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?

Burgers are not interested in bulky items . They want credit cards , jewellery, cash , phones and laptops. I would say the greatest deterrent is a camera system outside and inside .

After moving and no locks have been changed , a fine layer of talcum powder on the floor will tell you if someone has come in as you will see footprints. My sister did this when she rented a house years ago , that's how she caught out her landlord who was peeking in her underwear drawer.

I always change the locks in a new house. Countless people, estate agents, cleaners, builders, past owners otherwise could access the house and you’re not covered by your insurance.

I’d change the locks after the builders have finished.

Yup; not in rentals (as not mine....), but when I've bought properties, it's one of the first things I do. Even if it's just adding another lock. I live alone, so I'm maybe overly conscious of security, but it's something I prioritise.
I'd probably wait until after your builders have done their work - as long as you don't have anything massively valuable in the property in the meantime.

🤪

I didn’t say I used anything costing £10, even ten years ago, did I? 😁

A friend of mine had a lot of work done on her new house and the builders had a key. A year or so later her pride-and-joy Prada bag was stolen by someone who let themselves in... so I'd change the locks.

Yes, kind of interesting that the key probability is much lower than the snap probability.

The door doesn't surprise me. Anyone going through a window looks suspicious, plus there is a fair bit of gymnastics.

If you are at the door snapping the lock, you probably look like a cold caller. Plus once the lock is snapped you know your escape route for getting out is open and clear. Climbing out through windows with a rucksack full of xboxs and tablets isn't the easiest thing to do if you can't get the door open from the inside.

If only Agatha Christie was still alive, this thread is shaping up to be a corker. Most people don’t change their locks when they move in and it doesn’t invalidate insurance (whoever said that). It’s the people who leave their keys under a garden gnome that are inviting trouble. If you feel happier changing the locks then do it, if you don’t trust the people working for you then do it after they’ve finished, it’s that simple. My parent’s handyman has keys to their home because he’s brilliant, but I appreciate we’re not all that lucky.

It would never even occur to me to change the locks when I moved house, but I guess it makes sense. That said, several neighbours and the cleaner have keys to my house which is just as well as I have got a tendancy to lock myself out!

Most people don’t change their locks when they move in

I really thought it was thay most people do? I am not paranoid person but everyone I know said they changed locks and to do it as well.
It was also on most if not all checklists I found

Put up a horseshoe too.

Sadly true - my next door neighbours were done that way..I had told them previously but I still felt a bit bad.

Change the locks.

we had the old owner letting himself in to get his mail. I only caught him as I was home sick I was bloody livid as he didn’t see a problem with it. He was told to have his mail redirected by Royal Mail, why he hadn’t we’ve no idea.

Yanbu, its one of the first things we did. Id agree and wait until after the builders have finished as well

As someone in the trade I will tell you that you 100% should change your cylinders when you move in. Especially if it’s a new build.

Not only will the house builders have used cheap cylinders to save themselves a couple of quid, they will have only used 5 or 6 differs across the whole estate. Meaning every 5th-6th person has the same key as you. They are notorious for it.

Change your cylinders the day you move in. And as a PP wisely said, look for a 3* cylinder to guard against snapping and bumping as well as picking.

wishing you every happiness in your new home @MaybeTomorrowItllBeOK

We change locks on moving in to new house. And add bolts or mortice locks.

I changed the locks on my new build, namely because I didn't know if anyone had any extra keys somewhere, I wanted all three outside doors keyed alike, and I wanted locks and handles that weren't made of chocolate that could be easily snapped and opened with a screwdriver.

When I was renting a room it was just off the street and a massive guy let himself in one day and walked past the bed I was in and through to the kitchen!
Luckily my boyfriend was with me; it was his old room and the others in the house knew he was coming so they’d gone away for the weekend as he was known to like his drink.

Unfortunately when you tell most people about this sort of stuff you are usually met with a slack jaw and vacant stare.

You did your best so no point worrying about it. I think on security issues most people very much have to learn the hard way.

When we were broken into (and it took us a while to realise it had happened) all they took was a kindle, a jar of change and an old laptop.
Because that was all there was to take. And it would be the same now, ten years on. We're not poor but we haven't got anything stealable. And I'm quite glad, as it means I don't worry about it.
Yes, I know that someone could come in and do dreadful things to me, but, imo, that's a different category of crime and not worth shortening my life worrying about.

Wow. Wasn't expecting this thread to have had so many replies!!

Was never a question of if we'd change the locks.

We have rented in the past and years ago are sure someone let themselves into our home. But had no proof.

Locks changed after that.

But was more on if it was unreasonable to not change them on day 1 if we were having workmen in.

Appreciate the responses that are along our thinking of waiting until the work is done to change the locks. We have 4 external doors. We're going to get a locksmith to do them all as this is our home for at least 10 years (we hope) so I'd rather everything is done to the best level of security we can.

Our sellers seem like very decent trust worthy people.

I also trust the owner of the firm who are doing the building work.

But I don't know everyone the seller has ever leant to a key to. I don't know the employees of the builders.

Personally once we're moving in I want us ti be 100% certain who has keys. Especially as this is the home our DC will be old enough to stay alone in.

What we have already done though is updated the camera doorbell and exterior cameras.

Especially as this is the home our DC will be old enough to stay alone in.
Do you really think there are people who would keep your keys for a decade, with the intention of coming in and assaulting them?

I'll repeat once again in case you didn't get chance to read.

If you get "the best security you can" that means 3* locks. Most of these locks are coded and no one can copy the keys without the security code.

So you can lend them to workpeople and others safe in the knowledge that they cannot copy them without you knowing while they are in possession of them.

Look at Avocet ABS for example.

This thread has been a bit of an eye opener , literally everyone I know has always changed their locks when they buy a new house , so I’m astounded that so many people don’t .

In our case we knew there were a minimum of 8 keys just with family members when we bought our house including one son who the police were looking for in the year after we bought , so I definitely think it was worth changing them . We were given 2 keys when we moved in , so knew there were others that had been kept .Our sons house had been rented to numerous different people before they bought and the locks were old , so again copious amounts of keys with people we expect .

I would just have a general sense of unease if I knew lots of other people could just let themselves in as they pleased.

In answer to the original question though I would not leave anything valuable at home while the builders have the keys and as you are planning just change the whole lot when they are done.