Think in events, not in a calendar
People often ask for a number, as if locks came with an expiration date. They do not. A lock cylinder that is in good mechanical shape will keep working with the same pin arrangement for as long as nobody who should not have access holds a copy of the key. The better question is not how many months have passed but who could open your door today that you did not choose.
That reframing makes the decision much easier. Every key that was ever cut for your cylinder is a small piece of access you handed out. Some of those pieces went to people you trust completely and still see every week. Others went to a contractor, a previous tenant, a former roommate, or a relative you no longer speak with. Rekeying is how you take back every one of those pieces at once without replacing hardware.
In a place like Broward County, where homes change hands often and many households have a seasonal visitor or a rental unit in the mix, the list of key holders can grow more than owners realize. Writing down who has had a key is a useful first exercise before you decide anything. If the list contains names you cannot account for, you have your answer.
A practical way to do the audit is to walk through the house with a pen. For each exterior door, ask who received a key when you moved in, who received one since, and whether each of those keys has ever been out of your sight for long. Include the garage entry, a side gate lock, a storage closet and any mailbox key that shares a ring with the others. Most people finish the list after a short sit down and are surprised by how many keys exist.
The moments that almost always call for it
A few situations are close to automatic. The first is moving into a home that someone else lived in. You do not know how many copies exist, and the seller, the previous owner, the real estate agents, the cleaners and the repair crews may all have held one. The same logic applies to a newly built home, because construction crews often work with a shared key set while the house is being finished.
The second is a separation or a household change. When a partner, adult child or roommate moves out, the keys they carry go with them, and a polite request to hand them back does not prove that no copy was made. The third is a lost or stolen key, particularly when the key was on a ring that also carried something with your address on it, such as a registration, a mail item or a tagged fob.
If you have just been through one of these, our guide to rekeying after you move walks through the order of operations, and the page on what to do after losing house keys covers the lost key case in more detail.
There is also a softer category: moments that do not demand action but deserve a thought. A long renovation with many different workers, a house sitter during an extended trip, or a family member who borrowed a key during a hard stretch all fall here. None of these proves anything went wrong. They simply increase the number of hands that have held your key, and the decision comes down to how comfortable you are with that number.
- You bought or leased a home and do not know who holds copies.
- A partner, roommate or relative with a key no longer lives there.
- A key was lost, stolen or left with someone you cannot reach.
- A contractor, sitter or cleaner had a key for a long project and it was never returned.
- A break in or attempted entry happened, even if nothing was taken.
Situations where waiting is perfectly reasonable
Not every key problem needs a visit. If you handed a spare to a neighbor you know well and still see regularly, and that key has never left their hands, there is little reason to change anything. If a house guest used a key for a weekend and gave it back in person, the risk is small. A calendar anniversary by itself is not a reason, and anyone who tells you otherwise is describing a habit, not a security principle.
It also helps to separate the idea of rekeying from the idea of upgrading. If your existing cylinders are in decent shape and the door is solid, rekeying them solves a key control problem without touching anything else. If the hardware itself is tired, loose or damaged, a different conversation is needed, and our comparison of rekeying versus replacing lays out how to tell the two apart.
A helpful rule of thumb is this: if you can name every person holding a key and you are comfortable that each of them still deserves access, you can wait. The moment that sentence becomes difficult to say out loud, it is time to act.
Rental properties run on a different rhythm
Landlords and property managers live with a shorter key cycle than owner occupants. Each time a tenant leaves, the number of outstanding copies is unknown by definition, because the departing resident may have made extras, given one to a friend or kept one out of habit. For that reason, many managers treat rekeying as part of the turnover routine, the same way they treat cleaning and a walk through inspection.
That habit protects the next tenant, and it also protects the owner. If something goes wrong in a unit after a new lease begins, the owner wants to be able to say that the previous occupant's keys no longer work. Doing it consistently also keeps records simple, since every unit follows the same procedure on the same trigger.
We discuss the landlord side in more depth in the guides on rekeying rental properties and handling tenant turnover as a property manager. If you own a single condo that you lease part of the year, treat each lease change as a trigger, not each calendar year.
Condo owners who rent should also remember that building management may keep its own set for emergencies, and that arrangement is separate from the unit lock. Ask the association what is expected before changing any lock on a door that the building controls, since requirements vary from one community to the next. Your property manager or association office is the right place to ask.
What a rekey does and does not change
A rekey replaces the internal pin arrangement of a cylinder so that a different key cuts the lock and the old key no longer does. The outer hardware, the deadbolt body, the handle and the finish stay the same. If you want to understand the mechanism step by step, how rekeying a lock works explains it in plain language with no special tools required to follow along.
What a rekey does not do is repair a worn latch, straighten a sagging door, or make a flimsy strike plate stronger. It also does not change how a lock is installed. If your deadbolt rattles, your door sticks in humid weather, or the screws feel loose in the frame, those are separate fixes, and a locksmith can look at them in the same visit.
