Lock Rekeying in Spokane, WA

Why Spokane locks get rekeyed

Rekeying resets the pins inside a cylinder so old keys stop working while the lock stays on the door. In Spokane the reason is usually a change of people rather than a failed lock.

Renting drives much of it. In 2017, 45.3 percent of Spokane households rented, and in Browne's Addition, where the old mansions have largely become apartments, the share was 86.4 percent. Each move-out there can leave a unit key, or a copy of the street-door key, with a former tenant. Buying is the other trigger. On Five Mile Prairie only 11.9 percent of households rented, so a sale is the likelier reason to rekey, and a house that changes hands can leave keys with previous owners, builders, cleaners or neighbors.

City and state rules that involve keys

Under Spokane Municipal Code (SMC) 10.57.020, a landlord must register each rental unit with the city and declare that it complies with RCW 59.18.060. That state statute requires the landlord to provide reasonably adequate locks and furnish keys, in subsection (6), and to take reasonable care safeguarding master and duplicate keys, in subsection (7).

SMC 10.57.110 requires a landlord to inspect a unit before a tenant moves in, and requires anyone operating rental housing to keep move-in and move-out inspection records for at least three years. The rekey date and the doors it covered fit naturally in those records.

RCW 59.18.585 is narrower. A tenant whose court order grants possession to the exclusion of a cotenant may ask, at the tenant's expense, for a lock to be replaced or rekeyed. Once given a copy of the order, the landlord must comply and may not give new keys to the excluded tenant. This is general information, not legal advice.

Hardware and what to include

An older house may still carry original mortise locks, and their cylinders can generally be rekeyed. If a lock is worn out, lock replacement may make more sense than rekeying.

In your request, list:

1. Every exterior door, including garage-entry and basement doors
2. Lock brands, if you can read them
3. Whether the property is a rental, and who approves work on shared doors
4. Whether you want everything on one key