Lock Rekeying in Tucson, AZ

Rentals and older houses

The Census Bureau's 2024 estimates show renters in 111,068 of Tucson's 233,314 occupied homes, and nearly one home in four, 24.6 percent, dates from the 1950s or 1960s. A rental with steady turnover and a house with decades of owners share one worry: who still has an old copy? Rekeying sets the cylinder to a different key without swapping the hardware, so keys cut for the old setting no longer work.

Counting the doors

List every exterior door before you call: front, back, any carport or garage entry and a patio door that has its own key lock. Decide whether they should all open with one key or each keep its own, and note the maker's name if you can read it on the lock. About 26.6 percent of Tucson's homes sit in apartment buildings with five or more units; their shared entrance belongs to the building, so rekeying a unit door leaves it unchanged.

What Arizona law says about a tenant's new lock

A.R.S. 33-1318, in subsections E and F, lets a tenant who is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault require a lock change at the tenant's own expense. The landlord's choices are to rekey the current lock when it works properly or to fit a replacement mechanism of equal or better quality. A copy of the new key may stay with the landlord, who can withhold one from anyone named in an order of protection or a departmental report.

A tenant in that position should raise it with the landlord in writing and can ask a legal aid office about the details; the Landlord Tenant Resources page on the city's site names Southern Arizona Legal Aid. For any other rental, start with the lease, which may say who is allowed to change locks and whether the landlord keeps a key. None of this is legal advice; it is general information.

What helps a request

• the number of exterior doors, and whether garage and side doors count among them
• whether all the locks should be keyed alike or each kept separate
• the brand stamped on the lock, if it is legible
• whether the lease or the landlord requires a spare key to be handed over
• your status: owner, renter or new buyer

A lock too worn to rekey calls for lock replacement instead. Neighborhood context is on the Tucson page, and the Arizona-wide lock rekeying page explains the service itself.