If it's urgent

What to tell us

Urgent lockout and lock help for homes, vehicles, and businesses, starting with a clear conversation about what is possible.

Your exact location and a phone number where you can be reached
A short description of what happened
Photo ID and proof of residence, ownership, or authorization, or tell us if they are locked inside

If anyone is in danger, call 911 first.

Emergency Locksmith in California

Sacramento notes

Updated September 23, 20263 sources

What counts as urgent

A lock problem is urgent when someone's safety depends on it or a home or business cannot be secured:

a child, an older adult or a pet shut inside a house or car and at risk; call 911 first
a door that cannot be locked after a break-in
being shut out in very hot or cold weather, or in a storm, with nowhere to wait
a tenant who needs the locks changed because of a protective order
a key broken off in the only working entry door

After a break-in

Call the police first, and if someone may still be inside, leave and call 911. Ask the officers when the damaged door, frame and lock can be touched, and photograph everything for your records. After that the opening still has to be secured; a kicked-in door often needs the frame and strike area rebuilt, not only a new lock.

Sacramento's rental inspection checklist asks that any window security bars can be released from the interior, which matters if bars are added after a break-in.

Protective orders and changing locks

Civil Code § 1941.5 applies when the person accused of abuse or violence is not a tenant of the same unit. On a tenant's written request with a protective order, a police report or other listed documentation, the landlord must change the locks at its own expense within a day. For leases signed on or after January 1, 2011, if the landlord misses that deadline the tenant may change the locks, must tell the landlord within a day and hand over a key, and is reimbursed within 21 days. Section 1941.6 covers a restrained person who is a tenant of the same unit. This is general information, not legal advice.

What to send

where you are: the address and neighborhood, or in central Sacramento the numbered and lettered corner
what happened, and whether police were called, with a report number if you have one
which doors or locks are affected, with a photo of the damage
whether anyone is in danger or waiting outside
for a protective-order lock change, whether you are the tenant or the landlord

The service page is emergency locksmith. For a plain lockout, see house lockout; the Sacramento page has city notes.

Sources

Public records and references this page draws on. They are outside USA Locksmith Pros and open in a new tab.

Emergency Locksmith in Sacramento, CA