Broken Key Extraction in Phoenix, AZ

A snapped key blocks the lock

When a key breaks off, the door is usually still shut and the cylinder is plugged by a piece of metal. What can be done depends on how much of the key still shows in the keyway and on the kind of lock, so a request should describe both.

Stop turning the stump. Do not push the piece deeper, and keep glue and oil out of the keyway. Gather every fragment, including the half still in your hand, because its cut pattern shows what a new key has to match. The same accident happens in car doors, ignitions and the padlocks on gates.

Apartment buildings and rentals

The Census Bureau's 2024 estimates count 267,479 renter households in Phoenix, and 82,267 homes sit in buildings of 50 or more units. In a building that size, the door that will not lock could be a unit door, a shared entry or an amenity gate, and each may answer to a different person.

Arizona's landlord and tenant law, A.R.S. 33-1343, has a landlord give at least two days' notice before entering and enter at reasonable times, except in an emergency or when notice is impracticable, and permits entry without consent in an emergency. The section says nothing about locks. A key stuck in a rental door is worth reporting to the landlord in writing the same day, so the record shows when the door stopped locking. Nothing here is legal advice.

Older doors in the historic districts

The city lists 36 residential historic districts. F.Q. Story holds 602 homes built from the late 1920s through the late 1940s, and the city dates Coronado's period of significance from 1907 to 1942. A door that old may carry its first lockset or a later swap, and which one changes what a repair looks like. Photograph the lock face, the edge of the door and the plate on the frame before you write. If the cylinder is scarred or worn after the break, lock repair covers what comes next.

What to send

• which lock: front deadbolt, knob, apartment entry, gate padlock, car door or ignition
• whether the key snapped flush with the keyway or a piece still sticks out
• photos of the lock and of every broken piece
• whether you rent, and whether the landlord has been told
• whether a working spare key exists

If the key belonged to a vehicle, car key replacement covers new keys. The Phoenix page describes the rest of the city.