New Home Security First Day | What to Change First

You're standing on the doorstep with a set of keys the estate agent handed you. Those keys have a history you don't know. The previous owners gave spares to a cleaner, a neighbour, an ex-partner, a builder who never finished the bathroom. One of those people may have had copies cut. Probably not. But you don't know, and that's the problem.

One hour on moving day, done in the right order, closes that window completely.

This isn't about spending a fortune. Most of what follows costs less than a good takeaway. Some of it costs nothing at all.

---

Start at the front door. Not because it's the most likely entry point, but because it's where everyone begins

Before a single box goes inside, look at the front door lock. Not the handle, the cylinder. That's the barrel sitting in the middle of the lock, the part the key goes into.

If it's a standard euro cylinder and it doesn't have a star rating visible on the pack (you won't have the pack, so look for a kite mark stamped on the cylinder face), assume it's a basic one. Basic cylinders snap. That's not a scare story, it's a documented attack method that takes about 20 seconds and leaves no noise, no broken glass, and no visible damage from the street.

What to do: Replace the cylinder before you move anything valuable inside. A TS007 3-star cylinder, like an Ultion, Avocet ABS, or Mul-T-Lock MT5+, costs between £40 and £80 for the cylinder alone. A locksmith fitting takes under 15 minutes. If your door is uPVC and you can see a long, thin cylinder stretching from the handle to the edge of the door, that's a multipoint lock and you need to match the cylinder size carefully. Measure the external distance from the centre of the fixing screw to the outside edge, and the same inward. Write it down: something like 35/45 or 40/40. Get that right and the fitting is straightforward.

If the front door has a British Standard mortice deadlock, a big brass lock lower down in the door, check the face of the lock for a British Standard kite mark and the number BS3621. If it's there and the door is solid timber, you may be fine to just rekey it or have new keys cut. If there's no kite mark, it's decorative at best.

---

The back door gets forgotten every time

Some people change the front cylinder, feel satisfied, and leave the back door on whatever came with the house. That door is usually older, often single-glazed, frequently has a cheaper lock, and faces the garden where no one can see someone working on it for five minutes.

Back doors fall into two types. Old timber doors usually have a two-lever or five-lever mortice. If it's five-lever and BS3621 stamped, it's decent. If it's two or three lever, it offers barely more resistance than a padlock from a pound shop. Replace it or add a surface-mounted rim deadlock as a second lock.

uPVC back doors nearly always have multipoint locks and euro cylinders, same rules as the front. Check the cylinder. If the door is a conservatory or lean-to type with a lever handle, make sure the multipoint engages properly when the handle is lifted and the key turned. These mechanisms wear. A door that looks locked but where the hook bolts haven't fully thrown is not locked.

---

Window locks: the check most people skip entirely

Go around every accessible window. Ground floor first, then first floor if there's a flat roof, extension, bay, or anything that makes climbing easy.

For uPVC windows, open the window and look at the shootbolt mechanism along the top and sides of the frame. Wind the handle to the closed position and push the window hard from outside (or get someone to). If the handle moves or the window shifts more than a centimetre, the lock is worn or the multi-point isn't throwing properly. A locksmith can diagnose this in two minutes.

Key locking handles on uPVC windows are the upgrade here. A Mila, Maco, or Roto key-locking handle replaces a standard handle with no additional drilling. Around £15 to £25 per handle if you fit them yourself, double that with labour. PAS24 rated handles are worth specifying if you're doing several at once.

For timber sash windows, the traditional fitch catch that came with the house is often the only lock. It takes about four seconds to defeat. Add a sash stop or a Brighton fastener with a locking bolt. For timber casements, check there's a proper surface bolt or cockspur handle lock, not just the hinges holding it closed.

One thing a lot of people don't know: some home insurers require window locks on accessible windows to be key-operated for a theft claim to be valid. Check your policy wording. Day one is the right time to find out, not after.

---

The garage: separate, overlooked, and often connected to the house

If the house has an integral garage, meaning you can walk from the garage directly into the house, the door between them is a fire door by building regulations but it't always a security door. Treat it exactly like a front door. It needs a five-lever BS3621 mortice, or a good euro cylinder if it's a modern door.

The garage's external door or roller is a different problem. Roller doors operated by a remote have two vulnerabilities. First, the remote codes on older doors can sometimes be cloned. Second, if there's an emergency release cord hanging inside (there usually is), some roller doors can be opened from outside with a piece of wire through the weatherseal. It takes about 30 seconds if someone knows the trick. Ask the previous owners if they had any work done on the opener, and change the remote code on day one. The manual will be in the garage or online by model number.

Up-and-over doors with a handle and a key lock are better than they look if the lock is a decent cylinder. Worn or cheap cylinder, same rules: replace it.

Don't forget the side door of the garage if it has one. These are often hollow-core or thin timber with a Yale-type latch and nothing else. Add a five-lever mortice. The door itself may be the weak point regardless of the lock, in which case a locksmith will tell you.

