New Mexico Locksmith Services

Homes and doors across New Mexico

Census Bureau estimates for 2024 count 15.0 percent of New Mexico's homes as mobile homes, close to three times the 5.4 percent national share. A third, 33.4 percent, went up between 1970 and 1989, and only 4.4 percent predate 1940, against 11.5 percent nationally.

City by city:

• Albuquerque is largely a 1970s and 1980s city, with 35.2 percent of homes from those decades; 37.5 percent of households rent.
• Rio Rancho is the newest: 50.4 percent of homes date from 2000 or later, and 88.3 percent are detached houses.
• Las Cruces built 40.2 percent of its homes in 2000 or later, and 41.5 percent of households rent.
• Santa Fe has the largest share of pre-1940 homes of the four, 8.5 percent, nearly twice the state share.

Mobile homes are 8.6 percent of homes in Santa Fe and 1.0 percent in Rio Rancho; nearly nine in ten of the state's mobile homes sit outside these four cities.

A 1970s Albuquerque house that has changed hands several times may have key copies nobody can account for; rekeying the exterior cylinders makes those old keys useless. In Santa Fe, owners who plan to alter a building in one of the city's five historic districts must first apply to the Historic Preservation Division, so check with it before replacing an exterior door there.

How New Mexico's climate affects locks and keys

The Western Regional Climate Center describes an arid or semiarid climate: afternoon humidity in the warmer months is often below 20 percent, and daily highs and lows average 25 to 35°F apart. Spring is the windy season, when blowing dust can be a problem during dry spells. Over most of the state, July and August bring 30 to 40 percent of the year's moisture, almost entirely in brief but often intense thunderstorms.

Dust in the keyway

Schlage's A-Series service manual warns that in particularly dusty or dirty locations the grease inside a lock can become contaminated and slow it down. For the cylinder, it calls for graphite or similar material only, blown into the keyway in small amounts.

Dry air and door fit

The USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Wood Handbook explains that wood exchanges moisture with the surrounding air and shrinks as it dries, which can warp it. In air this dry, a wood door or frame can move enough that a deadbolt no longer meets its strike plate squarely. Adjusting the strike is a lock repair job, not a reason for a new lock.

Renting in New Mexico: locks, keys and rekeying

The Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act, NMSA 1978 Sections 47-8-1 to 47-8-52, calls landlords "owners" and tenants "residents." Of its sections, only 47-8-36 mentions locks.

1. No lock-change evictions. Section 47-8-36(A) bars an owner, or anyone acting for one, from knowingly excluding or removing a resident without a court order by plugging, changing, adding or removing any lock or latching device. Abandonment and surrender are excepted, and 47-8-36(B) exempts temporary interference during legitimate repairs or inspections.
2. Remedies. Under 47-8-36(C), a resident shut out this way may abate all rent for each day of lost possession, seek restitution of the premises or terminate the rental agreement, and claim damages. Section 47-8-48(C) makes the owner liable for twice the monthly rent.
3. Rekeying. The owner duties in Section 47-8-20 do not mention locks or rekeying between residents, so ask in writing before signing whether the locks have been changed.
4. Owner entry. Section 47-8-24 generally requires 24 hours' written notice before an owner enters, unless the owner and resident agree otherwise, and allows entry without consent in an emergency. Because of that right of entry, check your rental agreement before changing a lock yourself.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Where we take requests in New Mexico

New Mexico Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in New Mexico. City pages:

• Albuquerque
• Santa Fe
• Las Cruces
• Rio Rancho

Elsewhere in the state, include your ZIP code on the request form.

Before you book a locksmith in New Mexico

Section 57-12-2(D) of the Unfair Practices Act lists practices it treats as unfair or deceptive, including false or misleading statements of fact about price (item 11), stating that services, replacements or repairs are needed when they are not (item 16), and failing to deliver the quality or quantity of services contracted for (item 17). Under Section 57-12-8, the attorney general can sue to stop practices the act declares unlawful.

The New Mexico Department of Justice, the attorney general's office, takes complaints through a Guided Help tool that routes them to the right agency, an electronic complaint system, or paper forms in English and Spanish.

Steps that tie back to those rules:

1. Ask why a part must go. If you are told a lock needs replacing, ask what is wrong with it and get the reason on the estimate.
2. Get the total in writing before work starts, and keep the invoice for any complaint.