any locksmith for it before they touch your locks. It is a fair question, and anyone legitimate will answer it without hesitation.
To get a rekey started, call (213) 577-1366 or use our contact page page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between rekeying and changing locks?
Rekeying keeps your existing lock hardware and changes the pins inside, so a new key works and the old ones do not. Changing locks means replacing the lock with different hardware. Rekeying is usually the more economical route when your locks are in good shape.
Should I rekey my locks after buying a house in Santa Clarita?
Yes, it is one of the most common reasons people call us. You cannot know how many keys the previous owners, their agents or contractors handed out. Rekeying every exterior lock means only the keys you hold will work, and we can put them all on one key.
Can you rekey all the locks in my house to one key?
In most cases, yes. We can rekey all house locks to match, so one key opens the front door, back door, garage entry and any other keyed lock. Some specialized or worn locks cannot be rekeyed, and we tell you at the start if that applies to yours.
Do I need to rekey after a tenant moves out?
We recommend it. A former tenant may have kept a key or made copies, and you have no way to know. Rekeying between tenants is standard practice for landlords and property managers, and it is lighter on cost than replacing every lock.
I lost my keys. Do I have to rekey, or can I just get a copy?
A copy does nothing about the lost key, which still opens your door. If you cannot say where the keys went, or if there was anything on the ring that points to your address, rekey the locks. If you find them quickly, you may not need to.
Can you rekey a business or commercial lock?
Yes. We handle commercial rekey and business lock rekey, including doors with multiple users. If you are rekeying a lot of doors, we can talk through whether a coordinated key system makes more sense than separate keys.
How much does it cost to rekey locks?
It depends on how many cylinders, what type of locks they are, how many keys you want cut, the condition of the hardware, the time of day, and travel distance. We do not quote flat numbers over the web, but we explain the cost before starting.
Will my HOA allow a rekey?
Rekeying leaves your locks looking exactly as they do now, so it rarely raises any questions with an HOA. Changes to the visible hardware, such as a different deadbolt or a keypad, are more likely to need approval, so check your HOA's rules first.
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Reviewed by David, Owner & Lead Technician, Wilshire Lock & Key — in the locksmith trade since 1987.
Last updated 2026-10-11.