Virginia Locksmith Services

Townhouses, towers and prewar blocks

Census Bureau estimates for 2024 put 11.6 percent of Virginia homes in single-family attached buildings such as townhouses, nearly double the 6.3 percent nationally. The mix shifts sharply by city:

• Alexandria. Only 12.7 percent of homes are detached houses; 22.4 percent are attached single-family homes and 36.3 percent sit in buildings with 50 or more units.
• Richmond. 27.7 percent of homes were built before 1940, four times the statewide 6.9 percent.
• Norfolk. 42.5 percent predate 1960.
• Virginia Beach. 26.9 percent date from the 1980s, and under 1 percent predate 1940.

In a large Alexandria building, management may run the lobby fob, garage and mailbox, which a new unit lock leaves unchanged. A prewar Richmond or Norfolk door may be cut for a mortise lock, which needs a matching mortise body or a conversion rather than a standard deadbolt. Townhouse owners with an HOA should ask who else holds keys to shared gates or storage before they rekey.

Humidity, tidal water and winter freezes

NOAA's state climate summary describes Virginia as humid, with very warm summers and moderately cold winters, and about 50 inches of precipitation a year on the tidewater coast. At Sewells Point in Norfolk, sea level rose 17 inches between 1927 and 2020, and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which NOAA calls the costliest event ever to affect the state, caused severe coastal flooding from storm surge.

Snow is modest in the east: National Weather Service normals for 1991 to 2020 give Richmond 8.8 inches a year and Norfolk 6.2. Richmond's normal January low is 28.8°F against a high of 47.8°F, so winter nights often freeze and days thaw.

Upkeep that fits:

• If a door stood in tidal or storm water, rinse and dry the lock, and ask for lock repair if the key then turns roughly.
• Water in a keyway can freeze overnight; use a lock de-icer, not hot water, which can refreeze.

Renting in Virginia: what the landlord and tenant act says about locks

About 32.9 percent of occupied Virginia homes are rented, but renters are the majority in Richmond (57.7 percent), Alexandria (56.8 percent) and Norfolk (56.0 percent). The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Va. Code Title 55.1, Chapter 12) covers locks in three places:

• Deadbolts depend on your locality. Va. Code § 55.1-1221 lets a local governing body require, by ordinance, that landlords renting five or more units in one multifamily building install deadbolts and peepholes on exterior swinging entrance doors, metal pins or charlie bars on exterior sliding glass doors, and locking devices on exterior windows. It applies only where a locality has adopted such an ordinance.
• New locks after certain court orders. Under § 55.1-1230, a tenant or authorized occupant holding a family abuse protective order (§ 16.1-279.1) or an order under § 20-103(B) that grants possession to the exclusion of a co-tenant may give the landlord a copy and ask the landlord to install a new lock on the exterior doors "at the landlord's actual cost," or to permit the tenant to do so. The landlord gets duplicate keys and may not give keys to the excluded person. Ex parte orders are not covered.
• No lockouts. If a landlord willfully and without court authority removes or excludes a tenant, § 55.1-1243.1 lets the tenant petition the general district court, which holds an initial hearing within five calendar days of filing. If the tenant proves the exclusion at the full hearing, the tenant recovers actual damages, statutory damages of $5,000 or four months' rent, whichever is greater, and reasonable attorney fees.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Where we take requests in Virginia

Our city pages cover Virginia Beach and Norfolk on the coast, Richmond and Alexandria. Virginia Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in Virginia.

• Virginia Beach
• Richmond
• Norfolk
• Alexandria

Elsewhere in Virginia, include your city and ZIP code when you send a request.

Before you book a locksmith in Virginia

When the Governor or the President declares a state of emergency, Va. Code § 59.1-527 makes it unlawful to charge an unconscionable price for necessary goods and services within the declared area during the "time of disaster." Under § 59.1-526, that period is the state of emergency or 30 days after the disaster, whichever is longer. One factor is whether the price grossly exceeds what the same supplier charged in the 10 days before.

The Consumer Protection Section of the Office of the Attorney General takes complaints through an online form, which it calls the preferred method, or by mail. It typically sends complaints to the business for a response and acts as a neutral go-between; price gouging has its own form.

A few checks before work starts:

1. Get the total in writing and keep the invoice for any complaint.
2. If you rent, read your lease and tell the landlord before changing a unit lock; in a managed building, lobby fobs and master-keyed systems may be management's to change.