Key Points:
There is no legal requirement for landlords to rekey a rental property between tenants.
Grace Property Management highly recommends rekeying based on practical, ethical, and liability concerns.
Landlords often wonder about their legal obligation to change the locks on their rental property between tenants. Are you as a landlord required / is it necessary to rekey your locks between one tenant moving out and another moving in? President Marc Cunningham addresses this question from both a practical and legal standpoint.
In Colorado, we reference the Colorado Real Estate Manual to stay current on what is required for all landlords and investors by law. Colorado real estate agents and property managers are governed by federal, state, and local laws, as well as the Colorado real estate commission. We have not located any rule or regulation requiring a landlord to rekey or change locks between tenants - but we strongly believe this SHOULD be done by landlords.
As of the time of this article - Legally, you are not required to rekey your property between tenants.
Practically and ethically, we at Grace Property Management highly recommend that you do rekey locks between tenants. In our view, this is a potential liability issue for the landlord. In a scenario where previous tenants may have given a copy of their key to someone else, your new tenants are at risk of having unwanted strangers with access to their home! In a worst case scenario, landlords may be facing a lawsuit.
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As a tenant, we recommend that you ensure that the property manager or landlord has rekeyed the locks before you move in to a new property. If your landlord has NOT done so, then for your own security - we recommend that you personally change the locks on your rental property
For more lease renewal tips, please see this post.
We at Grace Property Management are always ready and willing to help in any way we can. If you have questions about the details of tenant turnover, lease agreements, or the rekeying process, please contact us at 303-255-1990. Or, visit our website at www.rentgrace.com for more resources.
