Maryland Locksmith Services

Homes and doors across Maryland

Maryland is a state of attached houses. Census Bureau estimates for 2024 count 21.6 percent of its homes as single-family attached rowhouses and townhouses, against 6.3 percent nationally.

• Baltimore is half rowhouse: 50.1 percent single-family attached, and 41.5 percent built in 1939 or earlier, against 11.5 percent nationally. Another 8.7 percent of its homes sit in buildings of two to four units.
• Frederick is newer: 40 percent of homes date from 2000 or later, and about a third are single-family attached.
• Rockville leans to large buildings: 34.8 percent of homes sit in buildings with 20 or more units, against 10.8 percent nationally.

What that means at the door:

• Old rowhouse hardware. A pre-war front door may carry a mortise lock set into the door edge. A mortise cylinder can often be repaired or rekeyed without cutting into an original door.
• Shared entries. In two- to four-unit buildings and large Rockville complexes, the street or lobby door and each unit door may be controlled by different people.
• Townhouse rows. Front, garage and patio doors can be keyed alike to cut down the keys you carry.

How Maryland's climate affects locks and keys

NOAA's state climate summary says nights below freezing run from more than 100 a year in the northwest to fewer than 20 in the southeast, where the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic moderate temperatures.

Water matters too. Extreme rain hit Ellicott City in 2016 and again in 2018, when 6 to 12 inches fell. Rising sea level has increased tidal flooding, and Baltimore set a record of 12 tidal flood days in 2018. Superstorm Sandy's 4- to 5-foot surge in 2012 flooded Crisfield and other low-lying parts of the Lower Eastern Shore.

Practical upkeep:

• In the northwest, carry lock de-icer and never force a frozen key. A key twisted in an iced cylinder can snap and need broken key extraction.
• Have locks that sat in floodwater or tidal water checked, since silt and salt corrode pins and springs.
• NOAA describes warm, humid summers. A wood door that swells and makes the deadbolt drag only in summer often needs a hinge or strike adjustment, a lock repair job, not a new lock.

Renting in Maryland: locks, keys and rekeying

About 32 percent of Maryland households rent, rising to 44.2 percent in Frederick, 45.1 percent in Rockville and 51.6 percent in Baltimore. Two Real Property Article sections address locks. This is general information, not legal advice.

Lockouts. Real Property § 8-216 bars a landlord from taking or threatening to take possession of a dwelling unit by locking the tenant out or by other action, including willfully interrupting heat, running water, hot water, electricity or gas to force the tenant out. Possession comes only through a court's warrant of restitution executed by a sheriff or constable, or after the tenant abandons or surrenders the unit. A landlord may still change locks temporarily to secure an unsecured property, with good-faith attempts at reasonable notice so the tenant can promptly get back in.

Lock changes for abuse victims. Under Real Property § 8-5A-05, a tenant who is a victim of abuse may give the landlord a written request, with a copy of the order, to change the locks when a protective order or an abuse-based peace order requires the respondent to stay out of or vacate the residence. Then:

1. The landlord must change the locks by the close of the next business day.
2. If the landlord does not, the tenant may have the locks changed without the landlord's permission and must give the landlord or its agent a duplicate key by the close of the next business day after the change.
3. A landlord who changes the locks must give the tenant a copy of the new key at an agreed time within 48 hours and may charge a fee of no more than the reasonable cost of the change.
4. The tenant has 45 days to pay that fee; after that, the landlord may charge it as additional rent or withhold it from the security deposit.

Otherwise, check your lease before rekeying a rental.

Where we take requests in Maryland

Maryland Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in Maryland.

• Baltimore
• Frederick
• Rockville
• Annapolis

Elsewhere in Maryland, the request form asks for the ZIP code where you need service.

Before you book a locksmith in Maryland

Maryland's consumer protection statute, Commercial Law § 13-303, bars unfair, abusive or deceptive trade practices in the sale or offer of consumer goods and services.

The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division mediates most household consumer complaints. It recommends its online portal, with receipts or contracts attached, and sends the business a copy unless you mark the complaint informational only. It cannot force a business to cooperate or serve as your private attorney.

Two sensible checks:

1. Get the total in writing before work begins and keep the receipt; a complaint relies on those documents.
2. If you are changing locks under § 8-5A-05, keep your written request and the court order together.