---

Side gates and outbuildings

A closed side gate feels secure. An unlocked one gives anyone access to the back of the house without being visible from the street for as long as they want.

Padlocks on side gates should be closed-shackle and at least Sold Secure Silver rated. An open-shackle padlock, the type with a visible curved loop of metal, can be cut or twisted off. A closed-shackle design buries the shackle in the body so cutting tools can't get a clean grip. ERA, Mul-T-Lock, and Squire all make decent closed-shackle padlocks in the £20 to £50 range.

The hasp matters too. A cheap surface-mount hasp with exposed screws is pointless with a good padlock because the screws are the weak point. A security hasp conceals the fixings when the padlock is closed. Costs about a fiver more. Worth it.

If there's a shed, check whether it contains anything worth protecting, ladders being the obvious one since ladders left accessible make the upper floors of your own house easier to reach. Lock the shed, or at minimum chain and padlock anything inside that could be used as a climbing aid.

---

Key control: the thing that costs nothing but takes five minutes

Count the keys. You should have received all copies from the vendor via the solicitor. In practice this doesn't always happen cleanly. If you can't account for every copy, assume there are outstanding ones and treat it as a reason to change the cylinders, which you're probably doing anyway.

Decide now who gets a spare key and where it lives. A key safe is a good option if you have carers coming in or family who need access. The cheap combination ones with four-digit codes, the type you see for £15 on Amazon, are genuinely problematic: the dials wear visibly in the direction of the correct digits, and the fixing screws are often accessible with the box closed. A Supra C500 or a Police preferred specification key safe costs £60 to £90 and is a different category of product.

Don't hide a key under a plant pot, on a ledge above the door, or under a mat. Yes, people still do this. Yes, it gets found.

---

The alarm, if the house has one

If the previous owners left an alarm system, change the master code today. Don't use the default code in the manual. If you can't figure out how to change it, the alarm company whose box is on the side of the house will usually help. Or a locksmith or alarm engineer can walk you through it.

If there's no alarm and you're considering one, that's a separate conversation for after you've sorted the physical locks. Alarms deter and detect. Good locks resist. Both have a role, but the lock is the thing that actually stops entry, so that comes first.

---

Smart locks: day one is not the right moment

If you've read any of my other posts, you'll know I don't object to smart locks in the right application. Moving day is not the right moment to install one. You're tired, there are people coming and going, you haven't figured out your Wi-Fi yet, and a smart lock on a door that also has a worn euro cylinder below the handle is not an upgrade.

Get the basics right first. If you want a smart lock in three months, once you know the doors and know the doors are mechanically sound, that's a sensible time to think about it.

---

The order: what to do when

If time is short and you can only do some of this today, here's the priority sequence.

1. Front door cylinder, especially if it's a standard euro. Do this before the removal van is unloaded.
2. Back door lock check, and replace if it's a poor cylinder or a two-lever mortice.
3. Integral garage door to house, if one exists. Lock it as you would a front door.
4. Change alarm code and garage remote code.
5. Side gate padlock and hasp check.
6. Window lock check, and order key-locking handles for any ground-floor windows that are lacking them.
7. External garage and any outbuildings.
8. Key control: account for all keys, decide on spares, consider a quality key safe if needed.

Items 1 to 4 are same-day jobs. Items 5 to 8 can follow within the first week, but don't let them drift past that.

---

What this actually costs

Front door cylinder (Ultion, Avocet ABS, or similar TS007 3-star): £40 to £80 for the cylinder, £50 to £80 for a locksmith to supply and fit.

Back door cylinder or mortice upgrade: £50 to £120 depending on what's there and what's going in.

Key-locking window handles: £15 to £25 each supply-only, £40 to £60 each supply and fit, less per unit if you're doing several.

Closed-shackle padlock and security hasp for a side gate: £30 to £60 all in.

Doing everything on the list, front, back, windows, gate, key safe: probably £300 to £600 for an average three-bedroom semi in Goodmayes or Seven Kings, depending on what's already there. On a property where the previous locks were decent and just need the cylinders swapping for new-keyed ones, you'd be at the lower end. On a house where someone fitted budget locks throughout, you'd be at the higher end or above it.

Compare that to a contents insurance excess, a replacement laptop, or a week of not sleeping well because you're not sure who has keys. The maths isn't complicated.

---

Before the boxes are all in

If you're buying or renting in the IG postcodes, Ilford, Gants Hill, Barkingside, Newbury Park, Clayhall, Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes, Seven Kings, or anywhere nearby, Rapid Response Locksmiths covers all of that. We aim to be with you in under 30 minutes where we can. Pricing is given honestly when you call, before we come out. No surprises on the invoice.

Call when you're ready, or have the number saved for moving day. It's one of those things that's better to have sorted at 9am than to be thinking about at 10pm when the van's gone.