To change the locks after the workmen are done?

[MaybeTomorrowItllBeOK]

Evening.

Asking here for the traffic.

Have just bought a new house.

For me #1 job was replace the locks.

But actually for the next week or so we have the option of leaving the workmen (getting some immediate work done while we stay elsewhere) a key so they can come and go and get the job done quicker while we aren't living there.

So I'm thinking to delay the locksmith until they're done? Right move do you think?

It wouldn't occur to me to change the locks in a new home, nor would it occur to me to change the locks after work. So many different people have keys to my home though - family, a good friend, employees etc, so I'm probably a bit too laid back about it. It isn't a bad idea, and I think its probably sensible to wait until the work is finished. Whatever makes you comfortable - your home, your rules.

First thing we did when we bought our house was get locks changed. I own 10 btl and I change the locks after each tenant has left. You never know who previous occupants might have had a spare key cut for. Better to be safe than sorry.

Like a previous poster, I'm in my 60s , and have moved several times and it's never occurred to me to do this.
The only break in I've had was someone coming in a window and it took us several hours to realise it had happened (when we couldn't find a laptop).

Advice from all insurers is to change locks as soon as you move in.

We bought our current house from an elderly lady living alone. In the first year after we moved in, 7 neighbours brought us spare keys they had for our house. The quickest came in a week, but the longest took almost a year.

This is just common sense.

We just changed them the once after the builders had finished. If you haven't yet moved in what are they going to steal? We were initially only given one set of keys and with four adults living there they obviously had other versions. We had to get the locksmith anyway as the locks were old and did not meet current insurance standards.

I think this is another ‘only on mumsnet’ scenario. Like a pp I am also 64, have rented and owned many houses over the years as have my friends and family, and never ever heard of such a thing.

This. But I don't necessarily buy new, I've a couple of spare Yale barrels and just change them around.

Do what you need to do to feel comfortable about the situation.

Like you OP we bought a house, had work done and then changed the locks. We waited until the work was done and changed the lock ourselves. You don’t need a locksmith to change a lock barrel, it’s a couple of screws at most.

The previous owner to our house had carers who had keys, we’d had about 10 different tradesmen in, some of who had keys, the estate agents had keys as well. I had no idea who they’d let borrow them. It’s common sense to me. In fact about a year after we lived there a care agency posted us a key with a note of apology to say they’d just found it.

I was also helping a relative move and 2 days after completion the previous owner opened the door with a key he’d kept to collect post and say hello etc. My dad ended up wrestling the key out of his hand and physically putting him on the doorstep as he just wouldn’t leave and didn’t see the issue.

Are you gong to change the locks EVERY time you get work done? As for 'dodgy' workmen, I don't know a builder, joiner or any handyperson who wouldn't find it relatively easy to break in. They don't need keys if they were that way inclined...

Seems a weird thing to do IMHO...

I think it is common sense to change the locks after buying a house, unless it is a new build.

First house we ever rented both Dh and I given a key each. 2 days after moving in the previous tenant shows up asking us if we want to buy the spare key she is holding in her hand. Landlord paid for the locks to be changed after this.

We have ABS keys, you cannot get another one cut without a code specific to that lock. That way we can give out a key when we go on holiday and know there is no way to copy it. Completely safe.

Well I haven't been accused of that on here for a while! Thank you, you've quite made my day <enjoys simple pleasures>

I would change them. These new housing estates have labourers who come and go and you couldn’t be sure they were all honest.
I bought a new house years ago and had the usual hand over of my keys to sort out problems. They lost my keys and didn’t tell me. I was a single woman in my 30s and they couldn’t tell me who had my keys to my front door when I asked for them back. This says it all as obviously there is no method for keeping them safe. I had them changed immediately and months later I’m sure that I did indeed hear someone put a key in my door in the middle of the night.

Also never done this, nor have my parents
Or in-laws. That's probably 40 properties between us all.

I got a new front door once so that meant a new lock automatically but otherwise only changed the locks once on an emergency callout after my flatmate got mugged and her bag taken which included some post with our address on and her keys.

I've never heard of anyone not changing the locks in a new house. It's the first thing you do after the removal van has driven away surely? Other than a hotel or holiday caravan (which presumably no one is really going to burgle) I can't imagine sleeping somewhere and having unknown people with access.

Fairly local to me, and a few years ago now... estate agent had copied keys, would wait a few months even up to a year after the sale, and then burgle the houses. It is unlikely that it will happen, but not unheard of.

I change the locks, keep the old locks, then take my lock with me when we leave. It usually fits the next house but if not I can order a new lock to fit the existing keys I took with me. They can't be cut without a code.

I'm with you, I change the locks every time I move - it's not like it's that expensive.
It's worth it to definitely know who has a key.
I'm amazed that some people don't !

Also, tbh, have some of you checked the types of locks you have? If they are not modern then they won't be anti-bump locks

Definitely, we had some new workmen into a small rural cottage. A month later it was stripped of everything including a lot of family stuff of huge sentimental value. Bitterly regret not changing the locks. Police had no interest.

This may well 'a MN thing' that some posters have 'only ever heard of on MN', but that's at least partly because MNers live in lots and lots of places that individual posters, as individuals, don't live in and have never lived in and will never live in.

So just because you, as individual posters, have lived all your lives in certain places and lived certain types of lives, doesn't mean that millions of other people are mirroring that. And that's fine.

And I think some people have a better grasp of what's in their insurance policies than others. And some people don't have insurance policies to need a grasp of. And some live alone, some happily and some unhappily, and some live as part of big families with lots of comings and goings. Some have relatives over-using the spare key they were given for emergencies.

Change your locks, OP, if it'll put you at ease. It's your life, your decision.

Great post @AutumnCrow

I'd change the barrell in the top lock myself when the house is bought.
Then change the top and bottom when the builders are gone.

Amazed at the people who dont my parents did this back in the 80s!!!

Great idea to leave it until the workmen have left. For those asking why on earth you would change the locks, why on earth wouldn't you, the safety and security of you children should be a priority and your insurance company will be hacked off if you haven't got a clue who has keys to your house.