One more practical note: a rekey is usually done so that several locks on the property share one key, which means you carry fewer keys. If your front door, back door and garage entry each use a different key right now, say so when you call. Matching them is a common request and makes daily life easier.
Signs the lock itself is asking for attention
Sometimes the lock gives you a reason before any people do. A key that has started to catch, stick or require jiggling, a deadbolt that turns stiffly, or a cylinder that spins without engaging the bolt are all signals that something inside is worn or misaligned. In coastal South Florida, humidity and salt air speed up corrosion on exterior hardware, and doors facing the weather tend to show it first.
If a key worked smoothly last season and now drags, do not keep forcing it. Repeated force can bend the key or damage the pins, turning a simple service into a more involved one. Our article on a key that will not turn describes what to try gently and when to stop.
When the cylinder is worn enough that rekeying would only preserve a problem, replacing it is the sounder choice. A technician can tell the difference by looking at the lock and testing it, and that conversation is part of every visit.
Another clue is how the lock feels at the door and not only with the key. If the thumb turn inside is loose, if the bolt does not fully extend when you close the door, or if you have to lift or push the door to make it lock, the issue may be alignment between the bolt and the strike plate and not the cylinder. That is a simple adjustment that leaves the lock alone, and our guide on a door that will not latch explains what causes it.
Copies matter as much as originals
Rekeying controls which keys work. It does not control how many exist afterward, and that is where many households quietly undo their own security. Handing a freshly cut key to a family member who then has a copy made at a hardware counter starts the same problem again from a new baseline.
Think about where copies get made and who has access to your key blank. Standard keys can be duplicated almost anywhere, while restricted systems limit duplication to authorized sources. If your household is large or your property is a rental, a restricted keyway may be worth discussing. Our overview of where and how to duplicate keys covers what to consider before you make more.
A simple habit helps: keep a short list of who holds each key, and update it whenever a key is added or returned. It takes a minute and turns a vague feeling about who has access into something you can actually check.
Digital habits count too. Photographing a key and sharing the picture with a stranger is not a casual act, because a clear image of a standard key can be enough for someone to reproduce it. Treat key photos the way you treat a photo of a card number: do not post them, and do not send them to people you do not know. It is a small precaution that costs nothing.
Planning around hurricane season and busy turnover periods
South Florida has rhythms that affect when people think about their doors. Before and after storm season, many owners walk the property, check shutters and go over what they would need to take along if they had to leave. That is a natural time to look at locks as well, because doors that swell, rust or shift after a wet stretch often reveal themselves then.
Seasonal residents face a different pattern. If you are away for months and a property manager, cleaner or neighbor holds a key, rekeying before you leave or on your return is a sensible way to reset access. The same goes for condos and rentals around busy move in periods, when many units change occupants close together and service calendars fill up.
Booking a visit around your own schedule, instead of waiting for a lockout or a worrying event, also means the work can be explained calmly. Call, describe the doors, and the work and price are explained before anything begins. Our house lockout and rekey service page lists what a typical visit includes.
Humidity matters for the keys themselves. A key that lives in a pocket or a car cup holder in coastal air can pick up residue and wear, and a worn key makes a healthy lock feel stiff. If your newer key works better than the old one, the key was the problem, not the lock, and that is worth knowing before anyone talks about replacing hardware.
Preparing for the visit
A little preparation makes a rekey smooth. Gather every key that currently works in the locks you want changed, including the spares in drawers and on hooks. Decide how many new keys you want cut, and think about whether any exterior doors should be matched to a single key. If you have a smart lock or a keypad, mention it, since those need different handling than a standard cylinder.
Be ready to describe where you live: a single family house, a townhome, a condo with building rules, or a rental. Associations and property managers sometimes have their own preferences about hardware or key control, and requirements vary, so check with them before the appointment. This is the kind of detail that avoids a second trip.
When the work is finished, the new key is tested with you in each lock, and the old key should be tried to confirm that it no longer turns. That test is worth watching. It is the simplest proof that the change worked, and it takes only a few moments at each door.
If you are rekeying more than one door, set aside a little time to try each key in each lock afterward on your own, including the garage entry and any side door that is rarely used. Rarely used doors are where problems hide, because nobody notices a key that fails until the day it matters. Keep one spare of the new key somewhere safe, away from the others, and tell a trusted person where it is.
Choosing who does the work
Because a rekey touches the thing that protects your home, it is fair to be selective about who performs it. A reputable provider explains the plan, tells you what will be done to which locks, and gives you the price before beginning. Our guide on choosing a locksmith you can trust lists practical questions to ask on the phone.
If you are in Pompano Beach, Hollywood or elsewhere in the county, the process is the same: call, describe the doors and the situation, and decide once the plan is clear. This page is general guidance for homeowners and renters and is not a promise about any particular address.
If you are unsure whether you even need the work, say so. A good conversation can sort out whether a rekey, a replacement or nothing at all is the right step, and there is no harm in asking before you commit.