Landlords · Tenants · Property managers
Emergency Rental Property Service
Tenant locked out, keys never returned, a unit that has to be secured tonight. Rental properties have their own rules, and we work inside them.
The difference
A Rental Unit Is Not Just Somebody’s Home
Two parties have rights to the same door, and that changes what a locksmith can and cannot do.
On an owner-occupied house the question is simple: does this person live here? On a rental it is not. A tenant has exclusive possession of the unit. A landlord owns it but does not have an automatic right to walk in. Both of them can be standing outside the same door at midnight with a legitimate reason to be let in, and the correct answer is different for each.
Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act is clear about the parts that matter here. A landlord generally cannot change the locks on an occupied unit without giving the tenant a new key. A tenant generally cannot change the locks without the landlord’s consent. Entry by a landlord normally requires twenty-four hours’ written notice, with emergencies and a few named situations as the exceptions.
We are locksmiths, not lawyers, and we do not adjudicate disputes. What we do is work within those rules: we open doors for people who can show they are entitled to be behind them, we do not change locks in ways that lock somebody out of their own home, and we document what we did and when we did it. That last part protects everyone, including us.
What we do
Rental Property Calls We Take
Single units, duplexes, student housing, basement apartments and multi-unit buildings across Whitby and Durham.
Tenant lockouts
The most common call. Keys inside, keys lost, or a self-locking door. We open non-destructively and, with the tenant’s proof of residence, we do not need to disturb the landlord at two in the morning.
Landlord and manager access
Owners locked out of their own units, a key that no longer works, or a unit that has been left with the lock changed. We verify ownership before we do anything, and we say no if the paperwork is not there.
Rekeying between tenancies
The single most useful thing a landlord can do. Cheaper than replacing hardware and the only way to be certain the previous tenant, their partner and whoever they lent a key to no longer have access.
Keys not returned at move-out
Very common and almost never malicious. Rekeying is the answer — chasing the keys is not, because you can never prove how many copies existed.
Securing an abandoned unit
Once a unit is legally vacant and possession has returned to the owner, it needs to be secured. We do that and document the time, which is what an insurer will ask about.
Common doors and mail rooms
Lobby entries, stairwells, laundry, garbage and parking access. One failed common door affects every resident in the building at once.
Break-in repair and securing
Same-day securing of a forced door in a rental, with an itemised invoice describing the damage — the document that settles deposit and insurance questions later.
Key schedules for portfolios
If you run several properties, we can hold the schedule for all of them so a call about Unit 4 does not start from zero at midnight.
Smart locks and keypads
Increasingly common in rentals because codes can be changed between tenancies without a locksmith. Until the batteries die or the code is forgotten — then it is a locksmith call again.
Proof
What We Need Before We Open A Rental Door
This is the part people find frustrating at midnight, and it is the part that protects them. A locksmith who opens doors without asking questions is a locksmith who will happily open your door for somebody else.
For a tenant, the simplest proof is photo ID showing the address. A lease, a utility bill, a piece of addressed mail, or a landlord who will confirm by phone all work as well. If everything is inside the unit — which is often exactly the problem — we can usually work with a combination of partial documents and a call to the landlord or property manager.
For a landlord or manager, we need evidence of ownership or authority: a deed, a tax bill, a management agreement, or a lease naming you as the landlord. Ownership alone does not entitle anyone to entry into an occupied unit, so if a tenant is in residence we will also ask about notice.
None of this takes long. It is a two-minute conversation on the phone before we dispatch, not an interrogation on the doorstep, and it means the job proceeds without an argument in the hallway.
Bring one of these and it goes smoothly
✓ Photo ID showing the unit address.
✓ A signed lease or tenancy agreement.
✓ A recent utility bill or addressed mail.
✓ For owners: a deed, tax bill or management agreement.
✓ A landlord or property manager willing to confirm by phone.
If nothing is available at all, we will still talk it through — but we will not open the door on a story alone.
For landlords
Rekey At Every Turnover. It Is Not Optional.
Between the day a unit was built and today, how many keys exist? Nobody knows. Previous tenants, their partners, a friend who was staying, a cleaner, a contractor mid-renovation, a real estate agent during a sale. Every one of those was a legitimate key at the time and none of them were tracked.
Rekeying changes the pins inside the existing cylinders so every old key stops working. It costs a fraction of new hardware, it keeps the finish and the hardware you already have, and on a typical unit it takes well under an hour for every exterior door.
