Q: Does a landlord have a legal duty to change or re-key locks before renting to a tenant?

A: In California, there are no laws about rekeying the premises before a new tenant moves in. While the law does not require landlords to change their locks, most landlords (over 50%) change the locks on a unit after a tenant moves out.

Most Landlords do not want to put themselves in a tenuous legal position when re-keying or changing locks between tenants is a relatively inexpensive way to take reasonable precautions to safeguard the tenants. It is good policy and it is simply a good business practice to rekey between residents.

It is the policy of Born Property Management to rekey the locks between tenancy to protect the tenant and landlord unless the Landlord requests otherwise. Often the cost to rekey the property exceeds the $300 maintenance threshold we have set forth in the Property Management Agreement and we typically approve the charges (within reason, of course) because it is a safety issue. This work is done by a licensed and insured service provider and we provide a receipt for the work completed as proof.