Lock Rekeying in Detroit, MI

Why keys change hands so often in Detroit

Census Bureau estimates for 2024 put 49.0 percent of Detroit's occupied homes in rentals, against 26.5 percent across Michigan and 34.7 percent nationally. Where half the homes are rented, keys pass from tenant to tenant and on to roommates, cleaners and maintenance workers, and copies are easy to lose track of.

Rekeying changes the pins inside a lock cylinder so the old keys no longer turn it and a new key does. The lock body and the door stay as they are.

New owners face the same problem. After a closing, earlier owners, relatives, contractors and agents may still hold keys, and rekeying every exterior door to one new key is a common first step.

Detroit rental rules and new keys

Detroit's rental requirements sit in Chapter 8, Article XV, Division 3 of the 2019 Detroit City Code, and City Council overhauled rental inspections in October 2024. Sec. 8-15-82 requires an owner to secure a Certificate of Compliance before the rental may be occupied and rent collected. The certificate runs three years and may be extended to five when it is approved for two consecutive periods before expiring. The gap between tenants is the natural time to rekey unit doors.

State law covers occupied units. Among the acts MCL 600.2918(2)(c) lists as unlawful interference with possession is changing the locks without immediately giving the person in possession keys, and subsection (3) sets out exceptions, including an owner acting under a court order. A landlord who rekeys an occupied unit should hand over the new keys at once, and a tenant who wants a rekey should get the landlord's written agreement first. This is general information, not legal advice.

Details that help with a rekey

• how many doors and which ones, including a shared entry and each unit door in a two-family house
• whether all of them should work on one key
• whether the home is occupied and, for a tenant, whether the landlord agreed in writing
• the address, or the neighborhood and closest cross streets

How the service works is on lock rekeying. A lock that is worn or damaged as well as out of key control may call for lock replacement, and the rest of the city's housing is on the Detroit page.