A new tenant is moving in at the weekend. You’ve had the keys back from the previous occupant, done the inventory check and touched up the paintwork.
Job done, right?
For many landlords and letting agents across Nottingham, the question of whether to change the locks between tenancies barely registers. The old tenant handed back their keys, so there’s nothing to worry about. But that assumption leaves a gap in your security arrangements that’s worth understanding before your next tenancy begins.
This blog covers what the law says, what your risks look like in practice, and what a sensible approach involves. At Grays Locksmiths, we work with landlords and letting agents across Nottingham regularly, so we’ve seen how this plays out from both sides.
What does the law say?
There’s no specific piece of UK legislation that requires landlords to change their locks between tenancies. If you were hoping for a clear legal mandate to point to, you won’t find one here.
What does exist, though, is a broader framework of responsibility.
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 places a duty on landlords to ensure their properties are safe and secure for occupation. For a property where the locks haven’t been changed, and where unknown copies of keys may be in circulation, it could reasonably be argued that it falls short of that standard.
Demonstrating that you changed the locks between tenancies is the kind of documented, responsible action that supports your position if a dispute ever arises.
For letting agents operating under ARLA Propertymark or similar professional bodies, recommending lock changes between tenancies is becoming standard practice rather than an optional extra.
The problem with returned keys
Getting all your keys back at the end of a tenancy feels like the logical endpoint. The locks haven’t been touched, and you have everything accounted for. So what’s the issue?
The issue is that you have no reliable way of knowing how many copies were made during the tenancy. Key cutting is cheap, quick and available on most high streets. A tenant doesn’t need to be acting with bad intentions. They might have had a spare cut for a partner, a family member, or a friend who was watering the plants while they were away. Cleaners, maintenance contractors and tradespeople may also have been given keys at various points.
None of this reflects badly on your tenant. But it does mean that by the time a tenancy ends, the number of people who’ve had access to a key could be considerably higher than the two sets of keys you handed over on move-in day. Returned keys confirm that your tenant no longer has theirs. They don’t confirm that nobody else does.
The risk to new tenants (and to you)
If a new tenant is burgled and it emerges that the locks weren’t changed between tenancies, your position as a landlord becomes uncomfortable. Depending on the circumstances, you could face questions about whether you met your duty of care and, in more serious cases, legal exposure.
Some landlord insurance policies include clauses around security standards and whether reasonable precautions were taken. If a claim is made and it comes to light that the locks weren’t changed, your insurer may have grounds to complicate or reject it.
Finally, a new tenant moving into your property has a reasonable expectation that they’re the only people with access to it. Starting a tenancy where that expectation isn’t met, even if nothing goes wrong, can undermine trust and colour the landlord-tenant relationship from the outset.
In HMOs, with more tenants, more turnover and more keys in circulation over time, the case for changing locks between occupants of individual rooms becomes even more compelling.
Rekeying vs full lock replacement
One reason landlords put off changing locks is cost. If you’re imagining a full hardware replacement every time a tenant moves out, it’s understandable that the expense feels hard to justify. But full replacement isn’t always necessary.
Rekeying is a cost-effective alternative that many landlords aren’t aware of. A locksmith adjusts the internal pin configuration of your existing lock so that all previously cut keys stop working, without touching the hardware itself. For a lock that’s in good working order and meets British Standard requirements, rekeying gives you the security outcome you need at a fraction of the cost of replacement.
Full replacement makes more sense in certain situations, such as where the lock is worn or damaged, where it doesn’t meet BS3621 or your insurance requirements, or where you’re upgrading security as part of a wider refurbishment between tenancies.
What to check beyond the front door
A between-tenancy review of your locks shouldn’t stop at the front door.
It’s worth walking through the full property with security in mind before your new tenant arrives.
Back doors and side gates with key-operated locks, and garages and outbuildings included in the tenancy are often overlooked, particularly if they contain tools or bikes that a future tenant will want to keep secure. Ground-floor windows and accessible upper-floor windows with key locks should be on the list, too.
If your property is a flat, it’s worth flagging to the freeholder or managing agent whether the communal entry system has been updated recently. And in HMOs, individual room locks should be treated as a separate consideration from the main property entrance.
For most properties, this checklist covers only a handful of points. Running through it between tenancies takes an hour at most and will give you a much clearer picture of where you stand.
Making it part of your standard process
The cost of rekeying or replacing locks is modest relative to what a dispute, an insurance complication or a difficult start to a tenancy can cost you. When you look at it that way, it becomes much easier to justify.
For letting agents managing a portfolio of properties across Nottingham, having a trusted locksmith on call means consistent standards, reliable turnaround times and a straightforward process that doesn’t slow down your void periods.
And that’s where Grays Locksmiths can help. We’ve been working with Nottingham landlords and letting agents for many years. As MLA-approved Master Locksmiths, our work is documented, professionally completed and carried out to the standards your tenants and insurers would expect.
Whether you manage a single rental property or a larger portfolio, we can help you put a consistent approach to security in place. We’ll assess what’s already fitted, advise on rekeying versus replacement, and make sure every property is ready for its new occupant.
To discuss your rental properties or book a lock change, call us on 0115 942 2315.