Turnover season keeps a locksmith busy, and rental property lock changes are one of the most common requests we get from landlords. Done well, a turnover rekey takes minutes per door and gives the incoming tenant a clean start. Skipped, it leaves an unknown number of keys floating around a unit you are responsible for.
Why Every Turnover Deserves a Fresh Key
Over a two or three year tenancy, keys spread. A partner, a dog walker, a family member who stayed for a month, a copy made at a hardware store and never returned. None of that is unusual and none of it is malicious, but at move-out none of it comes back either. Collecting two keys at the walkthrough does not mean only two keys exist.
Rekeying between tenants is the only reliable reset. It is also a real selling point when you show the unit, because new renters notice when you tell them the locks were changed the week before they moved in.
Planning Rental Property Lock Changes Around a Turnover
The smoothest schedule is to rekey after the old tenant surrenders keys and before the new lease starts, ideally on the same day as the cleaning or paint crew. Everyone is in and out of the unit that week anyway.
If you own several units, ask about keying your building so each tenant key opens only their unit while a single master opens all of them. It saves you carrying a ring of twenty keys and makes maintenance visits far less painful. Set it up properly the first time rather than patching it together unit by unit.
Do not overlook shared doors. Building entries, laundry rooms, storage lockers, and mailbox banks all accumulate keys the same way unit doors do, and they are easy to forget because no single tenant owns them.
What Tenants Should Know
If you are renting, it is reasonable to ask your landlord whether the locks were changed before you moved in. Most will say yes and some will do it on request. What you should not do is change the locks yourself without permission, because nearly every lease requires landlord access and an unauthorized change can put your deposit at risk.
If your landlord agrees to a change, get it in writing and provide a key. That satisfies the lease and still gets you the security you wanted. Renters in the newer subdivisions around Dyer often have builder-grade hardware that is due for an upgrade anyway, and landlords are frequently open to splitting the cost of something better.
Keep Records You Can Actually Use
Write down which unit was rekeyed, on what date, and how many keys were issued. A one-line note per turnover takes seconds and answers a lot of questions later, especially if there is ever a dispute about who had access. Landlords who track this consistently have far fewer arguments than those who rely on memory.
Schedule Your Turnover Rekey
Jacob’s Lock and Key is a licensed mobile locksmith serving Gary and Northwest Indiana, including Hammond, Merrillville, Crown Point, Griffith, Dyer, Munster, Schererville, Hobart, Portage, Saint John, Whiting, Lake Station, and Chesterton. Open 7 AM to 11 PM, seven days a week. Call Jacob at (219) 342-5595 to line up your next turnover.
Last updated: 08/30/2026