Do it between tenancies as a matter of course, the same way you would repaint or clean the carpets. It is one of the very few security measures that is both genuinely effective and genuinely cheap, and it is the one that will matter if a tenant ever reports an entry they did not authorise.
For tenants
Four Things Worth Knowing
01
You are usually entitled to a working key
If a landlord changes the locks on an occupied unit, they generally have to give you a new key. Being locked out of your own home is not a normal consequence of a dispute.
02
Do not change the locks yourself
Fitting your own cylinder without the landlord’s consent creates a problem you will have to undo, and often at your own cost at the end of the tenancy.
03
Ask about the lockout charge first
Some leases make the tenant responsible, some do not. Either way you should hear our price on the phone before we drive out.
04
Report a broken lock in writing
Text or email, not a verbal mention in the hallway. A dated record is what settles the question of who was responsible for the repair.
One Call, One Schedule, Every Property
If you manage more than a handful of units around Whitby, Oshawa or Ajax, the useful thing is not a lower callout rate. It is that we already know your buildings.
We can hold a key schedule for your portfolio — which cylinder is on which door, which units are keyed alike, which buildings run a master system and where the master sits. That turns a midnight call about a unit you cannot immediately place into a five-minute job instead of a forty-minute one.
It also means turnover rekeys can be batched and scheduled instead of handled as separate emergencies, which is where most of the cost in a rental portfolio actually hides.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
I am a tenant locked out at night. Do you need my landlord?
Not if you can show the unit is yours — photo ID with the address, a lease, a bill, or addressed mail. If none of that is available we will usually ask to speak to the landlord or manager.
I am the owner. Can you let me into an occupied unit?
We can verify your ownership, but ownership by itself does not give a right of entry into an occupied unit. Entry normally requires proper notice under the Residential Tenancies Act, with emergencies as the exception. Tell us the situation on the phone and we will be straight with you.
My tenant moved out and did not return the keys. What now?
Rekey. Chasing keys is pointless because you cannot prove how many copies existed. Rekeying costs a fraction of new hardware and ends the question completely.
Can I fit a smart lock on a rental unit?
Yes, and many landlords do because codes can be changed between tenancies. Just remember that batteries fail, and a smart lock with no mechanical override turns a dead battery into a locksmith call.
Do you rekey multiple units in one visit?
Yes, and it is far cheaper per door than separate visits. Tell us how many doors and whether you want them keyed alike or individually.
Will I get paperwork for a deposit dispute?
Yes. Every job comes with a dated, itemised invoice describing the damage found and the work carried out. That is the document that settles these arguments.
Whitby specifics
What Rentals Look Like Around Here
Durham Region’s rental stock is unusually varied, and each type fails differently.
Basement and secondary suites. Extremely common across north Whitby — Taunton, Williamsburg, Rolling Acres — where a large detached home has been split. These almost always share a side or rear entry with the main house, which means two households, two sets of keys, and frequently a lock that was never designed for that much traffic. The single most useful upgrade here is separating the suite entry from the main house entry properly, so a turnover rekey does not force the owner to rekey their own front door.
Downtown and Port Whitby conversions. Century homes divided into two, three or four units. Old frames, old cylinders, and internal unit doors that were originally bedroom doors and still carry bedroom hardware. Anything that is now a unit entry door should have a proper deadbolt in a properly reinforced jamb, and very often does not.
Purpose-built apartment blocks. Master key systems, common-door access, and the risk that concentrates in one place: the master key. If it goes missing, every cylinder it opened is compromised. A documented key schedule and a plan for what happens if a master walks is the difference between an overnight rekey and a week of chaos.
Student and shared housing. High turnover, many keys, and tenants who come and go individually rather than as a household. Keying each bedroom separately with a landlord master over the whole unit is the arrangement that causes the fewest arguments, and it is far cheaper set up at the start than retrofitted after a dispute.
Short-term rentals. Codes rather than keys, which solves the turnover problem and creates a new one: nobody is on site when the battery dies at eleven at night. Any smart lock on a rental should have a mechanical override, and the owner should know where the physical key is kept.
Service area
We Come To You
We are a mobile service — there is no shop counter to drive to. Whitby is our home base, and we cover Durham Region and the eastern GTA, day and night.
Not on the list? If you are anywhere in Durham Region, call and ask.
▸ Pringle Creek
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▸ Columbus
Locked Out? We Answer The Phone.
24/7 mobile locksmith service across Whitby, Brooklin and Durham Region. Real prices on the phone, a marked vehicle at your door, and a written invoice when we are done.